Did Sheila Suffer An Attachment Disorder Resulting In Affectionless Psychopathy?

[susan]

Hi Mags  I thought Sheila had a beautiful face and figure but would never have compared her to Twiggy.  I don't think Sheila had what it takes to be a successful model.

[Jane]

Hi Lookout

It is often said that JB was envious of Sheila and resented the fact that she had a London pad and that's why he carried out the murders but for the life of me I can't see what there was to be envious about with or without the pad.  Relatively speaking Sheila's life was sad in every sense of the word from start to finish.  The only positive to come out of her life appears to have been the twins.

JB's wit stats state that Sheila wld often call Nevill in a panic about money and Freddie's wit stat states that he once lent or gave her some money.  Her accommodation was paid for but how did she fund her day to day expenses eg council tax, or whatever it was called then, utilities, food, travel and the twins?  If Colin was out of work and unable to provide for SC and the twins, did Nevill provide her with a monthly allowance?  Even when Colin was working it doesn't appear at that time he wld be able to provide more than the basics.  Did she claim any benefits? 

I know many farmers and they tend to be old money types.  I'm not so sure the Bambers wld have been doling out loads of cash for SC to live it up in the big smoke.  Sure they bought SC and JB pads but that's what farmers do ie buy assets.  Plus if they put these assets in the names of SC and JB it wld have reduced the Bambers inheritance tax liability.

Given Sheila's genetic background ie her birth family being academics and the fact that she attended fee paying schools I don't understand how she ended up without any qualifications or 'proper' job.  According to Colin's mother, Mrs Brencher, she states in her wit stat that Sheila was trying very hard to get a job.

Egap, the answer to your last paragraph is easy. I have said that my childhood was similar to Sheila's and subjected to similar condemnations. I was constantly told I was stupid and that people were laughing at me. It doesn't do much for ones sense of self worth, believe me. Like Sheila, I left school without the qualifications which would have been of immediate use and took a job commensurate with somebody with my lack of intelligence. It involved sitting exams which I passed but was told that the standard must have been lowered in order for me to do so! I did a psychology degree in my mid 40s. With the right encouragement I could have done it so much sooner, but I got there in the end. If Sheila had recieved some positive affirmation, her life could have taken a quite different course.

As to how she managed financially, she probably did receive a monthly allowance which she may have seen as pocketmoney. I rather imagine the tab for all her household bills was picked up by Nevill.

[maggie]

Egap, the answer to your last paragraph is easy. I have said that my childhood was similar to Sheila's and subjected to similar condemnations. I was constantly told I was stupid and that people were laughing at me. It doesn't do much for ones sense of self worth, believe me. Like Sheila, I left school without the qualifications which would have been of immediate use and took a job commensurate with somebody with my lack of intelligence. It involved sitting exams which I passed but was told that the standard must have been lowered in order for me to do so! I did a psychology degree in my mid 40s. With the right encouragement I could have done it so much sooner, but I got there in the end. If Sheila had recieved some positive affirmation, her life could have taken a quite different course.

As to how she managed financially, she probably did receive a monthly allowance which she may have seen as pocketmoney. I rather imagine the tab for all her household bills was picked up by Nevill.

I also wonder if Sheila didn't develop the first symptoms of her illness in early adolescence which would have made concentration and communication really difficult for her.  I think I read that she found it difficult to mix with other girls at school as well which could also be an early symptom...I imagine Sheila was sttruggling for a long time with various symptoms before he illness emerged as fullblown schizophreni.

[Jane]

I also wonder if Sheila didn't develop the first symptoms of her illness in early adolescence which would have made concentration and communication really difficult for her.  I think I read that she found it difficult to mix with other girls at school as well which could also be an early symptom...I imagine Sheila was sttruggling for a long time with various symptoms before he illness emerged as fullblown schizophreni.

Very possibly, Maggie. It may also be that the encroaching illness robbed her of the ability to concentrate long enough to hold information.

[susan]

april  May I say well done to you..All odds against you but you achieved so much more than a lot of people and you are one very clever, lovely, funny lady who we love.

[Jane]

april  May I say well done to you..All odds against you but you achieved so much more than a lot of people and you are one very clever, lovely, funny lady who we love.

