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Comment by eurasiantiger | Hacker News Reader

> And I didn’t have a history of any major trauma prior to the retreat

Yeah, right.

> in 2009 I started a fist fight in a French Quarter bar … I broke a window with my fist, misplaced my shirt, and guzzled about 16 bottles of Miller High Life … > That … represented a constant battle I had waged over the prior decade with anger and other negative emotions. I drank too much. I occasionally smashed printers that jammed. I had volatile relationships …

Would put my money on unacknowledged childhood trauma.

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Yeah, on the surface level it looks like the author exchanged an intensity for impulsive and aggressive behaviour with an intensity for mindfulness and meditation.

I wonder if this is a symptom of going far too much in a direction people don't normally do, similar to how people can and do die from water intoxication but almost never under regular conditions. The naive guidance of the meditation teachers saying "more of a good thing is always a good thing" with regards to meditation having the same role as organisers of a water drinking contest.

Heh, a very similar thing happened to me actually, and while I agree about the fist-fight comment, I honestly didn't have any childhood trauma. Came from a loving, pretty privileged family, but I still went off the rails with a 10 day silent retreat!

It's extremely easy to dismiss people like this, but, have a care, there are real people on the other end of your dismissive comments.

Suggest you book an appointment with a professional to talk about your childhood and family dynamics. Everyone has a different sense of normal unless we compare.

Heh, I have seen professionals, one literally said "I don't know why you're coming to see me!" ;)

What I'm curious about: Are you suggesting that it is childhood trauma that will trigger a bipolar episode (rather than the 10 days of silent meditation 10 days in a row!)

If "everyone" has childhood trauma, why don't we see a higher incidence of bipolar disorder in the population?

I don't want to dismiss your personal experience, this is just a general comment. "a loving, pretty privileged family" is not uncompatible with "childhood trauma".

The author claims not to have "history of any major trauma prior to the retreat" while also describing a decade of anger and negative emotion culminating in a serious fistfight.

unacknowledged childhood trauma is a real thing, it's not uncommon and does not constitute "dismissive comments" in any way.

Ironically, you are being very dismissive of eurasiantiger.

> Would put my money on unacknowledged childhood trauma.

My ex is a very experienced and well-trained child psychotherapist. She insists that all adult psychological problems are caused by childhood trauma.

She seems to rely heavily on R.D.Laing for that (she trained at the Tavistock); I thought Laing had been discredited, but it seems that nowadays he's back in favour.

[Edit] I don't agree with my ex. I think she must have fallen down an antipsychiatry rabbit-hole.

Why childhood, vs unacknowledged trauma as an adult?

I think it's just more likely that unacknowledged trauma originated in childhood. It's certainly possible to have unacknowledged trauma as adults, but it's less common because 1) it's closer in calendar time and therefore easier to remember and 2) you are more developed and able to actually identify what is traumatic.

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