Anyone now 23 years or older who had major surgery as a baby is at risk for chronic posttraumatic illness . . .
When I saw Dr. Louis Tinnin’s new blog, I literally wept. He and a team of psychologists who run Intensive Trauma Therapy, Inc. (ITT), a program in Morgantown, West Virginia, are acknowledging that infant surgery without anesthesia results in chronic PTSD. Reading Dr. Tinnin’s list of 10 questions which will help determine if one was affected adversely by an early medical intervention had me screaming “YES” to each one. Below, I have excerpted a few paragraphs from the blog’s first post. I hope you click on the link to read the rest and perhaps subscribe to his blog and join in the dialogue (http://ltinnin.Wordpress.com.) Also, please pass on this information to anyone whom you think might be suffering and need help. I cannot speak for the efficacy of ITT since I did not experience it, but I do want people to see it as a possible resource. Their website is www.traumatherapy.us/location.htm. Check it out!
Infant Surgery Without Anesthesia Posted on December 30, 2010 by ltinnin
Anyone now 23 years or older who had major surgery as a baby is at risk for chronic posttraumatic illness because the surgery was probably done without anesthesia, which was the custom in most hospitals prior to 1987. Abdominal surgery for pyloric stenosis and chest surgery for congenital heart problems were the most common forms of infant surgery. Together these surgeries were required for about 8 cases per 1000 births. A rough estimate of the number of survivors during the single year of 1987 (3,829,000 live births) is 30,600. We do not know what proportion of these survivors is now suffering with posttraumatic symptoms but considering the severity of the pain and the helplessness of the infant we would expect that the majority of these infants were traumatized.
Paralyzed, Wide Awake, No Pain Control
Those major surgeries required that the infant have artificial respiration during the surgery. The baby was given a curare drug for total paralysis while the respirator tube was inserted into the windpipe and the paralysis was maintained throughout the surgery. The paralyzed baby was wide awake with no pain control. Imagine what it must have been like for the infant: unable to lift a finger; unable to move away from the searing pain of the scalpel; the sensation of being turned inside-out as the heart or intestines are grasped; and the overwhelming pain. People that have survived these early traumatic experiences usually cannot recall them verbally while they cannot forget them nonverbally.
Life-Long Symptoms
The symptom picture of the survivors is broader than the usual picture for posttraumatic stress disorder. Adult survivors report life-long symptoms of anxiety (constant nervousness and spells of terror or panic), hostility (temper outbursts and urges to smash or break things), depression, self-consciousness, distrust of others, and a high vulnerability to stress. The life-long aspect of these symptoms leads to the faulty clinical perception that they are personality disorders instead of recognizing them as persisting reactions first elicited by the brutal surgery. That recognition opens the way to curative treatment of the adult survivor. . . .
I am so thankful and heart-warmed that a community of people is forming who want to know more about the effects of infant surgery and early traumatic medical procedures on patients who probably received no anesthesia. Folks are finding each other, not only on my blogsite but in other places on the web, and supporting one another in this journey to understand what a dear friend, another survivor of infant surgery, describes as “battles with mystery ogres.” The real picture of what we endured is becoming clear. This subject is challenging to discuss because, on the one hand, we are grateful to have survived and, of course, indebted to those who saved us–nurses, surgeons, technicians, hospital staff, our parents, our extended families, and friends. An amazing group of individuals came forth to rescue us. We are here because of them.
On the other hand, the survivors of infant surgery without anesthetic have suffered beyond measure, for as we grow up, the patient, the family, and the society are unaware of the extreme trauma caused by the lack of pain control; the shock and terror of that experience are buried within the patient but are not forgotten, and the “mystery ogres” haunt us our entire lives. One day we may wake up and realize, No wonder my life has been a battlefield–I have Post Traumatic Stress! All my life, I’ve had anxiety, panic attacks, fear, inordinate stress, depression, suicidal feelings, and other symptoms of PTSD. But infant surgery without anesthesia is not generally thought of as a cause of PTSD, nor is it on the radar of psychologists and psychiatrists who may mistakenly attribute symptoms to other causes. That’s why we have to get the word out–to end the needless suffering.
Thank you, Wendy, for your passionate and powerful message. For folk like us who have had early surgery without anesthesia, extended separation from mother, and traumatised parents (and perhaps also sibs), Dr Tinnin’s recent blog has been a major, massive revelation! It creates a web of meaning and the hope of growing professional recognition. People who have battled with “mystery ogres”after having infant surgery now have a picture we can recognise, understand and address. We’re not freaks! Recent findings about infants remembering pain and the symptoms we have known so well but struggled to understand really connect.
