2 weeks Ago By The Straits Times
Even as I have grown older, I can still recall from my distant childhood some disconnected images of my father sitting by my bedside when I was sick; our walks along the seafront promenade that was then called Queen Elizabeth Walk; of my mother teaching me to write by tracing the strokes of the Chinese characters on my palm; and of the chicken noodles redolent of sesame oil she cooked on my birthdays. To this day, I still dream of my childhood – happy dreams, never troubled. When I became a psychiatrist, I became more grateful that my parents gave me a stable and secure childhood that a number of my patients did not have.
I remember a chronically depressed man, orphaned when he was eight; another with panic attacks and recurring nightmares of his father beating him with a chain when he was a boy; a woman with borderline personality disorder whose mother abandoned her as a 10-year-old to her stepfather who sexually abused her, and many others where there was this thread that spooled out from a traumatic childhood to a subsequent disruptive and even destructive life. Already a subscriber? Log in Get exclusive reports and insights with more than 500 subscriber-only articles every month No contract ST app access on 1 mobile device Subscribe now All subscriber-only content on ST app and straitstimes.com Easy access any time via ST app on 1 mobile device E-paper with 2-week archive so you won't miss out on content that matters to you.
