~anonymous
In the language of my profession we talk about healing, as though emotional wounds were like wounds of the flesh that could heal over time. While healing may occur with emotional pain, or with the memory of its sharpness which does fade over time, an emotional wound leaves a hole that time cannot refill. That is trauma.
Trauma impales the psyche irreversibly. New experiences may be overlaid and new strategies implemented to protect the wound from further re-injury or decay, but these merely mask or buttress the original trauma. What was there before the injury cannot be restored much like bone from a cavity cannot be restored by a dental filling. Once integrity is compromised, the nerve will be closer to the surface than before, making it more susceptible to being reactive in the future.
One cannot dull the nerve of trauma with numbing agents or by extracting its "root". But that would not heal the wound anyway. It would be an emotional root canal that replaces reactivity with deadness.
The word heal comes from the word haelan, to save or make whole. Time and therapy cannot, unfortunately, do that for anyone. True to the etymological origin of our profession, however, therapists can compassionately advise, guide and accompany the wounded person as their faithful attendant or therapon in the unique and creative process of their grieving and recovery.
