My mother was a social worker in the 60s and 70s and helped me out a very little bit with this, but otherwise I'm very lost. I can't seem to find what I'm looking for.
My character is a child who has witnesses unparalleled cruelty (aka her entire family being lost in the Holocaust) and torture. She is ten when she comes to live with her new family and right now she has the following symptoms:
-Mutism
-Screaming and crying when being reminded of past events
-Other than the above, a general lack of affect except she smiles a couple of times
-Obsessive compulsive behavior
-Fear of abandonment
-Will stare into nothingness for a few hours at a time
-Had an episode where she peed her pants and froze in a catatonic stupor for a couple of hours when she was faced with something too similar to what had happened at Auschwitz.
Do these symptoms go together to represent severe post traumatic stress in a child? What should I add/change? Are there any books/websites recommended for further research (I've been looking and haven't found much).
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50,327 / 50,000
nov. 22, 2008 - 12 50
bump?
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nov. 22, 2008 - 13 50
It sounds pretty good. I'm not sure about the obsessive compulsive thing, unless it's something like hoarding food since folks in those prisons were barely fed. Mutism with periodic screaming and crying episodes, abandonment issues, fear of anything that might remind her of the place she was in, acting out, bed wetting, stealing, etc. all those sound good.
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/emotional_psychological_trauma.htm
psychological impact of severe emotional trauma - Google this
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nov. 22, 2008 - 14 26
Yep, I think you've got a good case for PTSD... You may want to take a look at the American Psychological Association, or google DSM IV post-traumatic stress disorder. The DSM IV provides very clear guidance on what has to happen, its frequency, and intensity for someone to be diagnosed with PTSD. Also, you do not actually have to have witnessed something to have PTSD, it's enough to have been "part" of it. For example, a military medic who has not witnessed combat can have PTSD from caring for those who have been through combat.
Best,
----------Sili
"I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds me." -- Harry Potter
50,327 / 50,000
nov. 22, 2008 - 17 22
thanks guys, you've been very helpful.
Its also difficult since it takes place in a different time period and the DSM was different back then!
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nov. 22, 2008 - 18 34
Well... depending on your time frame, they might have said her uterus was roaming (hence the term hysteria) or possessed by demons.
BUT. It doesn't matter if the DSM was different THEN... it still gives you an idea of the symptomology, what should be manifesting.
Best,
----------Sili
"I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds me." -- Harry Potter
51,338 / 50,000
nov. 22, 2008 - 18 43
See if you can get hold of CHILDREN WITH EMERALD EYES by Mira Rothenberg. It's a nonfiction account of her work with mentally ill children, most (maybe all?) of whom were holocaust survivors. Simon & Schuster, 1977
Here's a review:
http://everything2.com/e2node/Children%2520with%2520Emerald%2520Eyes
50,327 / 50,000
nov. 22, 2008 - 19 14
Oh gosh, ColoradoKate, that's awesome!!!! I will check it out.
The time period is right after WWII, so I think they knew by then she was mentally ill, however they didn't have an array of pscyhotropic drugs and treated them with high doses of shock therapy.