Annelie and I have been polishing up our presentation at a mental health meeting. We are looking forward to it; it is our old group that met at our house for breakfast and a discussion about eleven times every year for ten years.
The date had been set and the topic approved for credit at a time when we thought our book would be already out. It won’t be, but that’s ok. Presentations tend to degenerate into book signings and a signed book gets put up on a shelf. What we much prefer is that every book that is bought gets passed around from friend to friend, as somebody knows who will give it personal attention.
I had actually done a presentation on PTSD one of our last times with the group. I had stumbled into that recognition of Saul of Tarsus having a flashback on the way to Damascus and I had exploded into reviewing post-traumatic literature. It would have been before my own denial broke down and I started having flashbacks, but Annelie would have, of course, talked some at various times about growing up as a child during the bombing raids of World War II.
We will want to go over the diagnostic criterion for PTSD, although the ways in which the condition is experienced by individuals has greatly expanded. I will also particularly want to remind the group of my principle in writing up case notes: always include what is legally necessary and don’t include any personal material you can’t forget even if you wish you could.
Annelie and I will have some fresh material, as well. There will be new recognitions of how post-traumatic events shaped us, how we have worked even more into the resolution of them. I will admit, however, that I am going to give the group a hard sales pitch to buy the book before their next meeting!
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