Chapter 16 - The closet before the storm
The prior closet incidents became clearer through Lizzy’s therapy and collateral evidence.
We did not ask her to count them like court exhibits.
Her therapist noticed themes during play.
Small toy animal.
Placed inside a toy cabinet.
“Needs quiet.”
“Why?”
“Crying.”
“Who says?”
“Grandma bear.”
Later, Gloria admitted using the storage room as:
“A calm-down space.”
Approximately six occasions.
She claimed ten minutes each.
Walt thought:
“Maybe fifteen or twenty.”
Lizzy described:
Sometimes until she stopped crying.
No food deprivation usually.
No overnight confinement.
No physical restraint inside.
The closet had no window.
No interior handle capable of opening the outside latch.
That was the central problem.
A child could not choose to leave.
Gloria said:
“She was safer there than running around hitting things.”
Any evidence Lizzy was violently destructive?
No.
She had thrown toys.
Kicked a bedroom door once.
Had grief tantrums.
Six years old.
Parents dead.
Therapist had recommended:
Co-regulation.
Predictable routine.
Short nonisolating calm-down breaks if needed.
Not locked confinement.
Did Gloria attend the therapy sessions?
Two.
Then stopped.
Why?
“She made everything about trauma.”
I nearly screamed when I read that.
Everything was about trauma because Lizzy’s parents were dead.
May you like
That was not indulgence.
Context.
