BEARING: Silakbo PH’s Issue No. 2

SSilakbo PH’s second issue is about trauma: What is trauma? Who experiences it? What factors affect it? How do we respond to trauma? How do we recover?

Lenore Terr, a child psychiatrist who conducted the first longitudinal study of traumatized children, explained that psychic trauma “occurs when a sudden, unexpected, overwhelming intense emotional blow or a series of blows assaults the person from outside. Traumatic events are external, but they quickly become incorporated into the mind.”

This definition highlights that the external event is not the only source of trauma. It works in tandem with how an individual processes it. After all, everyone experiences intense and overwhelming events in some form, but not all of us are traumatized by them.

Similarly, clinician Van der Kolk writes, “Traumatization occurs when both internal and external resources are inadequate to cope with external threat.”

This means that trauma doesn’t stop with the experience of an overwhelming event; its aftermath is part of the process. The way people cope, how communities address traumatic experiences, the accessibility of resources to manage trauma—these all contribute to the process of traumatization.

The art and writings included in this issue discuss and inquire into the experience of trauma—its lasting effect, how it influences our relationships, how it is embedded in the body, how we cope, and how we might begin to heal.

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Contributors to this issue include Amy Victorino, Ryn Acosta, Dray, Paolo Dumlao, Megel Ramiterre, and Bea So. Some contributors have chosen to remain anonymous.

Content editors to this issue are Tracey Dela Cruz, Eugene Ong and AJ Elicaño. Design and illustration by Gail Quintos. Layout by Tracey Dela Cruz.

Read the full issue below or download it here.

BEARING Silakbo PH's Issue No 2