Trauma - Index to the Real-Life examples

	The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' Project: Index to the Real-Life Examples ©2003 John Latter (jorolat@msn.com)

The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' Project:

Index to the Real-Life Examples

[All drafts will be expanded upon once the basic framework has been established]

Direct entry? This page contains a linked alphabetical index of all the Real-Life examples (check back for updates)
used to illustrate the various principles and/or concepts presented in "The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' Project".

[Visit the "Socially Acceptable Violence" Discussion Egroups associated with the project at Yahoo and Msn]

[Latest Update: "Pinball Wizard" 6th September 2003]

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire" [Back to Top]
Context:	This real-life example reflects the difficulties that may be encountered when an individual attempts to establish a naturally safe social environment as a prerequisite to any form of therapy, and in particular, one leading to re-integration.
Extract:	...'Friends' of the 17 year-old, including an avid learner of 8, also joined in and being victimized became a regular feature of Elizabeth's visits. During one attack, as an example, Elizabeth tried to roll a cigarette in a conscious effort to divert herself from the increasing effect the applied pressure was having internally. Each time the scared girl tried to put some tobacco onto the cigarette paper her trembling fingers caused it to spill out of either end and on to the floor. It was one moment among many of deliberately induced desperation that began to have an accumulative effect...

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire" [Back to Top]

Context:

This real-life example reflects the difficulties that may be encountered when an individual attempts to establish a naturally safe social environment as a prerequisite to any form of therapy, and in particular, one leading to re-integration.

Extract:

...'Friends' of the 17 year-old, including an avid learner of 8, also joined in and being victimized became a regular feature of Elizabeth's visits. During one attack, as an example, Elizabeth tried to roll a cigarette in a conscious effort to divert herself from the increasing effect the applied pressure was having internally. Each time the scared girl tried to put some tobacco onto the cigarette paper her trembling fingers caused it to spill out of either end and on to the floor. It was one moment among many of deliberately induced desperation that began to have an accumulative effect...

"Pinball Wizard" [Back to Top]
Context:	"Pinball Wizard" demonstates how the conventional emphasis placed upon "degree of harm done" in acts of psychological violence should be broadened to include "accumulative time lost" and "degree of reduction".
Extract:	Jan stepped up to the pinball machine with a face that could have been carved out of wood. I could see she was having trouble with inner demons and I just chattered away pretending not to notice. Her first ball didn't last long, and nor did the second, and to be honest, I'm not sure when it happened - she was going through this inner struggle, and as I said, I didn't want to intrude by looking at her too much. Anyway, at some point I turned to say something like "Well done!" (after she had played a quite tricky shot), and not only didn't she appear to hear me, it was almost as if I wasn't there! The transformation was amazing - Jan was totally engrossed in the game, smiling and almost laughing with delight. Playing with the abandonment of a child but not in a child-ish way, if you know what I mean. Even now as I look back on it, I still think it was quite incredible!

"Pinball Wizard" [Back to Top]

Context:

"Pinball Wizard" demonstates how the conventional emphasis placed upon "degree of harm done" in acts of psychological violence should be broadened to include "accumulative time lost" and "degree of reduction".

Extract:

Jan stepped up to the pinball machine with a face that could have been carved out of wood. I could see she was having trouble with inner demons and I just chattered away pretending not to notice. Her first ball didn't last long, and nor did the second, and to be honest, I'm not sure when it happened - she was going through this inner struggle, and as I said, I didn't want to intrude by looking at her too much. Anyway, at some point I turned to say something like "Well done!" (after she had played a quite tricky shot), and not only didn't she appear to hear me, it was almost as if I wasn't there! The transformation was amazing - Jan was totally engrossed in the game, smiling and almost laughing with delight. Playing with the abandonment of a child but not in a child-ish way, if you know what I mean. Even now as I look back on it, I still think it was quite incredible!

"The Rainbow Effect" [Back to Top]
Context:	An example of how an adult's acquired psychological history can affect their perception so that a child's exploration of the natural world is seen as "being naughty"
Extract:	(A 2 year-old child called Darren tried to copy an adult who had made a column of cigarette smoke dance in the sunlight by gently blowing at it:) ... Pursing his lips in an unfamiliar way Darren stretched upwards to blow, and as he did so, a fine spray of saliva was launched into the air. When the spray reached the shaft of sunlight it became transformed into hundreds of tiny transparent globules, each with a shimmering rainbow arcing down one side, that rose to a peak before falling lightly away. Darren sat back and stared in astonishment, but even as he took a deep breath and began leaning forward to do it again, all four adults standing in front of our table turned towards him, and in varying degrees of severity, said "Naughty!"...

"The Rainbow Effect" [Back to Top]

Context:

An example of how an adult's acquired psychological history can affect their perception so that a child's exploration of the natural world is seen as "being naughty"

Extract:

(A 2 year-old child called Darren tried to copy an adult who had made a column of cigarette smoke dance in the sunlight by gently blowing at it:) ... Pursing his lips in an unfamiliar way Darren stretched upwards to blow, and as he did so, a fine spray of saliva was launched into the air. When the spray reached the shaft of sunlight it became transformed into hundreds of tiny transparent globules, each with a shimmering rainbow arcing down one side, that rose to a peak before falling lightly away. Darren sat back and stared in astonishment, but even as he took a deep breath and began leaning forward to do it again, all four adults standing in front of our table turned towards him, and in varying degrees of severity, said "Naughty!"...

"What Big People do to Little People isn't fair" [Back to Top]
Context:	How a hurt child can be affected in social environments by an adult whose tone of voice is a function of repressed violence.
Extract:	...Less than two minutes later Stephen crawled under the table adjacent to mine. His first words were "Barry's wife told me off", and after a short pause a brief conversation ensued. The real eloquence, however, lay in the non-verbal communication radiating from how the small form lay stretched out on the floor...


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Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism

linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to The Baldwin Effect