Towards the beginning of the
chapter, I had a difficult time understanding why the prosecutors wanted Sandy
to testify. I’m not an attorney, but the evidence against the accused sounded very
strong. However, I do know a little about eyewitness testimony from my
Cognitive Psychology professor. He testified in court several times regarding
the effectiveness of eye witness testimony. Despite the story taking place 28
years ago, Dr. Perry still knew that Sandy’s testimony could be deemed unreliable
and it would likely hurt the case. Dr. Perry mentioned how narrative memories
have a tendency to “fill in” the “expected”. In my class, this concept was
called false memory. Here is a video based on an experiment that demonstrates
how false memories are created: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5sk504Yc94&pbjreload=10
The phrase “children are resilient”
is true, but only sometimes. The overuse of the phrase leads people to believe
that children will be okay without support no matter what happens to them. However,
as I learned in my Human and Behavior in the Social Environment class, children
need buffers when they are repeatedly exposed to stress. In class we learned
that resilience was the result of both internal qualities and buffering
relationships. I learned that just one secure relationship can create
resilience. The relationship can be an extended family member, a teacher, a
coach, or anyone who forms a positive connection with the child. In Sandy’s
case, Dr. Perry served as a buffer and appeared to help her develop resilience.
However, we don’t know if Sandy would have developed resilience without the
buffering relationship. Resilience is not an innate quality and some children do
not have buffering relationships to counteract the prolonged activation of
their stress response systems.
After reading Sandy’s list of
symptoms (p. 42), I thought Perry had just ripped the page out of the DSM-V for
PTSD in children and stuck it in his book. Her symptoms were a mirror image of
the current diagnostic criteria: intrusion symptoms, persistent avoidance of
stimuli associated with the traumatic event, and alterations in arousal
(American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 273). It’s hard for me to grasp
that her trauma could be dismissed as inconsequential until the trial, but the underfunding
of DCFS is no small secret. Additionally, not everyone has read the DSM-V and
carries a copy around in their pocket. For someone who does not have knowledge
of mental health or of Sandy’s past, he or she may have no idea of what was
going on or how to help Sandy.
One of my favorite quotes from the chapter was in the section on the misinterpretation of traumatized children’s responses. Perry quotes a family therapist who said, “we tend to prefer the certainty of misery to the misery of uncertainty”. In this instance, Perry was applying the quote to Sandy’s behavior in foster care. I have always found this idea interesting. I have seen how the desire to be in a familiar state can drive people’s thoughts and behaviors, even if the initial situation is positive. The result is often subconscious self-destructive behaviors. People who have always felt depressed or anxious may seek out situations that reinforce the familiar feeling if they start feeling happy or calm. Happy and calm may feel uncomfortable.
References
American Psychiatric Association.
(2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).
Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Madison,
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your perspective on the decision by the court/CPS/the prosecution to have Sandy testify—I felt more affected by this part of the chapter because of the inevitable retraumatization and short- and long-term psychological consequences Sandy would have experienced by testifying against her attacker in court. However, the video you shared drives home how unreliable eyewitness testimony can be, and how the research that has been done in this area in the last couple of decades could have been effectively used by the defense to remove any credibility from the prosecution and Sandy’s testimony. It truly would have been a lose-lose situation for Sandy: not only would she have experienced a great deal of retraumatization, but her mother’s murderer may have gone free if her testimony was deemed shaky or unreliable. Thanks for the share! Took me back to my work as an undergraduate criminal justice research assistant studying the efficacy of eyewitness suspect identification in video line-ups (spoiler: using video line-ups with eyewitnesses can yield some scary inaccurate results).
Your commentary on the importance of “buffering relationships” is timely. I have had the opportunity to attend several of Dr. Perry’s talks and one point that has always stood out to me is the “relational poverty” that so many children experience as a result of being in the foster care system, having limited access to a quality education or health care, or living in fragmented communities. There is a diagram (perhaps you’ve seen it) that Dr. Perry references frequently that offers a pictorial representation of the number of “positive relational interactions” that occur within a 24-hour time frame for a typical child and a child in foster care (Ludy-Dobson & Perry, 2010, p. 40). I’ve cited this below but have included a link that makes it a bit easier to access. For me, this image serves as a reminder of how important the role of positive relationships and interactions with peers and trusted adults can be for a child who is attempting to heal from trauma. Facilitating these interactions for the youth I may work with in the future is one of my primary goals.
https://childtrauma.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/The_Role_of_Healthy_Relational_Interactions_Perry.pdf
Ludy-Dobson, C. R., & Perry, B. D. (2010). The role of healthy relational interactions in buffering the impact of childhood trauma. In E. Gil, E. Gil (Eds.), Working with children to heal interpersonal trauma: The power of play (pp. 26-43). New York, NY, US: Guilford Press.
The video you included was a great experiment to get a true sense of how false memories develop. Although I didn't get the word "sleep", I was surprised at how difficult it was to recall even half of the words that he, only seconds before, read off of his list which makes me think of not only the creation of false narratives but how difficult it can be to even recall what happened in a situation.
ReplyDeleteI had the exact same thought as you, "someone who does not have knowledge of mental health or of Sandy’s past, he or she may have no idea of what was going on or how to help Sandy". Sandy was being protected from her mother's murderer for her "well-being", but they failed to view every aspect of this well-being. She was not being treated for the intense trauma that she experienced. Additionally, by not informing her family of her history, or at least giving them tools for how to work with Sandy appropriately they may have actually been doing more harm to her. Like you said Madison, not everyone is familiar with the effects of trauma nor do they carry around a DSM-5 so there is no way that the foster family would know how to support Sandy. When a foster child enters a home and shows signs of impulse or aggression, it may just seem like a "bad" child when in reality it has to do with their traumatic history. This is where psycho-education would be beneficial to the family.