diagnosis

I have been making the point that it is normal to be upset when upsetting things occur. “Normal” doesn’t mean good or healthy, just what is expected under the circumstance. From that perspective, I explained Caroline screaming because her husband had been attacking her relentlessly, even waking her up at night to do so. I also explained Phil, her husband, and his jealousy from that perspective. His jealousy was a result of his insecurity which was a result of his relationship (or lack of one) to his parents growing up.

To recap the first post, Caroline was hysterical after Phil was accusing her of having an affair when she was not. He was relentless in his attack, even waking her in the middle of the night to “discuss” it. My conclusion was that she was acting normal under the circumstances. Next, "Caroline" wrote me that she was thrilled to find out that she was normal because her spouse really gave her good reason to yell. Uh-oh. So I wrote another post explaining how I felt about screaming and anger in general.

Last post, called, “Defining ‘Normal’: Caroline’s Screaming; Phil is Jealous – Who is Crazy?” told Caroline’s story. She was falsely accused, attacked, actually, and awakened in the middle of the night or more “discussions” until she finally lost it. I contended that under such circumstances, her behavior was not at all crazy, but normal.

Maybe neither of them is crazy. This poor woman sat in my office weeping; she thought she was going crazy. We’ll call her Caroline. Here’s what happened: Her husband, we’ll call him Phil, decided that she was having an affair. She insisted she wasn’t, but he refused to believe her.