[HPforGrownups] Re: Sirius: Sensory Deprivation and Slashing the Fat Lady

[Monika Huebner]

No: HPFGUIDX 47720

On Tue, 03 Dec 2002 23:02:18 -0000, "nyndwarrego"
<nyndwarrego at hotmail.com> wrote:

>Monika - BRAVO!

Um, thanks. <blushes> Okay, I just felt like saying thanks, even if it
is off topic. <g>

>The expression of PTSD fluctuates, and onset can be many years after
>the original trauma.  I would agree that it is an often over-used
>diagnosis, but no less real for that.
>
>I see it often in police or emergency workers - they appear to deal
>well enough with events at the time, but it catches up with them
>months or even years later.  

I have read at least one or two interesting articles dealing with
vicarious trauma, and apparently it not only happens to police,
emergency workers or fire fighters, but also to psychologists, as
weird as this may sound. There have been studies about this. Well, so
much for Sirius having to be a saint to be traumatized by the deaths
of his friends.

I have been asked off list for references, and I apologize for not
including at least the links to two of the most useful websites about
PTSD you can find on the web in my last post. So, for anyone
interested in reading further, I highly recommend the following two
sites:

The National Center for PTSD
http://www.ncptsd.org

David Baldwin's Trauma Pages:
http://www.trauma-pages.com

On both sites you'll find loads of useful information as well as a
huge collection of full text articles.


On Tue, 3 Dec 2002 12:49:23 -0800 (PST), Rebecca Stephens
<rsteph1981 at yahoo.com> wrote:

[still on the subject of slashing the Fat Lady:]

>I would (if possible without sending him back to
>Azkaban) make Sirius serve some kind of punishment for
>what he did.  

I was thinking of just ignoring this, but then decided against it, I
guess I just have to make a comment here. Do you really think Sirius
should be punished again after just serving twelve years in Azkaban
for something he did *not* do? The wizarding society has ostracized
him, he lived through twelve years of torture and remorse (yes,
remorse for something he *thought* he had done), and then you want to
punish him again for his reaction to what *society* has done to *him*?
I'm speechless again, and this doesn't happen *this* often to me. The
man needs a psychiatrist, but certainly not more punishment.

>And I would feel much better about
>Sirius if he were to have remorse for any of his
>actions that terrified or harmed people.  But he
>doesn't.  And no one cares.  And that's why I dislike
>him most; because no character (other than Snape)
>holds him in the least accountable for the
>cruel/thoughtless actions he did commit.

Well, other people have already said that we don't know what exactly
lead to that "prank", and I would like to add that I also cannot see
Snape as an innocent victim here. He is at least as responsible for it
as the others involved. As for Sirius not showing any remorse for it
in the Shrieking Shack: it would have been utterly ridiculous in this
situation, and his mental state certainly didn't allow it. And, as
someone else has pointed out, Snape wouldn't have accepted it anyway.

And may I ask what other "cruel" actions he doesn't have any remorse
for? The incident with Ron's leg was clearly an accident, and it *did*
bother him. I can certainly not make you like him, but I have to point
out that you don't seem to care in the least about what has been done
to *Sirius* and what turned him into an emotional wreck in the first
place (displaying the appropriate behaviour for someone like this).

Monika