In examining the content of what Dr. Ford claimed was indicative of the Trauma she endured, mental health professionals would have difficulty connecting a diagnosis of Trauma to what Dr. Ford spoke about during her testimony.
What differentiates Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from all other mental disorders? The difference is in its origin or what’s known as the trigger. Other such disorders, in general, are dateless, they may erupt because of genetics or a dysfunctional upbringing, or response to substance abuse, but little is known about when they actually began. With PTSD, however, there must be an event, a specific event that can be identified as related to the ensuing psychological and emotional state of an individual. With PTSD, the accompanying symptoms are easily identifiable and are related to the event or trigger.
During the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings we heard Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, under oath, offering testimony that was portrayed by the majority of media outlets repeatedly and obsessively as unequivocal, compelling and heartbreaking. Dr. Ford spoke about an alleged event that in her own words was a traumatic event of life changing proportions. Yet in examining the content of what Dr. Ford expressed as indicative of the Trauma that she endured, mental health professionals would have difficulty in connecting Trauma to what Dr. Ford spoke about during her testimony.
Before the onset of the trigger and the ensuing Trauma, victims do not suffer from amnesia and are aware of their surroundings. They may very well have lapses of memory and memory retrieval after an alleged event, but not about what occurred before it.
Up until the alleged event, Dr. Ford should not have had any difficulty in providing details. However Dr. Ford claimed that due to the alleged event she could not remember or recall basic details prior to what she says was the most traumatic event in her life. Not where the “assault” took place — she was not sure whose house it was, or even what street it was on, or how she got there, who brought her to the house. She was not even sure of the year, let alone the day and month. This is very untypical of PTSD and raises important questions about what really happened and if the story conveyed was real or imaginary. During my professional years as a mental health officer in a military and war time setting, these types of “before the event” memory lapses were always a “red flag” indicative of malingering ( the fabricating of symptoms of mental or physical disorders for a variety of reasons).
Dr. Ford conceded she told no one what happened to her at the time, not even her best friend or mother. Her immediate family; mother, father and two siblings, did not provide any supporting information or indication that the alleged event caused at the time any observable change or behavior that would attest to Dr. Ford experiencing a traumatic event of life changing proportions. It seems as if Dr. Ford went on with her teenage life without any measurable reactions by those closest to her.
Again in my professional experience, family members are the first to be almost immediately aware that a family member is suffering from Trauma, it is almost a given and unavoidable. Dr. Ford’s ability to move on during those years as if nothing happened not only does not make sense, but raises questions of credibility. Clinical psychologists and other mental health professionals who have treated PTSD are aware of the relevance of family members being aware of an abrupt change in behavior and their involvement in reporting this change to relevant helping professionals. The absence of her own immediate family members reporting any type of change in Dr. Ford’s behavior at the time is counter-indicative of Trauma as claimed by Dr. Ford.
Claustrophobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe with no easy way to escape. These situations can include open spaces, public transit (such as planes), shopping centres. Being in these situations may result in a panic attack. The symptoms occur nearly every time the situation is encountered and last for more than six months. Those affected will go to great lengths to avoid these situations.
Dr. Ford claimed during her testimony that she suffered from Claustrophobia and stated that her fear of flying and avoidance of flying was related to the alleged event that occured 36 years previously. During the cross examination, Prosecutor Rachel Mitchell was able to contradict Dr. Ford’s claim when it became evident that Dr. Ford has flown throughout her life both short and long distances and had even flown to the East coast just prior to her appearance in the Senate hearing. Clearly Dr. Ford does not suffer from an anxiety disorder related to flying and the assertion that the alleged event contributed to this anxiety makes the assertion even that more absurd.
During her testimony, Dr. Ford claimed that she suffered from long-term mental health effects after being sexually assaulted, including anxiety, claustrophobia, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. But how is latent and repressed trauma released and reactivated after so many years, what triggers it in the present?
In comparison, military PTSD can be reactivated, for example, by a former soldier participating in a family barbeque or with friends at a backyard barbeque, where the smell of searing meat on the grill reawakens memories of traumatic and difficult events in the battlefield of the stench of human flesh. During her testimony, Dr. Ford, a seasoned academic in the field of psychology, could have easily shared with listeners examples of how trauma has affected her life, yet her bizarre testimony often veered off into psychological jargon about brain chemistry, memory storage, and how trauma effects the brain.
When asked by committee members for her most vivid memory from the attack that allegedly occurred nearly 40 years ago, Ford responded, “Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two [men], and their having fun at my expense,” referring to the part of the brain mainly associated with memory. When discussing her trauma, Ford replied, “The etiology of anxiety and PTSD is multifactorial.”
Dr. Ford responded as if she was speaking of someone else or about the science of trauma and not about her own personal experience, possibly because she does not have a personal experience that she can convey or share – the small idiosyncratic memories that always come out when trauma patients share their difficult experience. In Dr. Ford’s testimony we heard of the hippocampus and laughter of two men who both deny being present at the alleged event.
During the testimony given by Dr. Ford, there were countless instances of the lack of coherent Trauma-related examples that would give an indication of PTSD as a result of a traumatic and life changing event. Instead we were party to a performance by Dr. Ford who spoke with a Betty Boop voice that fluctuated back and forth, leaving us wondering how much was real and how much was imaginary – or even how much was made up along the way.