Thank you, Wendy, for your passionate and powerful message. For folk like us who have had early surgery without anesthesia, extended separation from mother, and traumatised parents (and perhaps also sibs), Dr Tinnin’s recent blog has been a major, massive revelation! It creates a web of meaning and the hope of growing professional recognition. People who have battled with “mystery ogres”after having infant surgery now have a picture we can recognise, understand and address. We’re not freaks! Recent findings about infants remembering pain and the symptoms we have known so well but struggled to understand really connect.
Hi Wendy,
Thanks for passing on the word about the Intensive Trauma Therapy Institute. If anyone wants to know more about their treatment of medical trauma, they can contact me via http://www.DifferentDream.com.
Our son was successfully treated there, and his life was completely changed. If I can do anything to help others find peace and wholeness, it will be my pleasure.
Jolene Philo
Thanks so much, Jolene. How generous of you. Funny, the day you posted on my blog about ITT, a dear friend from Australia sent me word of Dr. Tinnin’s new blog. I am so happy that you are offering to be a contact.
Hi Wendy,
Thanks for passing on the word about the Intensive Trauma Therapy Institute. If anyone wants to know more about their treatment of medical trauma, they can contact me via http://www.DifferentDream.com.
Our son was successfully treated there, and his life was completely changed. If I can do anything to help others find peace and wholeness, it will be my pleasure.
Jolene Philo
Thanks so much, Jolene. How generous of you. Funny, the day you posted on my blog about ITT, a dear friend from Australia sent me word of Dr. Tinnin’s new blog. I am so happy that you are offering to be a contact.
I’m enjoying reading your blog, as I’m a father of a child who was severely traumatized as an infant.
I’ve been writing about my experiences with my daughter and how I felt at the time. It’s been very intense to do so.
http://donniebrainard.blogspot.com/2010/04/our-day-in-hell-part-1.html
I’ve read several of your blog posts and am sitting here shaking my head in sorrow with no words to write. I relate on a level that is deep and beyond words. Visceral. My mother had PTSD from witnessing what her baby–me–went through in the hospital. Thankfully, I fully recovered, but emotionally and physiologically, I have been deeply affected as my blog shows. Thank you for being in touch with me. I am so grateful that my blog holds some meaning for you.
I’m enjoying reading your blog, as I’m a father of a child who was severely traumatized as an infant.
I’ve been writing about my experiences with my daughter and how I felt at the time. It’s been very intense to do so.
http://donniebrainard.blogspot.com/2010/04/our-day-in-hell-part-1.html
I’ve read several of your blog posts and am sitting here shaking my head in sorrow with no words to write. I relate on a level that is deep and beyond words. Visceral. My mother had PTSD from witnessing what her baby–me–went through in the hospital. Thankfully, I fully recovered, but emotionally and physiologically, I have been deeply affected as my blog shows. Thank you for being in touch with me. I am so grateful that my blog holds some meaning for you.
Hi, Wendy!
Thank you for addressing this important problem. I’ve also read about it in an article in the Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health by Terry T. Monell called “Living Out the Past: Infant Surgery Prior to 1987.” That article is excellent, but I am wondering if the focus on severe, medically necessary surgery while paralyzed, though justifiably shocking, is obscuring the larger demographic fact that male infant circumcision during the same timeframe and even up to the present is performed without anesthesia. There is a huge difference in that male infant circumcision lacks the justification of addressing a life-threatening health problem. Circumcision is almost always done to healthy male infants. Nevertheless, the entire outer sheath of the healthy penis of most American baby boys has been ripped from the head of the penis, clamped, and severed for more than a century for bogus reasons. The foreskin is the most highly innervated part of the penis with more than 20 thousand erogenous nerves that are cut off (and often sold to cosmetic companies) causing atrophy of many of the pleasure centers in men’s brains, resulting in inevitable loss of sexual function and incalculable emotional and sexual difficulties throughout life. Much of the damage, in my opinion, is due to PTSD resulting from the fact that this surgery was believed to be totally forgotten after it was performed, resulting in males who would have reduced sexual capacity and thus be less likely to be promiscuous as adults. The shocking truth of this inhumane practice is thoroughly analyzed by anthropologist Leonard Glick in “Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America.” If we include circumcised men in the Intensive Trauma Therapy studies, the numbers of people involved increases greatly. I have re-experienced circumcision in primal therapy and can testify as to the intensity of the trauma based on my experiences. Robert Clover Johnson
Thank you for your informative and very important comment. You shared so much valuable info, and I hope readers will look into the issues you discuss. I certainly will. I’m puzzled though as to why you think that a focus on non-elective infant surgery without anesthesia “obscures” the issue of the elective, invasive, traumatizing procedure of circumcision without anesthetic. I think these are equally horrifying and believe both need to be addressed. I agree with you that males who’ve been circumcised without anesthetic are likely to have PTSD. Of course circumcised men should be included in the Intensive Trauma Therapy Studies and maybe you can help them see the light on this issue or maybe they already do. I hope you contact the ITT center and discuss your concerns with them. Your voice is a much-needed one.
