Sirius and PTSD

[heidi tandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 47358



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Judy [mailto:judyshapiro at directvinternet.com] 

 Marina said:
> > I don't think Azkaban is the traumatizing event for Sirius.
> I think the traumatizing event is his discovery of James and 
> Lily's deaths and Peter's betrayal.< 

While I think Marina is on the right track here, given that PTSD is
generally a disorder that exists only when there's been a threat to
one's personal safety or where one witnesses a threat to another, I
think that Sirius' traumatizing event may've been both of the above,
compounded by the fact that when he arrived at Godric's Hollow, and
realised Harry was alive, he did not yet realise or understand that he
and Harry were no longer in danger from Voldemort. We, with the
perspective of the narrative, often forget that it's likely that Sirius
walked to the ruins of the house not knowing if there was still a threat
to himself contained therein, or that after his discovery of Harry (who
had a visible head injury) he still didn't know if Voldemort or any
other Death Eaters were lying in wait and preparing another ambush. 

Then, of course, watching Peter murder a slew of Muggles, in an event
that again put Sirius' life in danger (he couldn't've known until it
actually happened that Peter wasn't going to hurt *him* physically) and
the immediate incarceration without trial were compounding events - in
fact, I would think that the only mitigating event of the whole time
period would've been his knowledge that Harry was under Dumbledore's
protection and safe in the "blood relative" protection at his Aunt's
house (whether or not he knew that Petunia and Lily didn't get along, it
probably wouldn't've occurred to him at the time that they'd be as cruel
as they were).

Judy replied:
 
> This is a very interesting theory, although I still have 
> trouble connecting Sirius' behavior in PoA with his behavior 
> in GoF.  If he has only partially recovered, I don't see why 
> his behavior should be so different.  I also have trouble 
> seeing Sirius as having the symptoms of PTSD in *either* of 
> the books.  For example, anxiety symptoms are a hallmark of 
> PTSD, but as far as I can tell,  Sirius doesn't show much 
> anxiety. However, I agree that we don't have complete 
> information about Sirius' behavior, so perhaps he has these 
> symptoms and we just don't see them.

How else would you describe his pleas to Harry to keep him posted about
anything unusual? Or what about his insistance on Harry becoming as
proficient at all the charms and spells he could, to get through the
Tri-Wizard tournament safely? Or his regular owls back and forth with
Dumbledore? Or even his decision to take the incalculatable risk to go
back to Hogsmeade, where less than a year before the whole town had been
on the watch for him, to live in a cave and eat rats, simply to be near
Harry, who he thought to be in danger?

If those are actions of someone suffering no anxiety symptoms, I do
wonder what you think someone anxious would do.

I admit that I haven't done extensive research into PTSD since 1996, so
it's been a while and I'm not perfectly familiar with the recent
research, but I went back to some of my older notes today and pulled a
few things that go specifically to the concerns Judy raises above. 

First and foremost is the belief some laypeople have that PTSD should
cause constant manifestations of the symptoms of PTSD. However, PTSD
results in three main categories of symptoms, but only one of them is
deemed a "constant" - and that, as I discussed in the first paragraph of
this reply, is the "anxiety" issue.

"Hyperarousal" reflects a constant expectation of danger. "Intrusion" is
the second sympton, and it refers to the lingering imprint of trauma on
mental processes. Traumatic memories are separated off from other life
memories, and are stored not in verbal and contextual form but as "vivid
sensations and images" sometimes re-enacted unconsciously in behaviors.
"Constriction" refers to the numbing of feelings, a natural response to
pain. 

Now, given that no Muggles have suffered a period of
"Dementor-intervention" simultaneous with suffering PTSD, it's hard to
assess perfectly the impact of that on the constriction symptom, and I
am willing to give JKR a little allowance on that simply because she has
to fit the symptoms in and around her narrative. 

Sirius' behaviour in the Shack, which is the only time in canon that
he's been in a position to relate the events of the night of James and
Lily's murder, can evidence, in his kinetic and abrupt movements,
intrusion symptoms.

And of course, hyperarousal is related directly to anxiety.

A 1999 article which has some interesting graphs about baseline and
arousal states says this:
During familiar routines the patterns of neuronal activity in the brain
(especially in the regulatory systems in the brain) are familiar and
similar to previously stored 'templates' of activation - that is, in
equilibrium. Traumatic events disrupt these patterns, causing
disequilibrium. Patterns of neuronal activity present during the
traumatic experience are unlike those present during routine daily
activities and therefore will influence and alter functioning from the
cortex (cognition) to the brainstem (core physiological state
regulation).
(http://207.235.43.156/CTAMATERIALS/Memories.ASP)

Although the article focuses on children, there are some very
interesting case studies about children who witness homicides or the
aftermaths thereof, and it's a good narrative read on the range of
manifestations of PTSD and related disorders. 


heidi