Sirius: Sensory Deprivation and Slashing the Fat Lady

[Monika Huebner]

No: HPFGUIDX 47518


>--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Judy" <judyshapiro at d...> wrote:

>Audra said:

>>>>>I propose that Sirius was suffering from 
>the effects sensory deprivation and
>solitary confinement from his time in Azkaban....
>Some possible effects of sensory deprivation 
>and solitary confinement (which I
>will refer to now as SD and SC for brevity's sake)
>that mimic PTSD are: vivid
>fantasies, hyper-responsivity to external 
>stimuli, free-floating anxiety, and
>extreme motor restlessness. Other possible
>effects of SD and SC include doubt
>of oneself and troubles in determining what
>is real, problems with controlling
>impulses (sometimes with random violence), 
>and emergence of primitive
>aggressive fantasies.<<<<

While I think this is an interesting POV, don't you think Sirius also
qualifies for PTSD? The sensory deprivation he suffered in Azkaban
certainly plays a role in his behavior in PoA, but IMHO he suffered a
severe trauma when the Potters were murdered. This couldn't very well
be resolved in Azkaban with all those Dementors around, and studies
have shown that long term imprisonment can be traumatizing in itself.
After all, he was innocent and never forgot this.


Judy said:

>Well, the symptoms certainly fit some of Sirius' behaviors in PoA. 
>The problem I see, however, is the timing.  While Sirius probably
>*was* sensory-deprived in Azkaban, he had been out of Azkaban for
>about 10 months by the time of the Shrieking Shack scene. 


This is why I would maintain (as I have said numerous times in the
past) that Sirius has PTSD. You can develop it even years after the
trauma has passed, and symptoms can last for years, for some people
even for a lifetime. It doesn't matter that he had been out of Azkaban
for ten months, because it's *post*-traumatic stress disorder.

>There is also still the question of why the symptoms would resolve by
>GoF, if they did in fact persist for the whole year of PoA. 

Another reason why I'd say he is suffering from PTSD rather than from
some other disorder. JKR did the only thing that could possibly help
him without psychological assistance: she sent him away, *far* away,
somewhere where neither the Dementors nor the MOM could reach him. He
had to be given the opportunity to feel safe for a time to recover
enough to play his role in GoF. And while four months of safety are
certainly not enough time to make him fully recover from twelve years
of ongoing trauma and torture, it was the best she could offer. And of
course JKR had to keep him away from Harry for plot reasons. ;-)

>I still think that if one wants an explanation for Sirius' behavior (I
>mean, an explanation other than the obvious one that he just has a
>really nasty temper), the best possibility is some sort of
>as-yet-undefined syndrome caused by dementor exposure. 

I won't pick up here on his "nasty temper" because I'm convinced
that's a red herring caused by his mental disorder, but let me clarify
that JKR herself stated in an interview that Dementors caused clinical
depressions. And we know that they also cause at least one classic
PTSD symptom, that is making the victim relive the worst moments of
his life (which is the same thing as the famous flashbacks).

> Hey, the
>dementors were still hanging around throughout PoA, so that's a
>convenient explanation of why the symptoms persisted all year and yet
>were suddenly gone a couple of months later!  (Not that I subscribe to
>this theory, myself.) 

I have to object here: his symptoms are certainly *not* gone a few
months later. The violence is gone, yes, but not the fact that he is
still emotionally distraught. It's only hinted at with the deadened
look in his eyes, but since this isn't a story about Sirius or told
from his POV, there's not really room to elaborate further on this.


>In the same post, Audra mentioned Sirius' slashing the Fat Lady, and
>said:
>>>> Slashing the portrait -- This was an aggressive reaction, but I
>would like to point out that the portrait was only an object, and I
>consider it to be the equivalent of breaking down a door.<<<

Well, unlike a lot of people here (and elsewhere) I will agree on
this. Okay, those portraits seem to have feelings, but I still rather
consider them as "objects". And IMHO JKR carefully chose to have him
attack one of those rather than a person or even an animal. This is
not "murder", but to maintain his image of the bad guy at this point
of the book, he had to do something that would upset a good deal of
the readers.

Just my 2 cents.

Monika
who doesn't read HPFGU very often these days, but couldn't resist
replying to this message.