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We Were Liars Essay

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Full Title of Your Paper Avery J. Lutz Galion High School Honors English 10 Ms. Melendez 10 March 2023 Memory Loss and PTSD Not everyone who suffers from PTSD will experience memory loss, but Cadence Sinclair does. The novel We Were Liars by E. Lockhart surrounds the story of the Sinclair family. The family suffers from traumatic family losses, generational trauma, while having secrets, lies and drama. The main character Cadence Sinclair partakes in an activity that has her three best friends killed, after this accident she spends relatively two years not remembering that they passed or how they passed. Just like Cadence, millions of people in the world suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) today. Understanding the severity and …show more content…

One symptom of PTSD that Cadence experiences is migraines. Cadence’s migraines start after her accident. In the book, she describes her migraines by saying “Welcome to my skull. A truck is rolling over the bones of my neck and head. The vertebrae break, the brains pop and ooze. A thousand flashlights shine in my eyes. The world tilts. I throw up. I black out. This happens all the time. It’s nothing but an ordinary day” (Lockhart, 2014, page 37). Migraines like what Cadence describes are only one symptom of PTSD. The article “Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)” by mayoclinic goes into detail of possible symptoms one could experience when suffering from PTSD. It says “PTSD symptoms are generally grouped into four types: intrusive memories, avoidance, negative changes in thinking and mood, and changes in physical and emotional reactions. Symptoms can vary over time or vary from person to person” (Mayo Clinic, 2022). Cadence expresses symptoms from each of these categories, in the negative changes in thinking and mood Cadence experiences negative thoughts about yourself, other people or the world. She says “I hate my fucking hacked-up mind, how sick I am all the time, how damaged I’ve become. I hate that I’ve lost my looks and failed school and quit sports and am cruel to my mother. I hate how I still want him after two years” (Lockhart, 2014, page 95). Cadence displays negative self talk many times throughout the

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