Mind Moves:Falling is not just a physical event. It has psychological dimensions.
It carries emotional significance beyond the inbuilt indignity of thudding towards the ground in ungainly fashion. It shakes more than the body to find one's person unintentionally prone: the ego is dented, the security core is injured and confidence is damaged temporarily. For a fall is the first step (or rather the loss of footing) in a series of inevitable events that follow that fall.
There is a moment during which one is walking steadily, securely, two feet planted firmly on the ground, so to speak, just before one trips, slips, collides, drops, plummets, plunges, thuds or careers outwards, downwards, backwards or sideways into uncontrollable unpredictable nothingness.
The instinct is to grasp at anything that might keep one upright and deflect the impact of the fall. There is a sickening second when it is apparent that no help is "at hand".
Landing shakes the body and then the mind, with mental shock at the sight of blood and regression - hands held outstretched and the wish to howl like a child. Not until the anaesthetic of shock wears off do the other minor, niggling cuts, bruises and abrasions tingle into soreness. Truly falling is traumatic.
A fall may happen at any time, anywhere, to any person, whether alone or among others. By its nature it is startling, sudden and unexpected by the faller and witnesses. It may cause superficial injury, requiring no more than the application of sympathy, antiseptic and plasters or it may have serious physical consequences requiring emergency medical intervention and long-term recovery.
Luck is almost always involved, as to where and how one lands and the damage done in descent. The tragedy of a fatal fall is this fate dimension, particularly if the person who falls is young.
In a second a confident, capable, older person who falls may become dependent and thereafter lose trust in their capacity to live safely, independently and well. Family may fuss; alternatively, may not appreciate how shook an older person feels after what seems like a simple fall. There are psychological consequences to every fall.
There is often such a fine line between the superficial and serious injury that the thought of what might have happened is part of the shock for those who fall. The aftershock of a fall derives from the second before impact when anything is possible.
Another inch and an eye might be impaled, a limb fractured, teeth shattered, wrists cut, a nose broken. The wrong bump can cause spinal injury, the right landing mean simple cosmetic inconvenience for a week or two.
Destiny dictates. That is what shakes us if we fall, to look in the face of chance and know that it is in control. "Rough hew it how we will" providence plays a major part in our lives.
Apart from serious falls, there are social falls - those embarrassing occurrences when the party guest trips, red wine seeping into linen, clutching onto strangers to prevent descent. These mishaps call for the social solicitude and the reassurance of host and hostess that it could happen to anyone, while the remnants of designer glass glitters like gritted teeth from the parquet floor.
Bizarrely people often laugh when others fall, prompting entire TV programmes to pay for home videos of people suffering the indignity of a fall. Pavement falls bring public humiliation, trying to show passersby that you are fine by limping away with alacrity as they retrieve your scattered goods and groceries.
You ignore the carrots wedged in the gutter, your gloves soggy in a puddle and clothes mud-spattered and torn and hope the hotel doorman will admit you, in your dishevelled state, to their facilities for a private weep. Falls that cause facial bruises and bumps bring suspicious glances that one has had cosmetic surgery or been the victim of domestic cruelty or insobriety, and it is the brave husband who accompanies his wife in public places in the aftermath of a fall.
Insufficient notice seems to be paid to "falling" in psychological research although psychoanalysis is attentive to metaphoric meaning and the Freudian slip. Our language is replete with allegorical reference to physical and psychological descent. In biblical terms the misery of human life began with "The Fall".
Evil is represented by fallen angels. Dante emphasises the pilgrim's spiralling descent into hell. History records the rise and fall of empires.
We "see how the mighty are fallen". The crime is solved through a slip of the tongue. Destitution is termed skid row. We trip people up when we reveal their deceit or we fall for a con, a story or a scam. We plunge into debt. Shares drop. We are out of step, off balance, on a downward spiral. In need of support or a "pick me up" we lose our footing, lower ourselves, teeter on the brink, go over the edge, and are upended. Even love is not something within our control but something we fall into.
To the outside observer a small fall may look like an insignificant thing. But to those who experience it, the most minor tumble can be traumatic. Whatever your perspective on the subject, let us not fall out about it.
Marie Murray is director of psychology at St Vincent's Hospital, Fairview, Dublin.