Monday, January 30, 2012

Inside the Mind of Casey Anthony....

I love Keith Ablow, MD.  I also love Dr. Drew Pinsky...but I loved Dr. Keith first.  Both are psychiatrists---both have written several books (though Dr. Keith has also written several novels)---and both are well-known broadcast media fixtures. 

Just the other day, I picked up Dr. Keith's latest book on Casey Anthony.  It is literally called "Inside the Mind of Casey Anthony".  If the title smacks of a deja vu moment, Dr. Keith also wrote a book some years ago entitled "Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson".  In my professional opinion, Dr. Keith hit all there was to hit on the nail in analyzing Scott Peterson after the murder and disappearance of his wife and unborn baby in Modesto, CA.  I was very anxious to read what Dr. Keith had to say about Casey Anthony...and now I have finally finished the book after three nights of non-stop bedtime reading.

Casey Anthony, if you will recall, is the Florida mom who was aquitted in the murder of her two-year old daughter Caylee this past year.  I wrote a post about the case when the trial was airing on Court TV;  I had hoped someone like Dr. Keith would one day "write the book" to help us all understand how Casey was made (not born!) and, as a result, what made her tick.

As any of us in the psychotherapy profession knows, history is no mystery when you take the time to dig deep enough to discover the roots of any given person's particular brand(s) of dysfunction.  In the case of Casey Anthony, the rampant emotional, sexual, and psychological dysfunction present within both sides of her parents' families and within her parents themselves was no surprise at all.  I don't want to give away the store here because the book is SO good...I can't even begin to hit on all the salient points that I believe contributed to the making of Casey.  I do know that something was major-ly rotten in Denmark when Casey kept telling her parents she was a "virgin" while her waistline expanded to the tune of seven months pregnant.  If you can believe this one, nobody thought "anything" about it either until Cindy Anthony's brother confronted them all at a wedding when Casey was (again!) seven months pregnant!  Yikes!   I mean I have met and dealt with people in denial before---but when a whole family including the mom-to-be herself  is in denial about a seven month pregnancy...what else is there to surprise us?  Plenty!  Don't get me started.  Each post I write can be only so long after all...

Reading this book is a must for anyone who wants to know how codependent controllers can wreck havoc on their chosen "prey" over the course of each generation.  From Casey's maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather...to Cindy and George (Casey's parents)...to Casey and her brother Lee, you will clearly see why history was indeed no mystery in regards to how innocent little Caylee ended up dead.

As an aside, if you or anyone you care about is being sexually abused, please make the call that can begin to save your life---or the life of someone you love.  1-800-656-HOPE or 1-800-799-SAFE.