Trauma and Will

It would be an interesting experiment to compare people with objective traumatic residue, as measured in EEG’s, with “normal” people when it comes to measurements of willpower.  I read Roy Baumeister’s book, but have forgotten much of it.  I do assume, though, that something approximating a test of willpower exists.

My prediction is that those with traumatic residue will perform much worse.  Trauma takes up much of your attentional capacity.  It takes a great deal of energy to keep it at bay, and to stay on a straight line.  Using a computer metaphor, it takes up much of your RAM, which makes it harder not just to parcel out willpower on useful tasks, but also to form the habits which would reduce the need for willpower.  Everything is in a state of constant collapse, and has to be rebuilt continually.  Doing nothing can be exhausting, and doing something likewise.

It is easy enough to see how, from this baseline, that depression, anger, and anxiety would flow like water downhill.  Depression is being tired of fighting all the time.  Anger is being unable to suppress impulses that most people would keep down, combined with an underlying state of existing hyperarousal.  Anxiety, of course, is simply being aware of what you are feeling.

And of course these can flow many directions, into eating disorders, gender dysphoric disorders, addictions of all sorts, what gets called ADHD, criminality: the list is about that of every human problem, other than true organic abnormalities.

I would like to see this research done, though, if it hasn’t been done.  The controls would seem reasonably easy to set up, and the overall protocol both useful and relatively easy to engineer.