Quiz Section 3 – Case Study 1

A few things in particular about Sofia’s story strike me as interesting:

1. As I was reading the introduction to the case study, I half-expected Sofia’s disorder to stem from her experiences during WWII. This was not the case; however, during session 4 of Sofia’s treatment, Dr. Fehrman helps Sofia by guiding her into thinking that awful experiences do not necessarily demean a person. She then thought of how she overcame and grew from her experiences in WWII, and this cognitive change formed a basis for the rest of her treatment. Are psychologists able to differentiate what general types of events cause PTSD and which do not? The text mentions that Sofia was able to think of her temporary time in the labor camp as a “transient interlude in an other-wise independent existence” – was this because she had escaped Nazi terror so many times that she felt she could do it again? Is this also why those repeatedly traumatic experiences did not cause her PTSD, but a subway accident did?

2. During the second session, Sofia explained that she had not monitored herself (as requested per her therapist) and had been utterly consumed with the question of whether or not to have knee surgery. Was this some sort of subconscious way of avoiding having to recall her trauma all over again?