“For your own good, dude.” How
casual of a phrase this is, paired with the action being committed was really
jarring. This is a phrase friends say to each other when there’s gnarly
breakup, or the loss of an unhealthy item. Reading this chapter created a lot
of cognitive dissonance around this. What had the mother done? Why did she have
a mark on her? How can you be so casual while trying to murder a child? How do
you get two slits on your throat, and not die? Much less go attempt to drink
milk?! How do you fuck up slitting someones’ throat twice, to where they are
still alive?
Dr.Perry
talks about dissociation and how that caused Tina to survive. Dissociation as a
physical survival method supported biologically made only a bit of sense to me.
While I have seen many kids dissociate while working with them, I had only
gotten to the point of “fight , flight,or freeze”. While Tina was in freeze, it
didn’t occur to me that her blood flow was less, and focused away from critical
parts of her body. The shutting down of pain caused by dissociation I suppose
could account for her trying to drink milk only to realize it was coming out of
her throat.
I was
happy to see Dr.Perry utilizing medication more, and finding new ways to help
the boys at the residential center he was at. I think it’s also great that he
advocated his use for the medication. The amount of diagnoses these children
are given as opposed to PTSD is astonishing. I wonder if this is just because
it’s ahrder to diagnose PTSD due to kids’ limited communication? It infuriates
me that Tina’s case worker thinks that after all she went through, she doesn’t
need to see a mental health professional. The comments made about resiliency
were also shocking. “Oh yeah kids are resilient. They can see this stuff.” In
what world?! With their brains still developing, the stress becomes ingrained
and then impairs the brain function. Then as they grow it stays there until it
is able to be processed out.
I
really loved that Dr.Perry was so aware of how he was being perceived by Tina
and did what he could to be less intimidating and meet her at her level. He did not
try to rush the process other than by asking what happened to her neck. I found the information on tolerance and sensitization
to be interesting. I had only ever considered tolerance when thinking about
drug habits. Sensitization makes sense in terms of trauma response and
overdosing. Habituation being interrupted by negative emotion, and becoming
sensitized is also a phenomenon that I am familiar with. The constant comparison
of past patterns to what is currently happening is a very real thing for
someone who suffers from anxiety. Tina was most likely comparing each thing
that is occurring to the past, which I’m sure causes triggers for her PTSD.
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteYour opening paragraph was really powerful. I was similarly disturbed by the, “For your own good, dude,” phrase. In reading or watching shows about people that commit horrific acts against children, I am always curious about the mental health of the “criminals”. I wonder what happened in their upbringing or past that led them down a path of crime. I would guess that a majority of these individuals have traumatic pasts of their own. I oddly feel sympathy for “criminals”, because I wonder how different their lives may have turned out if they had better support systems and healthy adult role models.
I was also shocked to learn about our body’s ability to decrease blood flow in certain areas as a method of survival – I guess I should have paid more attention in my science classes?!
I had mixed emotions about Perry utilizing medication to address some of the biological stress responses. It sounds like medication was used as a last resort in the cases discussed in the chapter, but I often think medication is overused in children and adolescents. As we talked about in class, medication can alter the equilibrium in a child’s developing brain and children can become dependent on medication to reach a certain baseline. While I think medication is completely necessary in some cases, it worries me how these chemicals may impact a child’s developing brain.
Finally, I also appreciated how Perry remained aware of Tina’s perception of him and altered his interactions with Tina to ensure she felt comfortable. I think this was a perfect example of “meeting a client where they are”. While it can be tempting to jump straight into the heavy problems, I think being patient with clients is so crucial to the therapeutic relationship.
-Elizabeth “Izzy” Sterling
Wow. Your first paragraph are questions that ran through my mind the entire chapter. To think that this ACTUALLY happened is astounding. That humans are capable of inflicting incredible harm on others in unthinkable ways. The fact that Sandy physically survived is incalculable.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of dissociation as a physiological mechanism was new to me, as well. It makes sense that blood flow would have to slow down in order to protect the wounds and body. I had not really given it much thought of how odd it was that Sandy made the decision to try and drink milk. Taking dissociation into account, it makes more sense that her mind was disconnected from the bodily sensations she would have been experiencing.
I was so happy that Perry used his own clinical expertise and past client interactions to critically analyze the diagnoses and medications given to children. The act of legal action or inquiries taking place against your clinical decisions is intimidating but Perry had sound reasoning behind his advocacy. I was happy to learn that the boys did in fact have a decrease in their symptoms. I feel like the limited number of children PTSD diagnoses can be attributed to the belief that children are resilient. For example, it may be known in school systems that a child has had a difficult life and that their behavior “reflects” that but I don’t think much thought is given beyond that. The possibility that their development or brain chemistry or coping mechanisms have been severely altered DUE to the trauma seems like something often left out of the equation. It’s pretty unfortunate.