Now I recall my emotions at that moment, children seem to me a remarkable race. They want so much to murder so many people, and they so rarely murder anybody at all.

~ Rebecca West

Rebecca West Children Murder Powerlessness

Psychological trauma is an affliction of the powerless. At the moment of trauma, the victim is rendered helpless by overwhelming force. When the force is that of nature, we speak of disasters. When the force is that of other human beings, we speak of atrocities. Traumatic events overwhelm the ordinary systems of care that give people a sense of control, connection, and meaning.… Traumatic events are extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but rather because they overwhelm the ordinary human adaptations to life.… They confront human beings with the extremities of helplessness and terror, and evoke the responses of catastrophe.

~ Judith Lewis Herman

Judith Lewis Herman Abuse Atrocities Catastrophe Disasters Helplessness Incest Mental Disorder Mental Health Mental Illness Powerless Powerlessness Ptsd Rape Sexual Abuse Survivors Terrifying Terror Traumatic Experiences Traumatized

Perfectionism is the unparalleled defense for emotionally abandoned children. The existential unattainability of perfection saves the child from giving up, unless or until, scant success forces him to retreat into the depression of a dissociative disorder, or launches him hyperactively into an incipient conduct disorder. Perfectionism also provides a sense of meaning and direction for the powerless and unsupported child. In the guise of self-control, striving to be perfect offers a simulacrum of a sense of control. Self-control is also safer to pursue because abandoning parents typically reserve their severest punishment for children who are vocal about their negligence.

~ Pete Walker

Pete Walker Abandonment Abusive Parents Child Abuse Child Neglect Conduct Disorder Defense Mechanism Dissociation Dissociative Disorder Dissociative Identity Disorder Emotional Abuse Emotionally Unavailable Mental Health Mental Illness Perfectionism Powerlessness Psychological Abuse Punishment Self Control Survivors Survivors Of Abuse

She is a slave, with no way home.

~ Heather Demetrios

Heather Demetrios Powerlessness Slavery

When we feel powerless in a hostile world we can at least practice quelling the enmity in our minds.

~ Bryant Mcgill

Bryant Mcgill Enmity Feeling Hostility Mentality Powerlessness Practice

It is so much more threatening to have something out of hand than to believe that at any moment I can stop (I started to say This foolishness) any time I need to.

~ Flora Rheta Schreiber

Flora Rheta Schreiber Controllability Denial Denial Of Reality Dissociative Identity Disorder Lack Of Control Multiple Personalities Multiple Personality Disorder Need For Control Out Of Hand Powerless Powerless Quotes Powerlessness Sybil