Trauma Reactions

[Jeana (DP)]

Don't worry for a minute, Beesy. Nobody owes me an apology. I'm not even sure if repressed memories are actually traumatic amnesia. I do know my repressed memories were caused by continual trauma, but I've never heard it referred to as traumatic amnesia. It's possible they came up with that term because the term repressed memories got so much bad press back in the 90's. I just wanted to go on record in the Darlie forum as saying repressed memories do exist... but there isn't a bone in my body that thinks Darlie has/had them. There's a huge difference between lying your fool head off and having repressed memories!

For all of you who are actually experiencing Fall temperatures, I just want to let everyone know that we are baking here in Dallas. Geez, it's October 18, and it hit 93 degrees today. Unbelievable. I hear we're cooling down to the upper 70's by Friday. Whoopie!

LOL We're supposed to have our pool finished this week. My kids are thrilled. 90s all week.

 

[HeartofTexas]

Jeana, the weathermen are all saying mid to upper 70's by Friday, and low 70's over the weekend, and upper 60's on Monday. I hope the pool is finished and filled by Wednesday, or Thursday at the latest.

 

[Mama-cita]

Jeana, the weathermen are all saying mid to upper 70's by Friday, and low 70's over the weekend, and upper 60's on Monday. I hope the pool is finished and filled by Wednesday, or Thursday at the latest.

Fifty degrees and falling here. I had to have my boys in winter coats so we could go to my nephews football game. Even then, their little noses and ears were cold and red. And the number one concession at the game was...
HOT CHOCOLATE! I am jealous of that heat y'all!

 

[HeartofTexas]

Is everyone braced for the heat bills this winter? Arrrgggghhh! I can't bear to even think about them. I hope any of you that live in places where the winters are really cold aren't hit too hard by the increases. And Mamacita, the hot chocolate sounds pretty good right now... I'm so tired of the heat. It's been relentless for month after month.

 

[Goody]

Is this still talk about Darlie Routier? No body ever did claim head injure. Where did you read this Goody?

There has always been a lot of talk by supporters that claim she could have received a head injury that went undetected by doctors and that could have caused her TA, but that is not possible because the kind of head injury required to suffer the brain damage that causes TA from a head injury would be significant. Definitely not something overlooked by doctors.

At trial, Darlie was evasive when asked about it. As I recall she said something about having a headache, as usual making the implication that MAYBE she had a head injury without really coming out and making a claim. If you want to verify that just go back and reread her testimony. It is in there somewhere. If it isn't, I might be remembering something the nurses said she said to them. I haven't reread the testimony in a long time.

 

[Goody]

I am here to tell you that there IS such a thing as repressed memory. There is also such a thing as body memories. I was sexually abused for many, many years and while I always remembered I was abused, I had forgotten many instances. Interestingly, I had also forgotten most of each instance... i.e., I would remember a few moments in the middle of the event... but never the beginning and NEVER the end. Also, I witnessed many traumatic events happening to my brother but have absolutely no memory of any of them. OTOH, many of the same things that happened to my brother, happened to me within minutes, and I remember most of that abuse as it happened to me. My brother was sent to an orphanage when I was 6 and to this day I have never recalled that event... but if anyone mentions orphanage to me, I start crying and shaking.

If repeated traumatic abuse happens to an individual an early age (and I'm not isolating that to just include sexual abuse), then the trauma alone can cause repressed memories to occur. It's simply a way to survive... you shove the memories as far away from your consciousness as you possibly can. I think it's incredibly sad that some unscrupulous therapists pushed retrieving "repressed memories" the way they did in past years, to the point that a whole movement sprung up claiming there was no such thing as repressed memories. OTOH, as I've said before, most people who are willing to sexually abuse small children are the very same people who would lie until the sheep came home about having done it... so it's never surprised me that there is an entire group of parents who have formed a group claiming their child had false repressed memories. I'm not saying every parent in the group was an abuser, but you can bet your bottom dollar that many were. The statistics, as we know them, on sexual abuse of children is so outrageous that it is appalling... and yet many people still want to believe that the children are making it up. But the statistics are actually much higher than anyone can prove because most children never come forward to report them. As the statistics now stand, 1 in 4 girls are sexually abused by the age of 18.

