Reauthoring the self: Chronic sorrow and posttraumatic stress following the onset of CID

Abstract

Complications stemming from her delivery left Jackie traumatized from birth, having suffered a vaguely-diagnosed brain injury, resulting in a cerebral palsylike disorder-walking with a halting gait and a "spastic condition" that was exacerbated when she was fatigued. Now in her mid-fifties, she sought counseling for pervasive feelings of grief, sadness, anxiety, and insufficiency, especially in social and work situations, and a deep sense of aloneness and isolation. As a lay minister in her church, Jackie's fears currently focused on her concern that, despite her apparent intelligence and sensitivity, she "might actually be harmful" to the people she attempted to serve. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. All rights reserved.