Hi, Wendy!
Thank you for addressing this important problem. I’ve also read about it in an article in the Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health by Terry T. Monell called “Living Out the Past: Infant Surgery Prior to 1987.” That article is excellent, but I am wondering if the focus on severe, medically necessary surgery while paralyzed, though justifiably shocking, is obscuring the larger demographic fact that male infant circumcision during the same timeframe and even up to the present is performed without anesthesia. There is a huge difference in that male infant circumcision lacks the justification of addressing a life-threatening health problem. Circumcision is almost always done to healthy male infants. Nevertheless, the entire outer sheath of the healthy penis of most American baby boys has been ripped from the head of the penis, clamped, and severed for more than a century for bogus reasons. The foreskin is the most highly innervated part of the penis with more than 20 thousand erogenous nerves that are cut off (and often sold to cosmetic companies) causing atrophy of many of the pleasure centers in men’s brains, resulting in inevitable loss of sexual function and incalculable emotional and sexual difficulties throughout life. Much of the damage, in my opinion, is due to PTSD resulting from the fact that this surgery was believed to be totally forgotten after it was performed, resulting in males who would have reduced sexual capacity and thus be less likely to be promiscuous as adults. The shocking truth of this inhumane practice is thoroughly analyzed by anthropologist Leonard Glick in “Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America.” If we include circumcised men in the Intensive Trauma Therapy studies, the numbers of people involved increases greatly. I have re-experienced circumcision in primal therapy and can testify as to the intensity of the trauma based on my experiences. Robert Clover Johnson
Thank you for your informative and very important comment. You shared so much valuable info, and I hope readers will look into the issues you discuss. I certainly will. I’m puzzled though as to why you think that a focus on non-elective infant surgery without anesthesia “obscures” the issue of the elective, invasive, traumatizing procedure of circumcision without anesthetic. I think these are equally horrifying and believe both need to be addressed. I agree with you that males who’ve been circumcised without anesthetic are likely to have PTSD. Of course circumcised men should be included in the Intensive Trauma Therapy Studies and maybe you can help them see the light on this issue or maybe they already do. I hope you contact the ITT center and discuss your concerns with them. Your voice is a much-needed one.
Wendy,
I apologize for not responding sooner to your very kind response to my message. I guess that when I used the word “obscures” I was feeling that circumcision was a neglected topic here, but from your message I see that you understand completely. Male infant circumcision is perhaps the most common surgery performed in the United States, yet it isn’t necessary for a healthy life, destroys important erogenous tissue, and it irreparably harms the infant. As the ITT center points out, doctors for many decades simply denied that infants felt or would remember the pain of their surgeries. I can’t imagine the horror of an infant feeling such pain and not even being able to scream when paralyzed, but it is equally amazing and troubling that even as boys were restrained and allowed to scream, their voices were not heard. Other surgeries at least had the rationale of possibly saving lives, but most American boys are circumcised for reasons that defy logic and none of them involve life-threatening issues. Thank you so much for saying my voice is “much-needed.” I’m glad to speak wherever my voice is welcome. I’ve been asked by William Emerson to respond in a “letter to the editor” to the article by Terry Monell mentioned in my previous message. I’ll share that with you and the ITT center once I’ve finished it. Again, I am so grateful for your response.
