STAMPING

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Stamping By Avery Mitchell Urban Survival Scientist

Raped at a place that seemed safe. Sliced by a knife sharp enough to cut ice. Shot in a spot where gushing blood could barely be blot. These types of life experiences are recorded in the mind with feelings, smells, sounds, and images. As the body is experiencing, the mind is “stamping,” or recording an episode for future reference. The initial experience influences the mind‟s subsequent response to stimuli that an individual associates with the original episode. Stamping is tied to the Episodic Memory part of the brain which allows someone to recall events of personal significance with vivid details and clear description. The more emotional the memory the more delineated the stamp. I coined the term „stamping” specifically to describe the phenomenon that occurs when an individual‟s mind records an incident from their past that could be positive or negative and when faced with a current event the mind draws upon that memory “stamp” to understand what is happening to them.

Examples of negative stamping would be the child that is thrown into the swimming pool and now as an adult goes into a total state of panic or freeze when someone mentions the word swimming pool or they see a swimming pool or the thought of going on a boat.


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STAMPING by Avery Mitchell, CMAS - Issuu