what happened to you?

One of the things that we rarely talk about in our Arab societies is mental health. And if we eat it, we hold its peel only and leave the rest. Many of us go beyond the taboos of talking about sex, religion and politics to mental health! This big elephant in the room we know without touching it or our trauma (TRAUMA)!
In their book (WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU), Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey deal with the issue of mental health and psychological trauma for humans, especially in children, who grow up and their psychological trauma may grow with them. These traumas may shape a person’s personality and play a major role in his present and future, after having taken over the past. Because of this, psychological trauma, especially after a person becomes aware of its existence, should not be left untreated. Psychological trauma differs from one person to another, each according to his environment, his family, his circumstances, his attitudes, and many other factors. A person may be exposed to a psychological shock from one harmful situation, and another may be exposed to a psychological shock after a repeat of a harmful situation in his life, and so on.
The situation varies from person to person. Because of this, Dr. Bruce Perry prefers to ask someone who is closed in on himself – for example -: What happened to you in your life that you became like this? (WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?) To the same person’s question: What is wrong with you? (WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?). It is the question that we used to ask when we see a person who is different from us in mood, taste, style, thinking, or others.
The reality tells of the occurrence of one or more psychological trauma for the majority, if not all, whether the shock was the death of a dear person, the abandonment of a father, the illness of a friend, or the assumption of a great responsibility at a young age or other harmful or large situations on the person, at a time when he was unable to bear or absorb it, which caused His trauma kept its effects in himself and his life. These psychological traumas will show their impact on work, as if a person is not able to work away from his family because he feels that he is responsible for them, or it may have an impact on relationships, where a person cannot – consciously or unconsciously – continue in a healthy relationship because he witnessed a relationship His failed parents and their divorce.
In their book, Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey deal with trauma treatment through several methods: first, treatment with medication prescribed by a psychiatrist (which is unfortunately the usual method). Second, treatment is through cognitive behavioral therapy. Third, through contact with people and living in loving and supportive groups. Fourth, treatment by finding harmony and organizing the soul through actions or actions that regulate human behavior and life, such as writing, drawing, walking, or any other act that makes him not subject to the effects of his psychological trauma.
The situation has improved today than it was in the past. Talking about mental health has become easier than talking about it twenty years ago, but we are still at the beginning, and there is much that needs to be done, done and talked about in order to live a better and happier life in the light of balanced and sound mental health. Let’s start now.