Bodie in 'Heat-Trace'
Mar. 18th, 2007 01:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kiwisueOne for Pros fans only, I'm afraid!
I've had Helen Raven's "Heat Trace" on my mind, on and off, for the past couple of years. I loved it, but I was at a loss to explain her Bodie. Doyle was fine, I could track his slide into depression and planned suicide. Bodie was "more difficult".
Anyway,
I managed to get an appointment to see Dr Ross, who took early retirement from government service in 2005 but still retains a small consultancy.
Naturally she couldn't talk about the specifics of any CI5 cases she had been involved in, and I was unwilling to divulge all the reasons for my interest in certain matters. Nonetheless, after some verbal fencing, she did give me a great deal of helpful information. Curiously, much of what she volunteered seemed particularly applicable to our current case review.
When Dr Ross was first involved with CI5, her diagnostic yardstick was the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-II (1974 printing). It was considered to be forward-thinking at the time because it replaced the 'mental illness' of homosexuality with the category 'sexual orientation disturbance'. She said that later versions of the DSM removed this particular category altogether, as psychiatric medicine became less concerned with labels and more focussed on whether an individual's sexual orientation or urges were causing them distress or functional impairment, above and beyond any societal disapproval or discrimination.
Then, without prompting, she talked at some length about a group of mental heath disorders known as "dissociative disorders". There are various classifications, and individuals do not always fit all the criteria, but some of the features of the different types include:
- amnesia, particularly blanking out of traumatic events;
- identity disorder – the so called "split personality", where an individual switches identities when under stress. The individual may or may not be aware of this other "person" living in their head;
- fugue states, where the individual suddenly "takes off" away from their life, becoming unaware or confused about their identity;
- depersonalisation disorder, where the individual feels as though they are "out of themselves", detached from their body.
Treated, usually with psychotherapy, these disorders may resolve fairly quickly, may take years, or may never fully resolve.
I asked her what would happen if someone suffering from a dissociative disorder did something, or allowed something bad to happen that they would never have considered if they were healthy. What repercussions would there be during treatment, for example?
She sighed, and said, "Most psychotherapy is aimed at helping people regain what they have lost, integrating their past experiences and allowing them to express and feel the associated emotions. In this case however..."
She seemed at a loss for a moment, and then began again, choosing her words with conspicuous care.
"I would have to consider whether the benefits outweighed the risks involved in treatment. Even if he was prepared to cooperate, if he suppressed the memory of what he did then it may be damaging to attempt to enable him to remember. The shock of realising what he had done might cause a further episode.
Ask yourself this – is he happy? Is he living a useful life? Does he have friends to support him, a lover? If the answer is yes to all of these, then perhaps it's best to leave well enough alone.
I'm in a meddling profession – I'm paid a great deal of money to do my job and I do it very well. It's just that... sometimes meddling is precisely the wrong thing to do."
The interview was over. As I got up from my seat to leave, she asked me if I found my Obsessive-Compulsive disorder at all disabling and offered me a follow-up appointment.
---------------
Also, this should be considered a lay person's attempt at solving a puzzle, not a professional opinion. Feel free to disagree with me!*
I've had Helen Raven's "Heat Trace" on my mind, on and off, for the past couple of years. I loved it, but I was at a loss to explain her Bodie. Doyle was fine, I could track his slide into depression and planned suicide. Bodie was "more difficult".
Anyway,
I managed to get an appointment to see Dr Ross, who took early retirement from government service in 2005 but still retains a small consultancy.
Naturally she couldn't talk about the specifics of any CI5 cases she had been involved in, and I was unwilling to divulge all the reasons for my interest in certain matters. Nonetheless, after some verbal fencing, she did give me a great deal of helpful information. Curiously, much of what she volunteered seemed particularly applicable to our current case review.
When Dr Ross was first involved with CI5, her diagnostic yardstick was the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-II (1974 printing). It was considered to be forward-thinking at the time because it replaced the 'mental illness' of homosexuality with the category 'sexual orientation disturbance'. She said that later versions of the DSM removed this particular category altogether, as psychiatric medicine became less concerned with labels and more focussed on whether an individual's sexual orientation or urges were causing them distress or functional impairment, above and beyond any societal disapproval or discrimination.