For anyone who doesn't believe in repressed memories, I suggest reading anything to do with Marilyn Van Derbur's (a former Miss America) abuse by her father, a prominent and wealthy Denver man. It occurred from the age of 5 (I believe) until the age of 18. In order to survive, she split off into day memories and night memories. It wasn't until her own daughter reached the age she was when her abuse started that she was able to start retrieving her lost memories...and it took many, many years for her to recover. At one point she even became paralyzed and couldn't move her legs.

I agree that what you describe does occur. I have no first hand knowledge of it, like you do, but I am aware others have. I didn't mean to minimize it. I am sorry if I did. I was just trying to respond to Beesy's referrence in relation to Darlie's case. As we know, she was not a child and she did not suffer repeated abuses that could have traumatized her and repressed memories. My skepticism of repressed memory in general is based only on cases wherein there is reason to think maybe the therapist is behind the memory recall as opposed to actual events. But that, by no means, should minimize any real experiences by others whose memories are real.

 

[Goody]

For all of you who are actually experiencing Fall temperatures, I just want to let everyone know that we are baking here in Dallas. Geez, it's October 18, and it hit 93 degrees today. Unbelievable. I hear we're cooling down to the upper 70's by Friday. Whoopie!

Does it snow in Dallas?

 

[Goody]

Is everyone braced for the heat bills this winter? Arrrgggghhh! I can't bear to even think about them. I hope any of you that live in places where the winters are really cold aren't hit too hard by the increases. And Mamacita, the hot chocolate sounds pretty good right now... I'm so tired of the heat. It's been relentless for month after month.

Why doesn;t everyone list their state so it shows under their screen name? grrrrrrr......

 

[HeartofTexas]

Yes, it occasionally snows in Dallas. Maybe once a year, if that often. It rarely sticks very long, however... but the kids love it! It's a big event when it happens. If it looks like the snow isn't going to melt by mid-morning, the schools close because few people in Dallas know how to drive in ice or snow.

 

[Mama-cita]

Why doesn;t everyone list their state so it shows under their screen name? grrrrrrr......

I'm in PA! But I lived in Knoxville at one time, doesn't get nearly as cold there! We are having a Geo-thermal heat pump installed. It's an expensive *advertiser censored*, but it will cut heating and cooling of our home by more than 50%, it is going to eliminate the need for gas heat and air conditioners. We'll see...

 

[HeartofTexas]

My skepticism of repressed memory in general is based only on cases wherein there is reason to think maybe the therapist is behind the memory recall as opposed to actual events.

I agree, Goody, that there was much abuse of the "repressed memories" phenomenon. It hurt a lot of innocent people. Most of all, though, it diminished the truth, which is that far too many children are molested by trusted caregivers. Once the skeptics found a chink in the armour, they pounded it relentlessly in the press. For those of us who had actual repressed memories, it was very sad indeed.

Any repressing going on in Darlie's mind is self-induced!

 

[HeartofTexas]

I've never heard of a geo-thermal heat pump but, if it does what you say it will, then I bet we'll be hearing more and more about them. Something has to give... I don't know how people on fixed incomes will ever afford the huge increase in gas to heat their homes. And there are many people not on fixed incomes that will have problems paying their heating bills this winter, too. I have a feeling our economy is going to be very badly affected by this... just wait till the stores aren't as crowded with Christmas shopping this year because people are too busy trying to pay their bills in order to keep warm.

 

[Goody]

Yes, it occasionally snows in Dallas. Maybe once a year, if that often. It rarely sticks very long, however... but the kids love it! It's a big event when it happens. If it looks like the snow isn't going to melt by mid-morning, the schools close because few people in Dallas know how to drive in ice or snow.

Same here. Bridges in the outlying areas freeze up so any snow is pretty much a school closing. Sometimes freezing rain will do it too. It seems like we get more ice than snow, and that is a bummer. I would rather have the snow.

 

[Goody]

I'm in PA! But I lived in Knoxville at one time, doesn't get nearly as cold there! We are having a Geo-thermal heat pump installed. It's an expensive *advertiser censored*, but it will cut heating and cooling of our home by more than 50%, it is going to eliminate the need for gas heat and air conditioners. We'll see...

What does a geo-thermal heat pump run on? Sounds interesting.

PA is really, reeeeaaaaaally cold! brrrr......

