According to Dr. Joseph Noone, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia (at the time of the inquest into Cindy’s death) and accepted as an expert in his field by the B.C. and Alberta courts, Cindy was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, which Dr. Noone explained as:

“People who have encountered sometime in their life some endangering event, sometimes thought to be outside the realm of natural human experience, can develop a multiple number of anxiety symptoms—recurring nightmares, dreams, hyper-vigilance, becoming withdrawn, isolated, trying somehow to protect themselves and their vulnerability and often withdraw. [They] have a sense of that recurring again, feeling frightened in their environment, unsafe, unsure.

“Characteristically, they change their ability to work in the work force. There are cognitive components, thinking, can’t concentrate, can’t attend. There are personality components where they become much more frightened, unsure of themselves. Most characteristically, though, are the sleep disturbances and the nightmares, what we call psychic numbing, sort of numbing to a startle response to events around about them and they experience the event either through nightmares or flashbacks and so she fits all the criteria.”

In my next post I’ll share what Cindy wrote about herself (from her journal) and her experience with PTSD.

Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My friend
Read an excerpt now
TV Shows and Clips about the Death of Cindy James