大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Jenny Christian of the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library on behalf of Charlie Cassell and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was six when the war ended. During the war I was brought up effectively in a 'one-parent' family situation and consequently 'over-bonded' with my Mother. When my Father came home, and did what he should do, i.e. carry on with family life as he did in the past, to my six-year-old mind this effectively smashed up a cosy set-up.

I became very jealous (this man taking over my 'girlfriend') and my father did not rationalise that this was the mind of a six-year-old child and never really forgave me.

This created a lot of physiological problems for me (now known as Post-War Trauma), which led to my parents taking me to a psychiatrist for treatment. It was a bit like being a car taken to the garage and saying 'fix it'.

My parents assumed that the problems were all mine, and not them in any way at all. Consequentially, this never got sorted out with them. After two breakdowns (1969 and 1988), I met a 大象传媒 journalist who had been through exactly the same experience and then the whole picture suddenly became clear and I began to realise that it was not me being 'wicked' or 'evil', but there were thousands and thousands of other people in exactly the same position. This is when I finally got over it.

Unfortunately, by this time my Father had died. I was never able to reconcile the situation.

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