Then, without prompting, she talked at some length about a group of mental heath disorders known as "dissociative disorders". There are various classifications, and individuals do not always fit all the criteria, but some of the features of the different types include:
- amnesia, particularly blanking out of traumatic events;
- identity disorder – the so called "split personality", where an individual switches identities when under stress. The individual may or may not be aware of this other "person" living in their head;
- fugue states, where the individual suddenly "takes off" away from their life, becoming unaware or confused about their identity;
- depersonalisation disorder, where the individual feels as though they are "out of themselves", detached from their body.
Treated, usually with psychotherapy, these disorders may resolve fairly quickly, may take years, or may never fully resolve.
I asked her what would happen if someone suffering from a dissociative disorder did something, or allowed something bad to happen that they would never have considered if they were healthy. What repercussions would there be during treatment, for example?
She sighed, and said, "Most psychotherapy is aimed at helping people regain what they have lost, integrating their past experiences and allowing them to express and feel the associated emotions. In this case however..."
She seemed at a loss for a moment, and then began again, choosing her words with conspicuous care.
"I would have to consider whether the benefits outweighed the risks involved in treatment. Even if he was prepared to cooperate, if he suppressed the memory of what he did then it may be damaging to attempt to enable him to remember. The shock of realising what he had done might cause a further episode.
Ask yourself this – is he happy? Is he living a useful life? Does he have friends to support him, a lover? If the answer is yes to all of these, then perhaps it's best to leave well enough alone.
I'm in a meddling profession – I'm paid a great deal of money to do my job and I do it very well. It's just that... sometimes meddling is precisely the wrong thing to do."
The interview was over. As I got up from my seat to leave, she asked me if I found my Obsessive-Compulsive disorder at all disabling and offered me a follow-up appointment.
---------------
Also, this should be considered a lay person's attempt at solving a puzzle, not a professional opinion. Feel free to disagree with me!*
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 08:00 am (UTC)Ranald Graham,who wrote that episode, and the equally illogically plotted Operation Suzie (along with some of the worse episodes of The Sweeney has a habit of picturing a big climax and then forcing his characters to do whatever it takes to get there - no matter how illogical or out of character (Graham is a pseudonym for a quite well known thriller writer - I assume that the series editors were so pleased to get him that they failed to edit his scripts to fit the shows format).
You've done sterling work - but really the only way to make any sense of Bodie in that epi is to assume the whole thing was one of Dr Ross's paranoid nightmares.
Hmmm
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 08:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 08:25 am (UTC)Very interesting observations on WJ - although I like aspects of that episode - the Lads on bikes, for one thing and Bodie in black leather. I agree that the plot is forced. And the black eyeliner around Bodie's eyes in the scene when he hits the car door is just too obvious (on the DVD's anyway)!!!
I think Graham also wrote 'Blind Run' (which I like), Fall Girl and Lawson's Last Stand (dire!).
However 'Heat-Trace' (Helen Raven, 1992) is actually an AU novel set after Brother's Keeper, a circuit story by an anonymous author. In the circuit story Doyle is a policeman who has been kidnapped and his partner killed. He's taken to some place in "Arabia" where Bodie, already working for CI5, rescues him.
In 'Heat-Trace' Doyle declines an offer from Cowley to join CI5, yet continues his relationship with Bodie. There are difficulties caused by the demands of their different jobs, the need for secrecy and their own psychologies which almost result in tragedy. Very well written, IMHO, although not everyone enjoys the level of angst and pain that HR subjects them to!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 08:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 08:44 am (UTC)I don't think that Bodie is mentally disturbed in WJ. At least not on a clinically significant level. The whole Kate Ross thing is contrived.
I like Sarah Douglas, though, and Ross is an interesting character to put to other uses.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 09:42 am (UTC)And you've got Ross's 'voice' perfectly btw.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 10:34 am (UTC)Linkage:
http://www.kelper.co.uk/helenraven/trace.html
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 01:36 pm (UTC)Anyway, I think I should read the story first to understand what are you talking about here. So thanks for a rec:-)
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 08:55 pm (UTC)