Introduction
The story selected is “The Survivor, The Psychologist, and The Story” (Aron 31-51). Aron was born and raised in Missouri, USA. She studied Political Science and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. She then did her Masters and Ph.D. degrees in U.C. Santa Cruz, strategically focusing on Psychology. The story gives a psychological view of victims of different kinds of torture who sought political asylum in America. Therefore, one can argue that indeed, Aron is qualified to speak on the issue with authority based on the fact that she has not only studied the same but also practiced psychological counseling in her career. Her main point in the story is to link psychology to human behavior post-trauma and use this effectively within the judicial system. Debatably, the human mind reacts to different events that allow it to heal and make sense of what happened in an attempt to both survive and flourish.
Summary
Two main points can be deducted from the selected story. First, the human mind is a complex organ that seeks understanding above anything else. Aron narrates the story of Ms. Amaya, who resided in El Salvador in the 80s. She was a victim of political targeting and was tortured in various ways due to her political and religious affiliations. Aron notes that although Ms. Amaya fully recognizes the fact that what happened to her was unacceptable, in an attempt to come to terms with it, she has used her faith as a guide. The scholar explains that the victim truly believes that God protected her from further torture and death, which seemed imminent. However, Aron writes that this is due to the fact that the human mind seeks understanding to move on from a trauma.
The second point is that psychologists are vital in helping the judicial system understand victims of torture and even criminals. Aron believes that the second victim, Ms. Amaya, would have been denied political protection because her story was unbelievable. Ms. Amaya was a religious woman who was gang-raped and tortured for five days by the police in El Salvador. She found comfort in religion to explain what happened to her. In turn, this enabled her to remember all the details of her ordeal, unlike many trauma victims. Aron considers that whereas Ms. Amaya remembered her ordeal and spoke about it vividly, she was still significantly traumatized as a result of the gang-rape. Aron suggests that it would be difficult for a judge to understand the concept – why one torture was more inflicting than the other types of trauma endured during the same period – if expert witnesses are not calling in to explain.
Response Portion
This section of the essay will give an interpretation of the concepts presented by Aron in Ms. Amaya’s story. One can argue that Aron believes that the human mind is self-preserving. This is denoted by the fact that she notes that Ms. Amaya would not have been able to get over her trauma if her mind had not used religion to make sense of the terrible things that happened to her when she was in military prison. Aron explains that one of the main concerns of any victim of a crime or torture is credibility (34). This might seem unfair as it questions whether the victim has ulterior motives that would encourage him or her to lie. The scholar gives some of the common characteristics of crime targets, such as crying, avoiding eye contact, and failure to recollect the event clearly (Aron 34). Borrowing from a personal experience, any experience that might be traumatic to some extent allows a person to come up with explanations, either spiritual or otherwise.
Additionally, the fact that the brain uses common elements of a person’s life to make sense of things that have happened indicates that it (human mind) will do anything possible to self-preserve. In the case of Ms. Amaya, Aron notes that she used her faith for this purpose (46). Her faith acted as a cushion which she could lean on to explain that first, although she was traumatized, her faith in God helped her get out of the situation alive. Additionally, through her survival, she can fully understand the strength of her religion. This is enhanced by the fact that when asked, Ms. Amaya does not hold any resentment towards the police officers who tortured her and says that Jesus Christ will avenge her (Aron 49). This is further cemented my personal experience and knowledge where religion has been used to explain loss.
Notably, the fact that Ms. Amaya did not die during the torture was also because the authorities had no plan to kill her. Instead, they wanted to torture and humiliate her. Debatably, they used mock guns to try and shoot her. In her mind, however, the guns did not go off because God was protecting her (Aron 47). Again, it is plausible that her mind decided on this explanation for the events that took place as it was the only way she could both heal and thrive. Ms. Amaya is grateful to be alive and appreciates that the same God who delivered her from the hands of her tormentors will punish them on her behalf. Because she wholeheartedly believes this, she is at peace with herself and does not feel as helpless about her situation. In fact, she is triumphant, which is why she can confidently, albeit still with much pain, share her story. Arguably, knowledge I have gained from interaction with people who have survived trauma has proven that to some people, it is difficult to recount or even think about what happened. However, these are the individuals who also take the longest time to heal.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is a direct link between the ability to get over a trauma and how the brain perceives the event. It can be argued that people who fail to come up with their trauma’s coping mechanisms end up with complicated post-traumatic disorders that take longer to resolve. Religion is a significant catalyst when discussing healing after a traumatic experience. Arguably, the power of faith and hope allows the brain to make sense of unfortunate events in an attempt to survive and thrive. The story selected proves this in numerous ways, including the fact that the victim had chosen to fully forgive her tormentors in appreciation of what God did for her when she was in captivity. Regardless of the coping mechanism, it is critical for the judicial system to incorporate psychologists in a bid to fully understand the human psyche and different responses to various traumatic events. Indeed, the chosen text is a worthy read as it provides critical discussions on human rights based on how victims perceive their ordeals and how they resolve their traumatic experiences at an individual level.
Work Cited
Aron, Adrianne. Human Rights and Wrongs: Reluctant Heroes Fight Tyranny. New Millennium Writings, 2018.