PTSD In We Were Liars

Losing Your Mind.

Audrey E. Glew
Galion High School
Accelerated English 10
Ms. Melendez
March 13, 2023

“I don't want to forget, I'm trying to remember”(Lockhart,2018, pg 54). This is the statement by Cady Sinclair in the book We Were Liars by E. Lockhart tells herself. Cady suffers from an accident that affects her memory, causes migraines and makes her forget. Before the accident, Cady and the Liars enjoyed many summers together in Beechwood Island. In the book the accident was that she and the Liars started a fire that killed them. However, Cady enjoys many more summers with the Liars who were not there. This can be known as PTSD or traumatic stress disorder. It has been proven that trauma affects memory and has side effects. Can this

In Cady's case in the book she suffered an accident that hurt her and the Liars. According to the article How Trauma Impacts Four Different Types of Memory it says that, “Trauma can shut down episodic memory and fragment the sequence of events. The hippocampus is responsible for creating and recalling episodic memory. Trauma can prevent information like words, images and sounds from different parts of the brain from combining to make a semantic memory.”( How Trauma Impacts Four…) The accident Cady had was so traumatic for her that it shut down her memory and she could not remember any part of it. In the book We Were Liars Cady's friends notice her lack of memory “Her memory is messed up, Johnny! Yells Mirren she doesn't remember like half our summer fifteen” ( Lockhart, 2018, pg. 93). Her brain shut out all the memories of summer 15, even the good ones. According to the article How Trauma Affects Your Memory it says, “Trauma can lead to dissociative amnesia, which helps a person cope by allowing them to temporarily forget details of the event”(Palmera). Cady's brain shut out all the pain she caused by

Right now, she said. Because you are. Because you can be” (Lockhart, 2018, pg 6). Cady never understood why her mom would say this because she was normal. Cady's family told her the accident but she could not remember. Cady's doctor thought it would be best if she could remember on her own time and not to rush the remembering process. Cady eventually got to the reemergence stage the article Emerging Trauma Memories says, “ Reemergence - A Message from the Trauma Holding part that you're Safe Enough now to Process. Reemergence of memories usually means that there was some form of trauma, abuse, neglect or emotional hurt that was experienced years ago, but was repressed because you were not in a safe or stable enough place to heal it” (Goldstein). Cady was finally able to remember the accident that caused all her pain. In the book on page 232 Cady says, “ And here, I have killed them. My Liars, my darlings. Killed them”(Lockhart, 2018, pg 232). She caused the pain, she started the fire and she killed her friends. Cady suffers from PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder. PTSD can affect your memory and for Cady this was true. When the accident happened she had to recollection of what happened. This accident affected Cady, her brain, her memory and her family. The Liars were dead and it was her fault. This caused the PTSD, the trauma and the sickness in her day to day life. This is what likely happened to Cady Sinclair during