Wendy,
I apologize for not responding sooner to your very kind response to my message. I guess that when I used the word “obscures” I was feeling that circumcision was a neglected topic here, but from your message I see that you understand completely. Male infant circumcision is perhaps the most common surgery performed in the United States, yet it isn’t necessary for a healthy life, destroys important erogenous tissue, and it irreparably harms the infant. As the ITT center points out, doctors for many decades simply denied that infants felt or would remember the pain of their surgeries. I can’t imagine the horror of an infant feeling such pain and not even being able to scream when paralyzed, but it is equally amazing and troubling that even as boys were restrained and allowed to scream, their voices were not heard. Other surgeries at least had the rationale of possibly saving lives, but most American boys are circumcised for reasons that defy logic and none of them involve life-threatening issues. Thank you so much for saying my voice is “much-needed.” I’m glad to speak wherever my voice is welcome. I’ve been asked by William Emerson to respond in a “letter to the editor” to the article by Terry Monell mentioned in my previous message. I’ll share that with you and the ITT center once I’ve finished it. Again, I am so grateful for your response.
Thank you for your reply. Good to hear from you again. I believe that we are all part of the same community–those who have been harmed as infants in deep ways by invasive medical procedures. Yes, while infant pyloric stenosis surgery has legitimacy, the way it was carried out does not. To my mind, circumcision is barbaric, even with anesthetic. The consequences of this procedure that you so thoughtfully detail are horrifying. Why do parents feel the need to traumatize their male babies in this way? I hope that we can stand together in bringing national attention to these issues and find ways to support each other in our goals. Let’s keep talking.
Thank you for your reply. Good to hear from you again. I believe that we are all part of the same community–those who have been harmed as infants in deep ways by invasive medical procedures. Yes, while infant pyloric stenosis surgery has legitimacy, the way it was carried out does not. To my mind, circumcision is barbaric, even with anesthetic. The consequences of this procedure that you so thoughtfully detail are horrifying. Why do parents feel the need to traumatize their male babies in this way? I hope that we can stand together in bringing national attention to these issues and find ways to support each other in our goals. Let’s keep talking.
Hello Wendy!
Thank you for responding so positively to Terry Monell’s article in the Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health. I promised to post here my “letter to the editor” responding to the article. I have emailed the letter to the managing editor and will let you know when I get a reply. Here is what I wrote. Thank you so much for your encouragement! Robert
Dear Editor,
Thank you for publishing Terry T. Monell’s compelling article, “Living Out the Past: Infant Surgery Prior to 1987” in JOPPPAH 25(3), 159-172. As a victim of infant surgery without anesthesia performed in 1945, I agree fully with Monell’s description of the consequences of living with the implicit memory of such a trauma. Like Monell, I believe that those “who are suffering the effect of fundamental neurological changes shaping their relationships, world view, and life course . . . have an undeniable right to understand what implicit forces may be corrupting their resilience and impoverishing their potential.”
My only reservation about the article is that it is unclear whether or not male infant circumcision—the surgery I experienced in 1945—is one of those included in Monell’s statistics regarding numbers of individuals in America likely to be affected. In David Chamberlain’s 1991 article “Babies Don’t Feel Pain: A Century of Denial” he estimates that roughly a million baby boys per year were being circumcised in 1990, a drop from 1½ million per year 30 years earlier, when circumcision rates reached a peak of about 90% of the male infant population.
Responding to an AAP official’s view that “there is no evidence of long-term sequelae” to circumcision, Chamberlain states: “Missing from this view is any understanding of the psychological sequelae of torture.” (Also missing from this view, I might add, is any acknowledgment of the growing body of literature explaining the damage to normal sexual function caused by the removal of an infant’s foreskin.)
The horror experienced by infants paralyzed but fully sentient while undergoing open chest surgery for congenital heart problems or abdominal surgery for pyloric stenosis is made shockingly clear in the article. These infants were denied even the language of pain that would have been expressed had they been allowed to move and scream during the surgery. But boys being circumcised while restrained routinely experienced the horror of being allowed to scream at surgeons who were trained to ignore the infant’s protests, regarding them as meaningless “reflexes.”
My point is that there may be good reason to include circumcised men in estimates of the adult population subjected to early life medical trauma. Doing so would dramatically increase the size of this population from Monell’s estimate of 3,562,500 to perhaps a third of the population of the United States. Although most of these men would likely deny that anything is wrong, I still believe that these men “have an undeniable right to understand what implicit forces may be corrupting their resilience and impoverishing their potential.”
