Listen to a psychologist tell a story

Chapter 35

Chapter 4, Section 8 She had been daydreaming for four years?

In order to regain her old dream, she even forgot everything about herself, and lived happily in other places as someone else. ? ?

Betty disappeared four years ago, and her family is on the lookout.

Recently, it was hard to find her in R Town, more than 1000 miles away from home, but Betty seemed to have become a completely different person, and she didn't even know her parents, husband, and children.She said she had never met them, and her name was not Betty, but Lucy. ?
She was cold to her family and said they had misunderstood the wrong person and asked them to go back.But everyone who knew her before said that she was obviously Betty. As a last resort, her family had to take her to a mental hospital forcibly. ?
After being hospitalized, Betty still insisted that she was Lucy, and threatened the medical staff that if they did not let her go back to her home in R Town, she would sue the hospital and those "who claimed to be her family members" for conspiring to illegally detain her . ?
The doctor believed what her family said, but also believed that the patient was not deliberately lying and pretending, but some strange psychological trauma that made her what she is today. ?
Therefore, the medical staff treat her sincerely like a friend.Because of this sincerity, Betty developed a good impression and trust in them, and finally agreed to hypnosis and other methods to help memory recovery.After accumulating and piecing together bit by bit, the doctor finally obtained her bitter medical history as follows:?

Betty comes from a family with fanatical religious beliefs. Although both parents hold positions in the church, they are not "good people" as they appear.They just tried their best to maintain a moral facade, but they often angrily accused each other of infidelity in private. Therefore, Betty began to doubt her "life experience" at a young age.What's more unfortunate is that the parents who seem to be in harmony with each other often vent their mutual hostility on her, so that she doesn't know what "happiness" is. ?
In this environment, the only thing Betty can rely on is her sister.She has been very close to her sister since she was a child, and the two love each other in an unfortunate situation, so they can experience the rare security and comfort.But life is impermanent. Her sister passed away suddenly when she was 17 years old. She seemed to have lost the only pillar of her life. She fell into extreme sadness and depression, and could not recover after a year. ?
After graduating from high school, under the forced arrangement of her parents, she entered a seminary in R town to study, preparing to engage in missionary work in the future.During her sophomore year, she shared a dorm room with a charming, sweet, and talented girl named Lucy.Lucy is very cheerful and enthusiastic about Betty, and guides her step by step into another brand-new world, develops new interests, makes all kinds of friends, and encourages her to develop her previously neglected talents—Lucy said She has musical talent and could become an excellent pianist in the future. ?
Betty likes Lucy very much, and is very grateful to Lucy. She treats Lucy like a sister.At the same time, also because of Lucy's friendship, she lived a rather happy youth, which was never before. ?
During her junior year, Lucy became engaged to a young dentist.Lucy often invited Betty to travel with them, and she was happy to accompany them.But in this journey of youth, Betty fell in love with the dentist involuntarily.She was jealous of Lucy, and seeing the sweet scene of the two of them, she could only feel sad and weep secretly for her hopeless love. ?
The young dentist, of course, had no love for the shy, clumsy, nervous Betty, and he soon married Lucy, and the two moved to Canada to share their love nest.Although she knew this would happen, Betty was still devastated. She became so depressed that she dropped out of school and went home, but she didn't tell her parents what was on her mind.At the insistence of her parents, she returned to college, and after graduation entered a preparatory school for overseas missions. ?
After finishing her studies, through the arrangement of her parents, she married a missionary.It was a marriage without love, and then they went to Africa, where they spent six years of unhappy overseas missionary life.In the end, the couple and their two children returned to the United States and settled in a parsonage in a small town in the Midwest. ?
When her husband became more and more focused on the work of the church, she became increasingly unable to bear this dull and boring life.In particular, the town's folk customs are relatively conservative, and there are few recreational activities, which makes her feel suffocated.It was during this time that she began to dwell on the memories of the past—replaying her first two years with Lucy over and over again.This life became the source of all her fantasies. ?
When she was 37 years old, her favorite youngest son died of illness suddenly, which caused her dissatisfaction and disappointment accumulated over the years to burst out. On the day after his son died, she left home without saying goodbye.The husband and his family searched everywhere, but to no avail. ?
Under the patient treatment of the doctor, Betty slowly recalled her whereabouts after she left home: After wandering around, she finally came to R Town, which is the university town where she lived in her youth. ?
But when she arrived in R Town, she had lost her memory of her real identity and her past life, and she only felt that she was a girl named Lucy. ?
So she began to settle down in the town of R under the name of Lucy, earning a living by playing and teaching piano.This kind of life is quite comfortable, and within two years, she became the conductor of a local music school.Perhaps out of a wonderful intuition, she only chooses to be friends with people who don't wonder about her past, which has gradually become a mysterious blank.In the end, she finally established a new social identity in R Town. ?
In this way, Betty became Lucy and lived freely in R Town for four years.Until one day, an old acquaintance from her girlhood, Betty's college friend, recognized her not only Betty, but also the real Lucy. ?
When the other party made this kind of identification, Betty was confused, and she said with unquestionable sincerity: "I am Lucy, not Betty, you must have identified the wrong person!"?
But she is obviously Betty.Finally, her husband and family members came after hearing the news, and the scene mentioned at the beginning of the story happened. ?
Betty's husband showed considerable understanding and cooperation after understanding his wife's concerns. After his wife was discharged from the hospital, he provided her with a more fulfilling life connotation and a more lively living atmosphere, and Betty's mood gradually changed due to the change of environment. Get better, life gradually happy. ?
Mind walk?

Many psychology masters have encountered Betty's case, which is called "psychogenic fugue" in psychiatry.It is characterized by patients who suddenly leave home in a state of dissociative consciousness, often wandering far away for days, months, or even years.In this state, they will completely forget everything about the past. ?
In the case, Betty turned into Lucy because she can change from an unhappy housewife to a successful artist. She can not only escape the pain, but also nourish the thirsty soul in the past feelings, so she chooses to travel. ?
(End of this chapter)