My first mistake was listening to the psychiatrist, instead of taking the advice of Seattle Police Homicide Detective, Don Cameron. His voice still echoes in my memory. There is no way to know how things would have been different for my boy had I taken his advice. My boy has been forced to live a lie because not one of the "mental health professionals" who "treated" him EVER acknowledged his traumatic injuries, or helped him to process his trauma, or even recognize that his symptoms---which were injuries---were not simply dysfunctional "behaviors." The following week, two of these so-called "professionals" actually attempted to get me to agree that my son needed "to be institutionalized for life" within weeks of his seventh birthday. There is no word that describes how I feel about the intellectual dissonance and willful blindness that must be required for people to repeatedly traumatize my son and in effect---blame my son for his injuries---instead of helping him to feel safe, or helping to prosecute the person who harmed him! These people had a duty to help my son; it would have helped him to know how valuable he is as a human being. He was a child who needed to feel safe; needed to know he would be protected from harm, he needed to know he was defended when he was criminally abused---Some had a legal duty---at the time of the crime---their failure to fulfill their legal duty is itself, criminally negligent---as is the failure of those who lied and helped to cover up these criminal failures; some perjured themselves in Superior Court. My boy was seven, he needed to know that people don't get away with beating little boys up and putting them in a closet.
He still does---he still doesn't feel safe.
4 comments:
Becky,
What advice did the police officer give you?
...Rossa
Rossa,
The Officer Cameron told me it would help Isaac to tell his story; and be heard and believed. He said it would help him to know that the woman was punished for hurting him, he wouldn't be so afraid. I have no doubt he was right; I had no doubt then...
What I had was a boy in a psychiatric unit, for what looked like a long time--it ended up being 10 months. I chose to listen to the so-called expert in that setting. I can't help but feel utterly betrayed---imagine finding out years down the road, that dealing with the actual cause of the trauma was the "recommended treatment" in the AACAP practice parameters for children with PTSD. The million dollar question is why in the hell did the psychiatrist tell me that talking about, or processing the trauma was the wrong thing to do, when I asked him? Is it because they wanted to put him on illegally marketed Risperdal?
Becky,
Thanks for clarifying. I understand why you are suspicious of the motivations of the psychiatrist, who may have been clueless as to the baser intentions of pharma. You have probably said all this before, so I apologize if I don't know the story. What was done can't be undone, but Isaac has a mother who loves him and surely recognizing and processing now what happened then can heal.
...Rossa
I have no doubt he can recover with support. The support he needs is non-existent for people who rely on Medicaid. The only option available to Isaac is from the community-based mental health clinic that operates entirely from the biological disease perspective; the "care" consists of pharmaceuticals, or "med management."
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