Susan, thank you. how VERY kind. My head is in imminent danger of swelling out of all recognition!!! xxxxx

[susan]

april  you are far to modest for thatxxxx

[maggie]

Very possibly, Maggie. It may also be that the encroaching illness robbed her of the ability to concentrate long enough to hold information.

Well yes April, it is a symptom of the disease that concentration is badly affected...also there is this symptom with schizophrenics where they can bare grudges and hold onto them for years, mulling over and over on stuff which may have been misinterpreted in the first place, it is an unsociable and lonely disease which alienates a person from their surroundings. imo

[Jane]

Hi April1

Well done to you.  Did you find the stats tough?

Perhaps Sheila suffered from hypervigilance.  Apparently adoptees have a tendency to and it can inhibit learning.  I have a friend at Kent county council and I know they have put out some info to all the local schools but this sounds like it's more for older children adopted from 'chaotic' families:

http://www.clusterweb.org.uk/UserFiles/CW/File/Policy/Childrens_Social_Services/Adoption_C_F/Practice_Tools_and_Checklists/Adoption_Information_for_Teachers_1207.pdf

However, Nancy Verrier also makes ref to it affecting new born adoptees in her books The Primal Wound and Coming Home To Self 

http://nancyverrier.com/miscelleneous-information/

Egap!!! Did I ever!!!! NOT the best subject for somebody who is numerically illiterate!!!!!

I'm SO pleased that they're now affording special consideration to those adopted children who need it.

[mertol22]

Yes, Mertol, she was right for the flake advert, but Twiggy?  I wouldn't have thought so, maybe a bit Jean Shrimpton....sort of girl nextdoor.....but very pretty and feminine.

I think Sheila could be called petite but slim, Twiggy in her early days always looked slim, those flake ads all the models were slim.

[mertol22]

One stand out feature in Sheila i do think about, much has been said about her medical condition, whatever it was i really dont know im no doctor, but i do feel that night the events to follow may have been the result of a family issue in debate that got out of hand, Sheilas face and figure seem to have been constant throughout her adult life, im not sure if she was all that ill , there may have been neural issues but not outward physical ones.

[Jane]

I think Sheila could be called petite but slim, Twiggy in her early days always looked slim, those flake ads all the models were slim.

Mertol, I think Sheila would have made an excellent "Flake" girl, all flowing hair, smokey eyes and floaty dresses. There must have been some reason that she didn't make it. Lack of "green card" being just one possibilty. Maybe unreliability was another, they would have been unlikely to hold up a shoot for one pretty girl when there were so may more willing and able to fill her shoes.

[maggie]

Hi Maggie

How do we know for sure she was schizophrenic?

Well we don' t egap and I take on board your suggestions, am just trying to open your link but having trouble with it.  Sheila was diagnosed with schizophrenia and as such she must have exhibited  symptoms of the disease.  She certainly suffered from psychosis. Of course schizophrenia is only an umberella term for various mental disorders of that type and nowadays there has been a great deal of research into the psychological effects of bad adoption.  So it is possible there was a different term for what happened to Sheila but it seems the end result was the same.  imo

[maggie]

I think Sheila could be called petite but slim, Twiggy in her early days always looked slim, those flake ads all the models were slim.

Mertol, Twiggy was just that, like a twig, she was so thin, much thinner than Sheila, stick like, I remember Mertol!!  Sheila was slim but yes, as egap says not really tall enough for the catwalk, 5'8" was the bar anything under that was far too titchy egap!!

[maggie]

Hi Maggie

What link?

When I read Dr F's wit stats there seems to be so much he doesn't know eg SC's realtionship with Freddie, how she was supporting herself financially, her reunion with her birth mother.  Talk about 'knowing' your patient ...How could he diagnose her as being schizophrenic when he didn't seem to know her?

I know, egap, his witness statement seems to be pretty unsatisfactory...I suppose as a psychiatrist he diagnosed her according to her symptoms and treated her as such, a psychologist would have looked into her background etc and maybe come to a different conclusion.  I am a big fan of the NHS and have loads to thank them for but symptoms are treated in isolation not holistically, this happens in the private sector as well.  Whatever Sheila's illness I believe she would have benefitted by a whole body and mind approach. Unfortunately treating someone for their symptomas and bunging medication at them then sending them off to deal without any proper support was not the answer. imo