Mariska Hargitay is lively and humorous despite the seriousness of her Law & Order: SVU persona.
The actress therefore made a joke to start off her remarks at the 18th annual Hope for Depression Research Foundation conference.
As she accepted the organization’s Hope Award for Depression Advocacy, she remarked, “Thank God I got an honorary doctorate from John Jay University because otherwise, I’d be really super insecure right now with all the doctors [in this room].”
On November 12, top scientists and psychiatrists gathered at New York City’s The Plaza Hotel to talk about the most recent findings on melancholy and trauma, with an emphasis on “how the brain heals.”
Working with survivors of sexual abuse through her Joyful Heart Foundation, Hargitay is well aware of the controversy surrounding severe trauma and the necessary recovery that ensues.
She continued by saying, “Joyful Heart was my response to reading the letters that I received from survivors when I started on SVU 852 years ago,” alluding to the television program’s historic history (it is currently in its 26th season).
My response to learning about the shocking numbers of sexual violence is “Joyful Heart.” Considering how widespread and prevalent these problems are in both our nation and the rest of the world, I was shocked that nobody was talking about them. “And I’ve come to realize that Joyful Heart was also a reaction to my own inner healing need.”
Hargitay’s mother, Hollywood actress Jayne Mansfield, was murdered in a car accident when she and her two older brothers were three years old.
On a more intimate level, I’ve also been learning how to handle the many catastrophes that have happened in my life. My mother passed away when I was three years old, and I grew up in a household that handled grief in their own unique way. In her speech, Hargitay said, “There was no time to prioritize anyone because there was so much sadness.”
“The tools we have now to metabolize and understand trauma, understand all the levels, and understand that it goes in on the cellular level were not available to us,” she informed me. “That was something I didn’t do for myself until much later in life.”
In January, Hargitay revealed in a first-person article for People that she, too, is a survivor of sexual trauma, having experienced it in her thirties.
Hargitay recalls, “I didn’t find the language to acknowledge it for what it was until much later.” As previously said, Joyful Heart was a response to my own experience, which allowed me to create a holistic foundation that spoke to trauma and survivors in the way I wanted.
The way that the Hope For Depression Research charity complements her own, which is in its 20th year, particularly impressed Hargitay.
In order to address the way trauma manifests in the body, she says, “I had the good fortune to find extraordinary therapists who introduced me to many different healing modalities, including somatic reprocessing and somatic experiencing.” EMDR is a methodical approach to trauma reprocessing. Internal family systems are sometimes referred to as component work, or IFS. My life was restored, my neurological system was reconstructed, and I gained a great deal of space—a notion that I now associate with healing—thanks to these procedures. It’s making space again.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to express how grateful I am to those who have supported me along the way, who have reflected my suffering back to me, and who have helped me integrate various facets of who I am and metabolize my trauma—the complex trauma that so many of us carry.” “Everyone has a story,” she said.
