Many Faces of PTSD by Susan Rau Stocker

Author:Susan Rau Stocker [Stocker, Susan Rau]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi, pdf
Tags: PTSD, Recovery, Rape, Incest, Post traumatic stress, Abuse, Abuse Survivor
ISBN: 9781615473014
Publisher: Holy Macro! Books

Maggie

Her Story

Maggie’s story began for me years before I ever met Maggie. Her dad had been a student of mine when I taught at a Midwestern university. I remembered him and I liked him. Adam was, in fact, the kind of student every college professor loves: an adult, a husband, a father, a successful businessman. He was in college to learn and to earn a degree. He never missed a class, had every assignment done on time and to the letter, and he made friends with other students, not just the smart or popular ones. He liked everyone, and everyone liked him. He owned a well-respected catering business and frequently came to class with cookies or sandwiches or something that he professed would go to waste if we didn’t all help out by eating them.

When class was over and his well-earned A was history, Adam would show up during my office hours with two cups of coffee and something for me to take home to my family. The something was usually some delectable food he was experimenting with or sometimes tickets to a local event. He’d hang out for a few minutes and talk and then take off. He never overstayed his welcome, nor did he ever overstep any boundaries.

I did learn during these visits that Adam had an unhappy marriage but two daughters he adored. The older girl was the golden child. The younger was a screw-up and a cold fish. Since she was a baby, he told me, Maggie had hated to be held and touched. She’d stiffen when anyone picked her up. We brainstormed a little on how to help this child, and then, slowly, Adam disappeared from my life.

After I had transitioned completely from teacher to therapist, I got a phone call from him. Maggie had just turned eighteen and Adam wondered if I’d see her as a client. She was confused about what to do after high school. Oh, and also, she had run away from home and was staying with a girlfriend’s family. Adam was enlisting my help to get her back home.

I’ve provided this introduction of Maggie because I want you to share my incredulity when she comes into my office and tells me her story. The reason she even agreed to come was tied to the fact that she had a car for which her dad made the payments and bought the gas. Coming to see me was the price for keeping and driving the car.

Maggie was a hard shell of a girl, petite, blonde, blue-eyed and frighteningly thin. She wore no makeup and no smile. She was dwarfed inside her clothes. The first promise she extracted from me was in response to a threat. If I ever told her father anything, she said, she’d stop coming. She was over eighteen, I assured her. As long as she wasn’t planning to kill him or herself, or anyone else for that matter, anything she told me was strictly between us.

It still took Maggie a few weeks and a few tests of me before she trusted me enough to get down to business.

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