Robert Clover Johnson
Robert Clover Johnson, a retired research editor at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., is the author of “The impact of neonatal circumcision: Implications for doctors of men’s experiences in regressive therapy,” a chapter in Genital Autonomy: Protecting Personal Choice, edited by George C. Denniston, Frederick M. Hodges, and Marilyn Fayre Milos (Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York), 2010. He presented a paper, “Men’s feelings about circumcision” at the East Coast Regional Meeting of APPPAH, Bethesda, MD, on August 9, 2011.
Hello Wendy!
Thank you for responding so positively to Terry Monell’s article in the Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health. I promised to post here my “letter to the editor” responding to the article. I have emailed the letter to the managing editor and will let you know when I get a reply. Here is what I wrote. Thank you so much for your encouragement! Robert
Dear Editor,
Thank you for publishing Terry T. Monell’s compelling article, “Living Out the Past: Infant Surgery Prior to 1987” in JOPPPAH 25(3), 159-172. As a victim of infant surgery without anesthesia performed in 1945, I agree fully with Monell’s description of the consequences of living with the implicit memory of such a trauma. Like Monell, I believe that those “who are suffering the effect of fundamental neurological changes shaping their relationships, world view, and life course . . . have an undeniable right to understand what implicit forces may be corrupting their resilience and impoverishing their potential.”
My only reservation about the article is that it is unclear whether or not male infant circumcision—the surgery I experienced in 1945—is one of those included in Monell’s statistics regarding numbers of individuals in America likely to be affected. In David Chamberlain’s 1991 article “Babies Don’t Feel Pain: A Century of Denial” he estimates that roughly a million baby boys per year were being circumcised in 1990, a drop from 1½ million per year 30 years earlier, when circumcision rates reached a peak of about 90% of the male infant population.
Responding to an AAP official’s view that “there is no evidence of long-term sequelae” to circumcision, Chamberlain states: “Missing from this view is any understanding of the psychological sequelae of torture.” (Also missing from this view, I might add, is any acknowledgment of the growing body of literature explaining the damage to normal sexual function caused by the removal of an infant’s foreskin.)
The horror experienced by infants paralyzed but fully sentient while undergoing open chest surgery for congenital heart problems or abdominal surgery for pyloric stenosis is made shockingly clear in the article. These infants were denied even the language of pain that would have been expressed had they been allowed to move and scream during the surgery. But boys being circumcised while restrained routinely experienced the horror of being allowed to scream at surgeons who were trained to ignore the infant’s protests, regarding them as meaningless “reflexes.”
My point is that there may be good reason to include circumcised men in estimates of the adult population subjected to early life medical trauma. Doing so would dramatically increase the size of this population from Monell’s estimate of 3,562,500 to perhaps a third of the population of the United States. Although most of these men would likely deny that anything is wrong, I still believe that these men “have an undeniable right to understand what implicit forces may be corrupting their resilience and impoverishing their potential.”
Robert Clover Johnson
Robert Clover Johnson, a retired research editor at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., is the author of “The impact of neonatal circumcision: Implications for doctors of men’s experiences in regressive therapy,” a chapter in Genital Autonomy: Protecting Personal Choice, edited by George C. Denniston, Frederick M. Hodges, and Marilyn Fayre Milos (Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York), 2010. He presented a paper, “Men’s feelings about circumcision” at the East Coast Regional Meeting of APPPAH, Bethesda, MD, on August 9, 2011.
What powerful words! Thank you for sharing your “letter to the editor.” From my read of Monell’s article, she was not including the population of which you write. Certainly though, to my mind, the situations are comparable. The torture of infants, no matter where on the body the pain is inflicted, causes many negative life-changing repercussions, including PTSD. I look forward to reading your article one day soon.
What powerful words! Thank you for sharing your “letter to the editor.” From my read of Monell’s article, she was not including the population of which you write. Certainly though, to my mind, the situations are comparable. The torture of infants, no matter where on the body the pain is inflicted, causes many negative life-changing repercussions, including PTSD. I look forward to reading your article one day soon.
Thank you, Wendy!
Once again, you understand completely. In case you would like to read my chapter from the Genital Autonomy volume, it can be instantly found by using any search engine and keying in “Robert Clover Johnson The Impact of Neonatal Circumcision” Again, I make no claims that this surgery competes in pain levels with other surgeries, but I do believe the trauma was extreme and the lifelong consequences were detrimental . . . for ALL concerned. Thank you for creating this blog. By the way, have you considered putting this on Facebook? I am considering bringing the subject of infant surgery without anesthesia up on a Facebook page myself. Unfortunately, I’m going to be away from my computer for a week or so over Thanksgiving, but I’d be open to discussing possibilities as of November 30 concerning ways to make this subject more widely known. Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!
