L.T. -- 5/02 I know from experience none of these cases follow a standard template, but Lynnette’s coping mechanisms are extreme by any measure. Her behavior feels less like survivor’s guilt and more like an attempt to punish herself. In a recent exchange she asked if I thought she was taking enough precautions to remain safe. I told her that she had reduced her life to a collection of tics and routines and I did not think it was possible to reduce it further. She took this as criticism and said: “I am only living out the life he left me.” The “he” referring to Billy Walker. I told her, no, she was living the life she thought she deserved. At that point she shut down and refused to engage further. I have an overwhelming sense that she is hiding something, or in denial about something so big she has blocked it out. Whatever it is, I feel it is at the root of her problems and it accounts for the severity of her lifestyle, her voluntary agoraphobia, and her paranoia.

—Dr. Carol Elliott, private notes on session with Lynnette Tarkington, May 2002