No she is a psycho bitch who desrves to die. Please spare me your conspiracy theories. I AM very well versed in this case and I don't read Canadian newspapers. I am in the US.
After reading your last reply, I realize that I WAS correct about you. You are in a delusional state.
Doesn't sound like it....
The following statements amount to the several professional analyses of Karla and the condition she was in when the system first got hold of her in 93. To say that there is a sort of a gap between these reports and the BS you read in most Canadian newspapers is a sort of an understatement. Of course, American media gets its info on this story from the Canadian media version, and you are getting your daily diet of rubbish from them.
Dr. Malcom's Observations Diagnosis
Karla shows no sign of any psychotic disorder.
There are, I realize, indications of some residual organic brain disorder; but these are minimal and they should not interfere with her rehabilitation.
I could not detect the signs of any personality disorder. She does not show the instability, impulsiveness, and inappropriateness of the person with Borderline Personality Disorder. There is certainly a crisis in self-image at the moment but this, it seems to me, is a reaction to her total defeat as a citizen, a wife, and a family member. She does not satisfy the criteria for the diagnosis of the Antisocial Personality Disorder.
She is anxious and depressed but both of these states make sense in terms of her recent history and her present situation. Thus there is a dysthymia 300.40. This is a disorder in where there is a chronically depressed mood as a response to certain disagreeable life situations. I was able to ascertain that Karla has suffered from sleep disturbances, a low energy level, low self esteem, a diminished ability to make difficult decisions, and a marked feeling of hopelessness. This is dysthymia, a condition that can definitely be helped by psychotherapy.
In addition there are all of the factors that constitute psychological torture as defined by Amnesty International. There was social isolation, exhaustion stemming from deprivation of sleep, monopolization of perception through the exhibition of intensely possessive behavior, threats of death against the person or the person's relatives, humiliation and denial of power, and the administration of drugs or alcohol to diminish self control. Karla was systematically subjected to all of these things.
Furthermore it is extremely interesting that these same variables are found in virtually every case of wife abuse. The mose pervasive emotional consequence of batting is the development of a condition called "Learned helplessnes". This is a term that is used in biology to describe the response of an organism repeatedly and unpredictably subjected to painful stimulae. The most commonly observed response to such treatment includes feelings of powerlessness, passivity, a diminished capacity for problem solving and a general unwillingness to try to avoid painful stimulae. As is now well known women who have been subjected to contant battering commonly show all of these tendancies until they suddenly come to realize that with the next battering death will ensue. At such a point they will expose themselves to great danger by running away or by striking out at the person who is battering them. Karla went hrough all of this but in the end, in early January 1993, she escaped to a hospital and for the first time revealed the history of the physical and psychological abuse to which she had been subjected.
Now there also are, in this case, many indications of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In this disorder, certain symptoms develop following a psychologically distressing event that is outside the usual range of human experience. The experience in question would be no ordinary one. It would be a stressor that would induce terror and helplessness. Thus there is often a serious threat to one's own life or physical integrity. There may be a threat to the safety of one's relatives. There may be the experience of witnessing the injury or death of another person. There is no doubt at all that what Karla was forced to experience constituted a major stressor and this stressor was composed of numerous reinforcing events. All of this warrants the making of the diagnosis Post Traumatic Stress Disorder 309.89.
Recovery from such an intense experience does not occur suddenly. It takes many years...
Karla was subjected to repeated sadistic sexual attacks. She was humiliated, beaten, tied up and raped over a period of years. She was manipulated into being a participant in what eventuated in the death of a much loved sister. She was advised on her wedding night that her new husband was a rapist. She was told that if ever tried to leave her husband he would track her down and kill her. Or else he would kill her remaining sister and her parents. She was living with a sexual sadist and she was convinced that from this bewildering fate there was no escape.
Dr. Long's Observations
Personality testing indicates a very depressed and emotionally withdrawn person suffering severe remorse for her participation in the illegal acts referred to.
Furthermore, this woman suffers from and requires treatment for the effects of extremely severe prolonged exposure to her husband's sadistic acts and the ominous atmosphere he created. The latter culminating in a deep belief that she too would someday become the victim of his murderous behavior. Her submissiveness results from deep psychological conflicts with hostile wishes which she had learned early in life to counter through the adoption of submissive and rather passive behavior and coping techniques. This is not to indicate that she would give form to these aggressive impulses through aggressive behaviour.
