Now, from January...
I am often asked why I got into the behavioral health field. Was it your mother? Was it your uncle? Was it your family? Actually, those are good guesses but not the right answer. There is a long story that I will tell in a much shorter version.
It started in Columbia, South Carolina in 1970. That is when a young beauty queen and a handsome athlete had to deal with an unwanted and unplanned pregnancy. They were not married and in Columbia in 1970 you either gave the baby up or got married. They chose to give the baby up. The baby, a girl, was born on October 8, 1970. I am unclear of the girl's original name (I think that it was Sarah), but she was immediately put up for adoption. A couple, a college professor and a mill worker, who could not bare their own children decided to adopt the newborn girl. They had already adopted a boy several years earlier and they badly wanted a little girl. The couple lived in Marion, South Carolina which is a little over an hour away from Columbia and is in a lowlands of South Carolina a half hour from the coast. A quaint Southern town, Marion was the ideal place to raise a newly adopted little girl. Together, they began the process of raising a beautiful newborn. Along the way, as the girl grew, she picked up a new name, Scottie, and flaming red hair. Her hair became her most noticeable and attractive trait.
Scottie did well in school and in sports. She played little league baseball with the boys and her talents flourished. She quickly became known as a tomboy. A title she relished as she beamed with pride for pictures with the trophies she earned, standing at the plate for the next pitch, and crossing home plate with her red hair flowing in the wind. She also became known for her erratic mood swings, impulsive behavior, and a wicked temper. Most people attributed the anger and the mood swings to her red hair. However, this was an unusual struggle for the couple who had a relatively uneventful time with their adopted son. Scottie struggled as a latency aged child with her identity and her own emotions. In her household, however, issues of expressing emotions and developing one's own identity separate from the parents were not supported. Scottie's behavior began to get her in trouble in school as she would be referred to the office for minor offenses that involved not sitting still, emotional overreactions, and being impulsive. Most doctors would have likely classified her as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, in the late eighties and early nineties in Marion, this was not an issue as protective and patient teachers continued to work with Scottie in an attempt to channel her enormous energy.
As Scottie moved into early adolescence her moods became more erratic, her emotions more edgy, her behavior more extreme, and her need to find an identity of her own more and more apparent. This is all normal for adolescence, however, in Scottie's case her moods and behavior were more and more extreme and abnormal than your typical preteen or teenage girl. Scottie figured out on her own that she was adopted. She demanded to have knowledge of her real parents. Her adopted parents resisted despite her relentless requests. Scottie became increasing more depressed, anxious, and withdrawn as she reached the age of 14. Her adopted parents did not know what to make of Scottie and how to help a young woman who was becoming more troubled as each day passed. Scottie began to engage in binging and purging behavior in terms of eating. She also became more interested in death and dying. Her distressed adopted parents did not know what to do for Scottie and out of desperation and a loss of patience they acted angrily in response to her irrational and impulsive behavior. As her adopted parents became more angry, inpatient, and desperate, Scottie continued to drift deeper into a feeling of emptiness and a burgeoning rage.
Coming Soon: Part 2
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