I felt as though my throat was closing in, being squeezed by the mighty hand of some invisible goliath. Needless to say, I couldn’t breathe. My whole body was trembling and I felt so overheated. I was overwhelmed by the answer, an unexpected turn of the screw which hurled me into a frenzy, the details of which are still unclear to me.

Though I was technically conscious, I was unaware of all developments until I suddenly awoke from my trance in a different bed, in a different room, in the psychiatric ward of the hospital. Having no recollection of my previous hysteria, I was quite confused when I made this discovery.

A very composed young man with excellent posture, very different from the previous intern, entered. He was confident to say the least. Without hesitation, he began, “Shadoe Stilwell. Age 15. Rape victim diagnosed with acute stress disorder.” He turned to his supervisor, a small woman who I had not noticed before. There must have been some kind of mistake. There was no way I had a disorder!