KIRSTIN'S STORY: no place to stand

A poignant story of a child's life destroyed by anxiety and fear.

This is the story of a young girl's struggle with social phobia from the time it surfaced when she was nine years old until her death ten years later. It is told by her mother and relates all the misconceptions and misunderstandings that are part of people's perceptions of a child or an adult, for that matter, with a mental health disorder.

Kirstin was a smart, intelligent young woman - a budding artist, musician and poet - who suffered from social phobia and was unable to manage her extreme fear of new places, situations and people to the point that she would run away or curl up in a fetal position, refusing to move until the fear left her. Despite often being able to take on challenges and responsibility successfully, the panic would creep back and overwhelm her. She became increasingly afraid of school and, eventually, was unable to attend at all. The continual battle with the depression that resulted from her inability to control her fear and have a life also became a continual battle for her mother to search out effective treatment, provide a happy family life and stem suicide attempts, all of which became more difficult as her daughter reached adulthood.

This is a heartrending story of a mother's love and a family's despair.

Dettagli