Session Notes
Session notes
Dr. Cathleen Paraglia
October 12th, 1987 (4th session)
Patient: Andrew Waxman
Andrew shows little improvement. Other children rescued from the compound have not shown nearly the level of trauma that Andrew has. Other children will also not discuss Andrew; whatever taboo was in place surrounding him is strongly ingrained. The FBI has finally released to me the details of his rescue; according to the agents on the scene, Andrew was with Burchamp at the time of the raid. They were in a seven-by-seven sub-basement, accessible through a two-foot-wide stairway hidden behind paneling in Burchamp’s private sitting room. Furthermore, Andrew was discovered inside of a footlocker in the sub-basement. Neither Burchamp nor Andrew made attempts to alert authorities to his presence in said footlocker. He was found while Federal agents began removing Burchamp’s personal possessions for evidence. He did not appear to have been physically abused or malnourished, intimating that he had not been imprisoned in such a fashion for a very long period of time. It was the opinion of the agents and the medical staff on-scene that he’d been placed in the footlocker only moments before the agents reached Burchamp’s personal living space.
Regardless, the psychological and emotional abuse Andrew has suffered is inarguable. The specific circumstances thereof remain unknown, and it doesn’t appear likely that any of the “community” members will be helpful in that capacity. Andrew himself rarely offers any insight to his trauma. I assume that we’ll be meeting many more times in the upcoming weeks, though there have been threats from Burchamp’s lawyers regarding the opportunity to perform their own psych eval. I can’t in good conscience allow Andrew to be evaluated by anyone else until I’m certain that it will be done in recognition of his turmoil and not in defense of his captors.
Session Transcript
CP: Good morning, Andrew. How did you sleep last night?
AW: [shrugs shoulders]
CP: Do you remember having dreams?
AW: [shakes head]
CP: In your sleep, you said the name “John” several times. Who’s John, Andrew?
AW: Dunno.
CP: Ok. Let’s forget about that. Andrew, I’d like to try to talk about what happened to you before you came here again. Do you think we can do that today?
AW: …
CP: Do you know why you’re here, Andrew?
AW: [after a lengthy pause] War.
CP: I’m sorry; did you say “war,” Andrew?
AW: [nods head]
CP: What war? Whose war? Who told you that, Andrew?
AW: Father said… Father said war was coming.
CP: When, Andrew? When did he say that?
AW: Before. Always.
CP: Why did he say war was coming, Andrew?
AW: People don’t like us. People don’t understand.
CP: And that’s why you think all of this happened?
AW: I saw them. I saw men. I saw guns. I saw smoke, and people hurt. I saw war.
CP: Those men were trying to help you, Andrew. Can you see that? Can you see that Father was hurting you?
AW: …
CP: Why did Father put you in the box, Andrew?
AW: Because I’m special.
CP: How are you special, Andrew?
AW: Not supposed to talk about it.
CP: Ok. But you can talk to me about it, if you want to. Really, it’s ok if you talk to me about it.
AW: Mm-mm.
CP: I’d like to help you, Andrew. And believe it or not, I’d like to help Father as well. I’d like to help all of you, but I can’t unless you can talk to me.
AW: Mm-mm.
CP: Ok. We can talk about something-
AW: Mmmmm. [holding his breath]
CP: Andrew? Andrew, please breathe now.
AW: MMMMMMM [eyes closed, fists clenched]
CP: Andrew, it’s ok. We don’t have to talk about anyth-
AW: MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM [Essentially, Andrew was screaming with his mouth shut at this point.]
CP: Orderly!
End transcript.