Desensitization

The definition of desensitization reads as follows; the diminished emotional responsiveness to a negative, aversive or positive stimulus after repeated exposure to it. In simpler terms, it means to emotionally detach yourself from a situation or person to protect yourself. An example of this is when a soldier goes off to war. Soldiers often become desensitized due to the atrocities they might be asked to commit or have to witness and they emotionally detach themselves from the situation, this is also referred to as PTSD. Another example of people coming desensitized is everyone exposed to the media, especially as a modern society in North America. When we watch the news, more often than thot another tragedy just took place, whether it’s another school shooting, or another murder due to gang affiliation in rough cities like Compton or Detroit. Whenever we see such headlines we think that it’s sad but we don’t dwell on it. We immediately move on and forget or another one of these atrocities happen.

Desensitization can also be called PTSD which more people are familiar with. We often see cases of PTSD in soldiers who have been deployed. PTSD can be defined as a person who has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. “The condition may last months or years, with triggers that can bring back memories of the trauma accompanied by intense emotional and physical reactions. Symptoms may include nightmares or unwanted memories of the trauma, avoidance of situations that bring back memories of the trauma, heightened reactions, anxiety, or depressed mood. Treatment includes different types of trauma-focused psychotherapy as well as medications to manage symptoms.” (Mayo Clinic).  Sometimes when people are exposed to such horrors it is near impossible to process it as it is happening because it is human nature to survive and you can’t move forward and keep going if you have to process your best friend being killed right next to you. Desensitization becomes a coping mechanism meant to keep you going but eventually you’re going to have to face your demons and confront your fears and combat whatever emotional trauma has been thrown your way. One way or another your truth will be revealed and your past will come back but it is your choice whether or not you let it haunt you.

Paul D, a character in Toni Morrison’s Beloved describes his heart as a tin tobacco box. Throughout the book Paul D goes through hell, from being a slave at Sweet Home to being a prisoner, his emotional trauma eventually became too much to the point that he felt as though he needs to lock his memories and emotions from that time period in a box.  “It was some time before he could put Alfred, Georgia, Sixo, schoolteacher, Halle, his brothers, Sethe, Mister, the taste of iron, the sight of butter, the smell of hickory, notebook paper, one by one, into the tobacco tin lodged in his chest. By the time he got to 124 nothing in this world could pry it open.” (Morrison 133). He does this to protect himself so he doesn’t have to deal with his past. He wasn’t emotionally ready to face his fears and confront what happened head on so he kept everything buried deep inside. There are consequences to his actions. Due to this process, he also lost a big part of his humanity since he is actively giving up his  ability to empathize and sympathize with others. “By the time he got to Ohio, then then to Cincinnati, then to Halle Suggs’ mother’s house, he thought he had seen and felt it all. Even now as he put back the window frame he had smashed, he could not account for the pleasure in his surprise at seeing Halle’s wife alive, barefoot with uncovered hair—walking around the corner of the house with her shoes and stockings in her hands. The closed portion of his head opened like a greased lock.” (Morrison 119). He has been desensitized for so long that he can no longer open himself up and begin the grieving process, he needs the help of Beloved and Sethe to show him who he can be. He has the potential to be a good father as well as partner but he needs to open himself up to his past to move past it and reach his full potential.