Hope and courage! These are the two words that come to my mind while watching the statement made by Tina Dugard, Jaycee’s aunt, regarding the reunification and reconnection of Jaycee and her mom, Terry Probyn. I am extremely hopeful for Jaycee and her daughters. As a clinical psychologist, it was clear to me that the family is doing everything right in regards to beginning the healing process for Jaycee and her daughters. This is a time...
Nancy Garrido Misses HER Girls? Outrageous!
Nancy Garrido‘s attorney says that she misses and loves her daughters. She is, of course, referring to kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard‘s biological daughters, fathered by her accused captor and rapist Phillip Garrido — Nancy’s husband. Make no mistake about it, prosecutors have given Nancy Garrido equal billing when it comes to the criminal counts, hitting her with the same 29 charges her husband is facing — which...
Why Levi Johnston Is a Terrible Father
The only thing telling about Levi Johnston‘s tell-all interview in the latest issue of Vanity Fair is that he obviously doesn’t care one whit about his one-year-old son, Tripp. If he did, he wouldn’t be ripping the family of his son’s mother apart for all the world to read. The 19-year-old father holds nothing back in his contempt for Sarah Palin, former vice-presidential candidate and former governor of Alaska....
Surviving Captivity: Stockholm Syndrome
Do you judge Jaycee Dugard for staying with her captors? You shouldn’t — and here’s why. As a psychologist and a mother, I have been getting a variety of responses regarding the Jaycee Dugard captivity situation. There have been more than a few mothers who said, “I wouldn’t have stayed. Why didn’t she leave?” It is important to understand the psychology of captivity. It is also imperative to understand...
Follow Your Intuition — Save a Child
The reason Jaycee Dugard was discovered is because of the intuition of two female security officers at the University of California at Berkeley. They were suspicious of Phillip Garrido and felt his behavior with the two female children was odd. But what got him caught was that they, unlike many of us, decided to act on their instinct even if it meant “meddling” in someone else’s affairs. The officers took his name and reported...