There are some things I have to work hard to properly remember. I'm not sure this difficulty remains productive after the initial phase of emotional reactivity.
And there is no "initial phase of emotional reactivity". It's a continuous spectrum of reactions and reactions to those reactions. Real trauma is like being hit by a train, or getting cancer. Yeah, you'll recover, but you'll never quite be as healthy as you were before the event even if your recovery is miraculous.
That's life, period.
Yeah, you'll recover, but you'll never quite be as healthy as you were before the event even if your recovery is miraculous.
I'm not quite a former war prisoner, but I'm objectively a more effective person in many ways because of what I went through. I am worse off some ways, too, sure. But again, that's life. Little comes free.
I want to remember.
I don't have statistics, but quite a lot of people are directly or indirectly affected by substance abuse, mental problems, illness, suecides, accidental or natural deaths or just plain bad luck.
Unless one lived alone in a padded room I find it unlikely one is not touched by a calamity or another within ones lifetime. But that's ok, just let grief do it's work, try to pick up the pieces and then carry on living.
Given the realities of life, I would presume most, by the time they reach middle age are mentally scarred one way or another.
I'm not sure of your life exeriences but as a soon 40 year old I would have enough nightmare stuff to severely mentally handicap me unless I had some way of coping with it. Moving on and not caring too much about ones personal history is sometimes a great strategy.