Thank you, Wendy!
Once again, you understand completely. In case you would like to read my chapter from the Genital Autonomy volume, it can be instantly found by using any search engine and keying in “Robert Clover Johnson The Impact of Neonatal Circumcision” Again, I make no claims that this surgery competes in pain levels with other surgeries, but I do believe the trauma was extreme and the lifelong consequences were detrimental . . . for ALL concerned. Thank you for creating this blog. By the way, have you considered putting this on Facebook? I am considering bringing the subject of infant surgery without anesthesia up on a Facebook page myself. Unfortunately, I’m going to be away from my computer for a week or so over Thanksgiving, but I’d be open to discussing possibilities as of November 30 concerning ways to make this subject more widely known. Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!
Let’s do it, Robert! I’m game!! Will email you after Thanksgiving. And thanks for the info about your chapter!
Let’s do it, Robert! I’m game!! Will email you after Thanksgiving. And thanks for the info about your chapter!
Hi, Wendy!
I apologize for the delay. Have you thought about a Facebook page? Your leadership on this issue is much appreciated. Please let me know what you may have thought would be appropriate. By the way, my direct email address is rcloverjohnson@verizon.net It might be simpler to communicate that way for the moment. The truth is: this topic is almost too overwhelming to cope with under ordinary terms. Please let me know what you think. Robert
Hi, Wendy!
I apologize for the delay. Have you thought about a Facebook page? Your leadership on this issue is much appreciated. Please let me know what you may have thought would be appropriate. By the way, my direct email address is rcloverjohnson@verizon.net It might be simpler to communicate that way for the moment. The truth is: this topic is almost too overwhelming to cope with under ordinary terms. Please let me know what you think. Robert
Hello, again, Wendy!
I’m trying now to use my Facebook account. I feel that we are fully synchronizing in our grasp of infant circumcision without anesthesia. I’m just hoping that now our messages may be compatible with Facebook information. I’ll post here in hopes my image may appear. Robert
Hello, again, Wendy!
I’m trying now to use my Facebook account. I feel that we are fully synchronizing in our grasp of infant circumcision without anesthesia. I’m just hoping that now our messages may be compatible with Facebook information. I’ll post here in hopes my image may appear. Robert
Hurrah!
Now we are synchronized! Let me know what you think! Robert
Hurrah!
Now we are synchronized! Let me know what you think! Robert
I see your image. So good to see you.
I see your image. So good to see you.
Wendy, not sure why I am just seeing this blog post today, but it made me cry on your account too. You are a brave pioneer my dear, and you will make a huge difference in the lives of many. oxo
Wendy, not sure why I am just seeing this blog post today, but it made me cry on your account too. You are a brave pioneer my dear, and you will make a huge difference in the lives of many. oxo
Thank you, Foodie, midwife of myincision, for your enduring support. You give me courage, for I’m about to apply to present a talk at a Birth Psychology conference in November and your encouragement helps so much. You are also a “brave pioneer,” and your life is a model for me.
Thank you, Foodie, midwife of myincision, for your enduring support. You give me courage, for I’m about to apply to present a talk at a Birth Psychology conference in November and your encouragement helps so much. You are also a “brave pioneer,” and your life is a model for me.
Excellent information. I had Pyloric Stenosis operation without anaesthetic back in 1952, and one’s life is a nightmare. I have battled with the effects, and from it, has become a Global vision which is emerging based on my book A Child Unheard. http://www.achildunheard.com. Please share with others. God Bless. David
Wow, we both had the surgery in 1952! Thank you for commenting. It’s hard to respond because I feel so moved. I often feel very alone with my experience. I feel heartened to read that someone else–YOU–affirm what I’ve been through. I’m so sorry about your “nightmare.” Here we are though with the opportunity to do something positive in the world as you have done and are doing.
Hi Wendy. Good to hear from you, seems we are 2 young ones still battling on. By being led on a spiritual journey over the last 24 years has helped so much, the writings ( 6 follow up books not yet published ), have become a journey to the healing of the human soul, something I never set out to do, just has happened, which has helped me understand, so many human traits, loneliness, rejection, shame, guilt , forgivenness , care, helpfulness, humilty and make more.
