Post Traumatic Bliss Hecht Analysis

The term “posttraumatic bliss” occurs after someone suffers physical or psychological trauma that causes a change in the way the person thinks about life. Hecht suggests that almost dying can realign you in a way that is the positive incarnation of trauma. (235) Hecht provides the example of a cancer survivor and how they live every day in exquisite gratitude because they are still alive and have survived through cancer. Hecht tell us that throughout history people have tried to give themselves a jolt of the positive incarnation of trauma by traumatizing themselves with thoughts of death (235). Other examples are Koheleth in Ecclesiaste said “Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.” and Aurelius said if instead of fearing death, “you shall fear never to have begun to live according to nature”… Pay attention to living fully and you won’t worry about death.
in Hecht 236) Hecht connects this idea to the idea of happiness because this way of thinking will help you to understanding death in a way that won’t distress you and if you remember that death is something that must happen to everyone, one can create a transformation within oneself and have a happier life. The effects that remembering death has on my idea of happiness is I know that we all must die, we all must enjoy life to the fullest while we are alive, and we must create a better future for our kids, but no one ever expects that their child will die before them. Trying to put your life back together after the loss of a child is unbearable. The pain and the grief is enough to succumb your