Daniel Kahneman is a Princeton University psychologist and 2003 Nobel Prize recipient for his founding of Behavioral Economics. His practical application of Decision-Making Theory to naturalistic human behaviors, both volitional and automatic, has established the emergent field of Microeconomics to ordinary life circumstances.
His “riddle of experience vs. memory,” provides a fascinating empirical example of the wide disparity between our actual experience of trauma as virtual unrelated to the story we tell others and ourselves about life’s difficulties. In scientific fact, the relationship between the pains we feel and the pain we remember, is often exactly reversed.
The conclusions to be taken from his numerous studies concern the “mindful” and attentive use of language constructions, when characterizing past traumas. The old adage “why cry over spilled milk?” seems to have considerable scientific validity. Dr. Kahneman’s scientific assertion goes to the heart of Attachment Theory in human development as well.
Recollections of childhood trauma, cannot ever be validated, and actually is quite likely incorrect remembered. More significantly, constructing a real-time retrospective narrative, by its very nature will become re-traumatizing in the here-and-now, given the ossifying effect of actualized language. The framing past experience in anything other then a resilient, constructive narrative mind-set, leads to a neurological form of rehearsal and preparation for reoccurrences.

This is a TED.com 20-minute presentation