Now become the Global outpouring of the A Child Unheard message, that there is truly a Child Unheard trait in every human being, which needs to be heard.
God Bles. David
Excellent information. I had Pyloric Stenosis operation without anaesthetic back in 1952, and one’s life is a nightmare. I have battled with the effects, and from it, has become a Global vision which is emerging based on my book A Child Unheard. http://www.achildunheard.com. Please share with others. God Bless. David
Wow, we both had the surgery in 1952! Thank you for commenting. It’s hard to respond because I feel so moved. I often feel very alone with my experience. I feel heartened to read that someone else–YOU–affirm what I’ve been through. I’m so sorry about your “nightmare.” Here we are though with the opportunity to do something positive in the world as you have done and are doing.
Hi Wendy. Good to hear from you, seems we are 2 young ones still battling on. By being led on a spiritual journey over the last 24 years has helped so much, the writings ( 6 follow up books not yet published ), have become a journey to the healing of the human soul, something I never set out to do, just has happened, which has helped me understand, so many human traits, loneliness, rejection, shame, guilt , forgivenness , care, helpfulness, humilty and make more.
Now become the Global outpouring of the A Child Unheard message, that there is truly a Child Unheard trait in every human being, which needs to be heard.
God Bles. David
What a beautiful message! Each of us, surgery or no, is likely a “child unheard.” We all need healing in one way or another. And until we heal or listen to this child and deal with his/her pain, we continue the cycle. Precisely. Thank you for contacting me.
Always makes me ponder and reflect the connection in Paulo Coelho’s book, By The River Piedra, I sat down and wept, and the message of the A Child Unheard book ??
A CHILD UNHEARD – PAULO COELHO – THE TRUE MEANING
http://www.achildunheard.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1954
What a beautiful message! Each of us, surgery or no, is likely a “child unheard.” We all need healing in one way or another. And until we heal or listen to this child and deal with his/her pain, we continue the cycle. Precisely. Thank you for contacting me.
Always makes me ponder and reflect the connection in Paulo Coelho’s book, By The River Piedra, I sat down and wept, and the message of the A Child Unheard book ??
A CHILD UNHEARD – PAULO COELHO – THE TRUE MEANING
http://www.achildunheard.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1954
I love a line that I found when I clicked on the link you provided: “We have to pay attention to what the child in our heart tells us.” I did and I discovered the source of my pain and the ways to transform it. May each of us listen to the baby or child within that is calling out for assistance.
Good to hear Wendy, and hope the email material about the vision/message of A Child Unheard I sent you, will help you further, in the healing and understanding process. God Bless. David
‘Always make a practise of provoking your own mind to think out what it accepts easily. Our position is not ours until we make it ours by suffering. The author who benefits you is not the one who tells you something you did not know before, but the one who gives expression to the truth that has been struggling for utterance in you.’
From My Utmost for His Highest. Oswald Chambers (2 Timothy 2:15)
Beautiful and so wise. Profound! Thank you.
Imeirsspve brain power at work! Great answer!
Thank you. Would love to hear more about what moved you.
Have blessed Christmas and a healing 2013, as ever to share,presentation material I put together for a clinical theology course I attend some years back, thought it might help. Best Regards David
ACU – A Human condition – Schizoid Personality
http://www.achildunheard.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=2399
I love a line that I found when I clicked on the link you provided: “We have to pay attention to what the child in our heart tells us.” I did and I discovered the source of my pain and the ways to transform it. May each of us listen to the baby or child within that is calling out for assistance.
Good to hear Wendy, and hope the email material about the vision/message of A Child Unheard I sent you, will help you further, in the healing and understanding process. God Bless. David
‘Always make a practise of provoking your own mind to think out what it accepts easily. Our position is not ours until we make it ours by suffering. The author who benefits you is not the one who tells you something you did not know before, but the one who gives expression to the truth that has been struggling for utterance in you.’
From My Utmost for His Highest. Oswald Chambers (2 Timothy 2:15)
Beautiful and so wise. Profound! Thank you.
Imeirsspve brain power at work! Great answer!
Thank you. Would love to hear more about what moved you.
Have blessed Christmas and a healing 2013, as ever to share,presentation material I put together for a clinical theology course I attend some years back, thought it might help. Best Regards David
ACU – A Human condition – Schizoid Personality
http://www.achildunheard.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=2399