 

[Goody]

I agree, Goody, that there was much abuse of the "repressed memories" phenomenon. It hurt a lot of innocent people. Most of all, though, it diminished the truth, which is that far too many children are molested by trusted caregivers. Once the skeptics found a chink in the armour, they pounded it relentlessly in the press. For those of us who had actual repressed memories, it was very sad indeed.

Any repressing going on in Darlie's mind is self-induced!

Exactly. And I agree that the people who abused repressed memory hurt many, many innocent people like abuse in most areas of our lives does.

 

[beesy]

Same here. Bridges in the outlying areas freeze up so any snow is pretty much a school closing. Sometimes freezing rain will do it too. It seems like we get more ice than snow, and that is a bummer. I would rather have the snow.

Yep, here too..we've been getting more snow in the past few years than ever before. Schools close for 2 days if there is even a bit on the road. We freak out if it gets under 20F around here, which doesn't happen often. My heating bills are much lower than my AC bill, so as far as that goes, I'm looking forward to it.

 

[beesy]

I am here to tell you that there IS such a thing as repressed memory. There is also such a thing as body memories. I was sexually abused for many, many years and while I always remembered I was abused, I had forgotten many instances. Interestingly, I had also forgotten most of each instance... i.e., I would remember a few moments in the middle of the event... but never the beginning and NEVER the end. Also, I witnessed many traumatic events happening to my brother but have absolutely no memory of any of them. OTOH, many of the same things that happened to my brother, happened to me within minutes, and I remember most of that abuse as it happened to me. My brother was sent to an orphanage when I was 6 and to this day I have never recalled that event... but if anyone mentions orphanage to me, I start crying and shaking.

If repeated traumatic abuse happens to an individual an early age (and I'm not isolating that to just include sexual abuse), then the trauma alone can cause repressed memories to occur. It's simply a way to survive... you shove the memories as far away from your consciousness as you possibly can. I think it's incredibly sad that some unscrupulous therapists pushed retrieving "repressed memories" the way they did in past years, to the point that a whole movement sprung up claiming there was no such thing as repressed memories. OTOH, as I've said before, most people who are willing to sexually abuse small children are the very same people who would lie until the sheep came home about having done it... so it's never surprised me that there is an entire group of parents who have formed a group claiming their child had false repressed memories. I'm not saying every parent in the group was an abuser, but you can bet your bottom dollar that many were. The statistics, as we know them, on sexual abuse of children is so outrageous that it is appalling... and yet many people still want to believe that the children are making it up. But the statistics are actually much higher than anyone can prove because most children never come forward to report them. As the statistics now stand, 1 in 4 girls are sexually abused by the age of 18.

For anyone who doesn't believe in repressed memories, I suggest reading anything to do with Marilyn Van Derbur's (a former Miss America) abuse by her father, a prominent and wealthy Denver man. It occurred from the age of 5 (I believe) until the age of 18. In order to survive, she split off into day memories and night memories. It wasn't until her own daughter reached the age she was when her abuse started that she was able to start retrieving her lost memories...and it took many, many years for her to recover. At one point she even became paralyzed and couldn't move her legs.

Thank you Heart for explaining this to me further. Like I said, it's very hard for someone like me to separate the charletons from the honest people. From what you are saying, repressed memory is often retrieved without hypnosis?

 

[Goody]

Yep, here too..we've been getting more snow in the past few years than ever before. Schools close for 2 days if there is even a bit on the road. We freak out if it gets under 20F around here, which doesn't happen often. My heating bills are much lower than my AC bill, so as far as that goes, I'm looking forward to it.

One of these days Goody just might turn up in Virginia, Bees. I would like year round sunshine and temps in the 70s but not much chance of that on my budget. hahahahahah.

 

[beesy]

Don't worry for a minute, Beesy. Nobody owes me an apology. I'm not even sure if repressed memories are actually traumatic amnesia. I do know my repressed memories were caused by continual trauma, but I've never heard it referred to as traumatic amnesia. It's possible they came up with that term because the term repressed memories got so much bad press back in the 90's. I just wanted to go on record in the Darlie forum as saying repressed memories do exist... but there isn't a bone in my body that thinks Darlie has/had them. There's a huge difference between lying your fool head off and having repressed memories!

I don't know if TA and RM are the same either. Either way Darlie is full of it.

 

[beesy]

Speaking of all of this..has anyone seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? I really liked it. I was completely fascinated with the whole idea