Posts made in November, 2014

If I’m hysterical, it’s historical

Posted by Beth on Nov 22, 2014

I read a brilliant phrase in the memoir of TV writer  Tracy McMillan called I love you and I’m leaving anyway.  She said: “If I’m hysterical, it’s historical.” What she meant by that is when what would normally only be a mildly upsetting or neutral experience, unknowingly keys into similar past events that have not been fully processed and you find yourself going absolutely nuts over it – you’re in floods of tears, or incredibly anxious or you shut down completely – and no-one, perhaps least of all you, can understand why this has produced such intensity of emotion. This is our first clue that we have undealt events and...