The Moths of Manchester

The  excellent  novel  ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’  by Amor Towles  quotes this beautiful  story about  adaptation. In Manchester , for thousands of years , most of the moths  had white wings and black  flecking. Pitch black varieties  were less than ten percent  of the  total moths . The lighter colouring(  of white  variety )provided them  with camouflage  against  the region’s trees, and they survived.

      But when a large number of factories  started operating in Manchester from 1800 onwards , the barks of the trees  got   covered in black suit.  The  peppered moths with pitch black wings  were camouflaged much better  than those with white wings.  The  moths with white wings were  consumed by predator birds, being highly visible. Within a    hundred years , over 90 percent of moths had  pitch  black  wings in Manchester.

     Moths are the symbols  of  our  ability to adapt to  our circumstances. We should be able to use our skills and traits  which we already have,  to adapt ourselves to the changes in society. Nature has designed  forces of evolution  to ensure that moths and men  have a chance to adapt  over a few decades. Natural selection does not need thousands of years to take place .It has been observed unfolding over the course of a few decades.

The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk , M.D.

The  book , ‘The Body Keeps The Score’  by  Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. is about trauma and its healing.(Penguin Books ;2015;445 pages).Psychological trauma can befall any one. Traumatic experiences leave  traces on  our minds and emotions , on our capacity for joy and intimacy , and even on our biology and immune systems. Long after  a traumatic experience is over , it may be reactivated  at the slightest hint of  danger , mobilize disturbed brain circuits  and secrete  massive amounts of stress hormones.  This precipitates  unpleasant emotions , intense physical sensations , and impulsive and aggressive actions. The inner disconnections  keep us  trapped in the past  and cascade  into ruptures  in social relationships  and disastrous effects  on relationships and  friendships. We now know  that the behaviours of traumatized persons are not the result of moral feelings  or signs of lack of  will power or bad characters --- they are caused by  the actual damages in the brain.

            The body keeps the score. The memory of trauma is encoded  in the viscera , emotions ,autoimmune disorders, skeltel or muscular problems  and this  demands a radical shift  in our therapeutic assumptions. Ignoring the  body’s messages  is being unable to  detect what is truly dangerous  or harmful to  us. Migraine , headaches, asthma attacks , back and neck pain, chronic fatigue , digestive problems , irritable bowel  syndrome are some of body’s messages. Self regulation depends  on having a  friendly relationship with our body.

After trauma, the world becomes sharply divided between  those who know and those who don’t. People who have not shared  the traumatic experience  cannot be trusted , because they can’t understand it. Trauma  results in  a fundamental reorganization  of the way mind and brain manage perceptions. It changes  not only how we think  and what we think about, but also our very capacity to think. Helping victims of trauma  to describe what has happened to them  is quite meaningful  , but usually it is not enough .For real change to take place ,  the body needs to learn  that the danger has passed  and to live in the reality of the present.

      There are three ways to help the  trauma survivors.

1.     By talking , connecting with others and allowing ourselves  to know and understand  what is going on with us , while processing the  memories of the trauma.

2.     By taking medicines

3.     By allowing the body to have  experiences that  deeply contradict  the helplessness, rage , or collapse  that result from trauma. Using a combination of  traditional therapy techniques and alternative treatments such as yoga, neuro-feedback, EMDR  and theatre , patients can regain  control of their bodies  and revive their brains  so that they can  rebuild  their lives .

          Psychiatric medications have a serious downside, as they may deflect attention from  dealing with underlying issues.  Restoring  relationships and community  and connecting with others  is  central to restoring  well-being.     Being able to  feel  safe with other people , is probably  the single most important aspect  of mental health ;safe connections are  fundamental to meaningful  and satisfying  lives. Social support is the most powerful  protection against  becoming overwhelmed by  stress and trauma. Isolating oneself into  a narrowly defined victim  group promotes a  view of others  as irrelevant  at best and  dangerous at worst , which eventually leads to  further alienation. While  there is a need to  be able to stand up  for oneself ,  it is also  an equally important need to recognize  that other people have  their own agendas. Trauma can make all that hazy. Adults who were abused  or neglected as children  can still learn the beauty  of intimacy  and mutual trust  and have a deep spiritual experience  that opens them to  a large universe.    Study after study shows  that having a good support network   constitutes the single most powerful protection against  becoming traumatized. Recovery from trauma  involves reconnecting with  our fellow human beings.

 Communicating  fully is opposite  of being traumatized . The object of writing is  to write to yourself  , to let yourself know  what you have been trying to avoid.

             A central  task  for recovery from trauma  is to learn to live  with the memories of the  past without being  overwhelmed by  them in the present.  The challenge of  trauma treatment is not  only dealing with past  ( by not desensitizing the past)  but also enhancing the quality of  day to day experience .This means  living  fully  and securely   in the present , having satisfaction in  ordinary everyday things like  taking a walk , cooking or playing . Exiles hold the memories , sensations , beliefs and emotions  associated with trauma. It is hazardous to release them. Exiles must not be locked up. Usually , these are our most  sensitive, creative, intimacy-loving , lively  playful and innocent parts. By exiling them  when they get hurt , the insult of our rejection  is added to their original  injury. Keeping exiles hidden and despised  condemns us  to a life without intimacy  or genuine joy. Chronic  emotional abuse  and neglect can be just  as devastating as  physical abuse and sexual molestation.  The painful work of  facing the demons of the past  has to be done.

        Mindful practice which strengthens  the MPFC is a  cornerstone of recovery from trauma.    Ten weeks of yoga practice  markedly reduce the PTSD  symptoms of patients  who had failed to respond  to any medication or any other treatment.

 Trauma robs  us of the feeling that  we are in charge  of ourselves, of what is called self- leadership. Neuroscience  research  shows that  the only way we can change  the way we feel  is by becoming  aware of our  inner experience  and learning to befriend  what is going in inside ourselves.    Cultivation of mindful  self-leadership  is the foundation for  healing from trauma .Mindfulness increases  our control  over the emotional brain.

  This book ‘The Body Keeps The Score’   by  Bessel Van Der  Kolk , M.D. fundamentally changes the way we look at the world. It tells  us how  to  face the reality of trauma, take charge  of the healing process , gain a sense  of safety  and find way out of suffering, and as a society , use every means we have to prevent it. I strongly recommend you to read it.