libertysmic

[libertysmic]

Rioting is a maladaptive coping mechanism: don't be an enabler

What started out as peaceful protests quickly turned to riots this week as “enough is enough” echoed across the United States.

According to many left-leaning activists, the root of the chaos can be summed up with one word: trauma.

“Human beings pass on the trauma that they get,” said black rapper Killer Mike during a panel discussion at ComplexCon Chicago last year. “I’m not hard on my people because I understand it’s a learned behavior.”

Trauma was the powder keg.

George Floyd’s murder: the match.

On May 25th, George Floyd, a black man living in Minneapolis, was murdered by a police officer.

Boom.

Now, cities are burning. Innocent Americans of all races are being attacked and their businesses looted.

If we accept the premise that these destructive riots are a result of years of trauma within the black community, then we must acknowledge the fact that the riots are a maladaptive coping mechanism.

Lack of mental healthcare has reached it's tipping point. It is apparent that we cannot afford to wait for more mental healthcare on a national scale.

The care must start at home.

Breaking down coping mechanisms

According to GoodTherapy.org, coping mechanisms are “the strategies people often use in the face of stress and/or trauma to help manage painful or difficult emotions.”

Those strategies can be broken down into two categories: adaptive (healthy) and maladaptive (unhealthy).

Some examples of healthy coping mechanisms include: support, relaxation, and the most important in this case, problem-solving.

Unhealthy coping mechanisms include: escape, numbing, and the unfortunate leader of the pack today, compulsions.

So, what are compulsions? Well, things like: theft, reckless driving, physical abuse, and gambling all make the cut.

Sound familiar?

It should.

Lately, headline after headline reads like something out of a maladaptive coping mechanism how-to: “ATM rigged with explosives turns deadly,” “Cities reeling from violent riots,” “Riots turn deadly in Detroit.”

The solution

So, what are we going to do about it?

The worst possible response is to offer unyielding support of these maladaptive coping mechanisms in the name of understanding the black community’s trauma.

This response makes things worse.

Look at it this way: if your little brother who just returned from years of military action started excessively gambling, drinking, and fighting, what would you do?

I’d be willing to bet you wouldn’t say, “Hey, that’s ok because you’re struggling and I can’t possibly understand how you feel.”

No, you wouldn’t choose enabling. You’re smarter than that. You know enabling “actively causes harm and makes the situation worse.”

The best possible response, and what we should all be doing right now, is to help those suffering find an adaptive coping mechanism.

"Problem-solving," like voting in the officials that have a proven track record of helping improve the black community and voting out those that don't, seems like a good place to start.

Don’t be an enabler. Help those suffering find a better way.

“And just like you learn a behavior, you can also unlearn it,” Killer Mike said.

#coping mentalhealth riots2020 vote enable #politics uspolitics usa #conservative #liberal