The writer, a 25-year veteran of the I.D.F., served as a field mental health officer and Commander of the Central Psychiatric Military Clinic for Reserve Soldiers at Tel-Hashomer. Since retiring from active duty, he provides consultancy services to NGO’s implementing Psycho trauma and Psychoeducation programs to communities in the North and South of Israel and is a former strategic advisor to the Chief Foreign Envoy of Judea and Samaria. Contact: medconf@netvision.net.il
@ Sebastien Zorn:
I didn’t see anywhere where she was good or successful at it. You know that even mediocre “experts” have very little oversight, often..none. She didn’t do well in her own case, a very poor job obvious from the very beginning…to me anyway. The helpless, little girl looking appealingly at her lawyers for what to say, this 53 year old degreed and tenured …”child”….
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Yes, that’s where it’s from. He wrote his own stuff.. An American who made it big in England, where he stayed. .(Levinsky may even have originated in America). I’m fairly sure it’s on the internet, or even if you just type it in, it’ll come up as a youtube item. My memory slipped a little, It’s “Mr.and Mrs.Becky Wolf and the 4 little wolves, Benny, Ikey Mikey and Jakie Wolf…” I got it originally when a youth very long ago and still can repeat it almost verbatm. “I’ve known det yong goil for the lest 35-40 years…she’s got a great future…..behind her…”…. etc. “Mrs. Cohen dressed to kill….vy shouldn’t she..her husband’s a butcher…” “suffering from spinal maginnis”….etc.”Toenail poisoning” (from a sick fish). “enjoys verry bad health but tenk gott lately she’s complaining she feels a lot better..”
All clean and funny. The simple humour of “yesteryear..”..
@ Edgar G.:
Maybe she’s not a Dr. but a Dcr. as in the Mel Brooks bit, “The Psychologist” from his 2000 year old man album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbEmRM8Xxtw
But, I’m being unfair. It takes a lot of smarts to train recruits for the CIA and write papers on inducing false memories under hypnosis — see Breitbart article.
@ Edgar G.:
Oh, is that where that joke comes from? I’ve been retelling it all my life including recently. One of my favorites.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Very interesting…your almost movie career I mean. You may remember I detailed here that Howard Hawks once came to our Dublin home and tried to persuade my dear late mother to bring herself and me to Hollywood. So we both are film stars..almost.
Another interesting thing…almost…is your shared birthday with Cliff Robertson. The really important thing here is whether the presents were also shared…..another almost……??
For some reason…don’t ask me what….. am thinking about “Levinsky at The Wedding” monologue by Julian Rose. “it came time for supper..vat a rush, I was dere foist and seen everyting…across the table ven Finestein reached his hand for a piece fish he got 5 forks stuck in it. There was Mr..and Mrs. Becky Woolf…Boy could dem Wolves eat ….the fella vot said he wanted to keep the wolves away from his door…he meant DEM VOLVES……!!!
Now that impulse is over, I can sign off.
@ Edgar G.:
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes 1958. Famously adapted for radio, tv, and film. Won many awards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon I once auditioned for the part. Including the 1968 movie, “Charlie” starring Cliff Robertson who shares my birthday, coincidentally.
Yes, she is a CIA psychologist who wrote a published paper on how to induce fake memories through hypnosis, according to Breitbart.
The other witness was also CIA – connected.
Clearly, a Deep State conspiracy that needs to be exposed and prosectuted.
Welcome back, Bee.
@ honeybee:
I second the motion welcome back Bee!
@ honeybee:
Welcome back, Honeybee. Where ya been?
Ford and her ,”lttle girls voice”, an embarrassment to women.
@ adamdalgliesh:
What happened…?? You’re talking about 50 years ago. t evolved backwards…in other words..degenerated. I read a Science Fiction story once about a man who was a very low IQ creature, and some weather event occurred where slowly he became more intelligent until a beautiful teacher noticed and coached him. He became brilliant, they became engaged…but he slowly began losing his intelligence, forgetting the meanings of words all the way back to where he’d been at the beginning- helpless and incoherent.
That’s the Dem Party. ………. Tammany Hall…….. Truman, Hubert Humphrey, Jackson,,, then…… the rot….Schumer, Nadler, Wexler,…. Clinton, Obama…Clinton and Now……!! .Lowest EVER……………Tammany Hall double minus…
Sorry Adam, I don’t include Kennedy with the good guys. His machine swindled Nixon out of that election, and Nixon said, for the good of the country and respect for the Presidency he would not demand an investigation and recount….but we all know what happened. More Dem voted counted in areas than were total people etc.etc…. …
Jager is much too kind. It is obvious she made up the story very recently for political purposes. She enjoyed playing the victim, which has become a fashionable pose for privileged, wealthy women like her. But would still not have made up the story unless she were a committed leftist, determined to “do her bit” to derail Kavenaugh’s nomination. What depths of ruthlessness and cynicism the Democratic Party has sunk to. And this is said by someone who has been a registered Democrat since I first registered to vote, and remains registered Democrat even now. What has happened to the party of Harry Truman, John Kennedy and Henry Jackson?
It was very phony, she role played a victim and I bet her students couldn’t recognize her. She is a poor actress. The FBI should investigate the whole conspiracy to destroy Kavanaugh. From Feinstein, Ford, the Psychiatrist and the Polygraph guy. They must have communicated is met to plan this perjury and there has to be messages, meetings, Skype records etc, long before the Nominee was even announced. Note they left the name blank in all of her supposed psychiatric and polygraph reports. It was planned in advance for more than one possible nominee. Another “insurance”.
I’ve recently listened to several reports that she is not entitled to be called a Dr. She has never has a licence as a psychologist; and because of this and other unfolding items, her title of “Professor” was withdrawn and replaced by “associate”.
I believe that I was the first to refer to her childlike, innocent, hesitating voice, on this site about a week before it was generally spoken of. I also sad that in my opinion she was “acting”,It actually looked glaringly “phony” to me that a woman of her age –a professor etc– could behave like that, and looking appealingly to her attorneys when cornered. Very badly done.