Neither was there evidence of masochistic tendancies in terms of finding pleasure by being hurt herself nor her observing the suffering of others. It is believed that she was sufficiently hoodwinked and intimidated by Paul Bernardo that she found herself in a compromising position as a result of a sequence of experiences with him that escalated in the intensity of their deviousness and severity. This reached a climax with the death of her sister and, from that point on, she believed that she was trapped in the same manner that an abused wife considers herself to be trapped and then having to fend for her life.
It is not intended to excuse her morally for the part she played in the illegal acts she carried out: she was technically of sound mind and free of disease of the mind of sufficient severity to cloud her awareness or cause her to be unable to appeciate the nature and quality of her acts. Indeed, she was a victim herself and is in serious need of continued psychiatric care. Treatment is essential for Dysthymia and for a post-traumatic stress syndrom which is chronic and severe.
Dr. Arndts Observation
Indeed Karla's experience since her age 17, could be to some degree, compared to the experiences of concentration camp survivors who as well experienced horrendous tragedies and had to go through and perform actions in order to survive that under normal circumstances they would clearly have stayed away from, but in the interest of self-preservation or in the interest of preserving other people's lives, did see themselves helpless and went through the actions as had been required of them.
Dr. Brown's Observations
On admission to the Prison for Women in 1993, Ms. Teale had been diagnosed by two consultant psychiatrists as suffering from a severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder resulting from what is commonly known as "Wife battering".
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines this as the development of characteristic symptoms following a psychologically traumatic event that is generally outside the range of usual human experience. Stressors producing this disorder include various natural disasters, accidental man-made disasters or deliberate man-mad disasters (bombings, torture, death camps). The disorder is apparently more severe and longer lasting when the stressor is of human design. Among the typical symptoms are depression, "Psychic numbing" or a loss of feeling and interest in social activities and impaired memory and difficulty in concentrating.
Frequently, there is a concomitant physical component to the trauma which may even involve direct damage to the central nervous system (e.g. Head trauma).
From my own examination of Ms. Teale, I concurred with the diagnosis of her previous therapists, and continued with the treatment programme that they had initiated, including the gradual reduction of the fairly heavy amounts of medication that she had obviously required at the earlier stages of treatment.
The range of traumas to which she had been subjected for a period of five years at the hands of Mr. Bernardo was quite extensive, and her own accounts seemed to be well corroborated by statements from family, friends and examining physicians. These traumes included physical assaults including blows to the head using foreign objects, sexual abuse including many personal indignities, a wide range of psychological abuse including social isolation, the deliberate removal of any feeling of self esteem and self assertiveness and the enforced misuse of alcohol and mind altering drugs.
Ms. Teale demonstrated quite clearly all the symptoms of a severe and chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and included some memory impairment or amnesia. This memory loss could be a result of various factors, either singly, or, more probably in combination, and these factors include 1. Psychological repression of events that are too painful for the individual to bear. This is a completely unconscious defense mechanism over which the individual has no control. 2. Damage due to head injury, which may be temporary or permanent. 3. The misuse or abuse of alcohol and/or drugs.
In conclusion, I am of the opinion that Karla has been consistantly truthful in her recollections of the past events in this case. She continues to show a natural concern for the areas for which she has amnesia and is aware that predictions regarding complete or partial recovery are not possible. She continues to have no memory for her own involvement with Jane Doe, and this is consistent with her participation having occured against her will and under the empowered direction of her ex-husband.
Again:
In addition there are all of the factors that constitute psychological torture as defined by Amnesty International. There was social isolation, exhaustion stemming from deprivation of sleep, monopolization of perception through the exhibition of intensely possessive behavior, threats of death against the person or the person's relatives, humiliation and denial of power, and the administration of drugs or alcohol to diminish self control. Karla was systematically subjected to all of these things.
Karla needed to be rescued. Subject a person to all of the above for six or seven years, and basically all bets are off as far as what society has any right to expect from that person in terms of behavior.