Dementors

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 18977

David wrote:
 
> With that in mind, I think this is how the patronus may work.  It 
is 
> plain that the d's suck out good, rather than fill up with bad. 
They 
> affect some worse than others because they have more bad 
> (experiences) to leave behind.  The basic strategy is to resist by 
> holding on to the good things, in particularly the memory of a 
moment 
> of supreme happiness.  The patronus is the embodiment and symbol of 
> this.  Its unique shape asserts that it belongs to the sender alone 
> and therefore cannot be assimilated by the dementors.  The message 
> the dementors receive from its existence and activity is that 
> (because the sender has achieved the inner victory of holding on to 
> the memory) there is a source of hope that swamps their ability to 
> suck it away.  Once the dementors are dispersed the patronus 
returns 
> to its sender from whom it was never really separate.


This all sounds right to me.  One other observation:  Lupin says that 
the way to conjure a Patronus is to concentrate on a happy memory, 
and Harry's attempts to come up with one that is substantial enough 
to counter a Dementor are very moving.  But later on he relies not on 
a memory but on "a happy thought," e.g. living with Sirius (end of 
PA), celebrating the end of the tournament with Ron and Hermione (3rd 
task, GF).  It seems to work.  
 
> We may speculate that JKR did something similar to win her own 
inner 
> victory - if so, we may all have benefited as the series might have 
> stopped after 2.5 books.
> 
> Any thoughts?

I wonder if psychotherapists who work with depressed children are 
going to start suggesting that they conjure a Patronus when 
their "Dementors" come near.  I may sound like I'm joking, but I'm 
not.  It might be a good technique.  (For adults, too, but I don't 
imagine HP has found its way into the adult side of the field very 
much.)

Amy Z