Traumatic events in our lives have, by the very nature of the emotion associated with them and the flashbacks, a way of reinforcing themselves. Anyone who has experienced anything like PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) knows that only too well. So, I know that both boys must be carefully and cautiously helped to get their lives back together. It is the constant insistence, on the part of some media, that the public wants to know all the lurid details of the captivity, that causes me great concern.

The public may want to know but the public does not have a right to know just as the children have a right to not provide details and to keep this private. Asking “the questions that are on everyone’s mind” does not make this right or any less abusive. These children have been subjected to something no one should experience, neither adult nor child. Framing inappropriate, invasive questioning with the phrase that “the public wants to know” does nothing to absolve the questioner from anything here.

Related Topics:

• PTSD: Eye on a Cure
• Forget Something? We Wish We Could

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