How Did You Sleep The Night Before?

“No I am perfectly fine thanks. But really I was in the upstairs room of the building you know and there was a mirror and a monster and…”

I was recently in a very deep conversation with a friend (whose name will remain nameless) in where she recalled her parent’s discipline measures. She went into great detail as to explain how a simple spanking quickly spiraled into forms of abuse that led to her feelings of fear and hatred toward her parents. She shared that when spanking didn’t work, her parents went on to use malicious force in order to control her behavior. As I listened to her story, I was moved to hear the things she had overcome. I watched as the tears ran down her face as she recalled her tragic life events.

“ I-I-I am so sorry, I also have family issues.” She said with a sad look on her face “My father was in charge of Auschwitz and he let my little brother Bruno die in a concentration camp…” she was cut off by the noise of dogs barking .

“Yeah this morning he screamed and said there was a monster in his closet. It scared me out of my skin. Well I suppose he’ll just grow out of it, right?” She asked him, biting her lip

“Darlin’, I’m so sorry that happened to you of all people. You are so sweet and kind. It’s just a downright shame.” Fiona reached out to stroke Casey’s trembling hand. “Go ahead and take your time, we have all day if need be. Why don’t you tell me about your daughter? I’m sure she was lovely.”

“Then how do you explain all the things that still happen to them now?” Savannah then asked me now sounding implacable.

“It is going to be okay, we will get through this as a family.” Mom said, softly.

"And you expect me to believe that Sebastian was the devil? Just what about was Sebastian evil? He was normal man who was kind to our family! How could you say such things?!" He roars.

“His name is unknown, but he is a very evil man. Wicked,” she gruffed, clearing her throat. “Once he starts following you, then so do the Blood Coats.”

“Good morning,” I said as I walked into room 34. I picked up the patient's chart and looked through it. “So you’ve been experiencing speech difficulties, headaches, nausea, and drowsiness?” I asked. “Yeah. I’m sure it’s nothing, though,” Mrs. Gallagher replied.

"Yes, I'm familiar with the evil monster. I can understand your misery and sadness over losing your family,

"He called me. He had murdered someone. He had all this pent up fury and rage in him. I never

“Before all of the questions, I need to know what happened to my parents.” The nurse looked uncomfortable.

Numerous theoretical frameworks attempting to explain the onset of child abuse/neglect could be applied to Dave’s testimony. The behaviourist perspective, one of the most widely used, suggests the values, experiences and conditions within socialisation are adopted by children as their normal way of responding to situations throughout life. With this concept in mind, children reared within hostile environments are believed to internalise aggression modelled, and potentially repeat the cycle, including behaving accordingly amongst their peers or during their own parenting. Termed ‘authoritarian’ discipline, this style of parenting relies on power, control and harsh forms of physical and emotional force, such as smacking and shouting, to force

I quickly began to spill everything that I had just witnessed. “ Well my dad was hitting my mom, and she was crying and yelling for him to stop.”