One of the ‘mistakes’ we make in understanding mental illness is assuming that our identity and personality are the same thing. This becomes really confusing when, because of previous psychological trauma, our heightened response to threats become labelled as a ‘personality disorder’. We now have professionals confirming ‘we’ are broken and not recognising that we are simply, deeply traumatised.
Our ‘personality’ is our trauma.
If we have no trauma – our ‘personality’ is fair and balanced. If we suffered psychological trauma our ‘personality’ appears to be tetchy, unreasonable and maybe even dramatic. Yet, at all times, our responses, conditioned through trauma are not who we are, just only how we respond.
Unhelpful hypnosis.
It can be very easy for those who suffered psychological trauma to feel they are broken. But they are not. You cannot break yourself. What happens is that you mistake your reactions, which may seem irrational, for your self.
Once you can see that your ‘personality’ is nothing more than your personal responses based on how you have been conditioned – by prior experience – and that your ‘self’ is not this, things will get easier.
The self is the part that suffers, often through confusion, isolation, frustration and feeling rejected. It arises because of your responses.
Your sense of self is simply the reaction to how you interact with your world. It isn’t fixed or anything that can be broken.
Simply recognise that self is not personality. Self is the reaction to personality.Personality are your memories and experiences that shape how you react with your world. It is entirely dependent on whether you had a fair or unfair experience of life.
This doesn’t mean we are invalidating this trauma, just moving it to a place where we can get control over it.
