By Fran Sherman, LCSW
Casey Anthony is beginning a whole new chapter in her life. But how will she live it?
The most infamous figure in America, she’s facing the decisions that come with her newfound freedom. Does she go undercover? It makes sense that she will have to become anonymous, no matter where she lives, because so many people hate her.
Can she capitalize on her “fame” if she’s living in seclusion with a new identity?
Going “underground” may be the only way Casey reasonably can go on with her life because it’s the only way for her to be safe. But can she handle it emotionally?
Although I haven’t examined Casey, it appears she suffers from borderline personality disorder. That alone would make it difficult for her to live anonymously.
There’s no question the public has a fascination with Casey Anthony. Yet people remain outraged that a mother could know her child was missing for 31 days and would behave as Casey did. And after Casey’s high-profile trial, we all now know that 2-year-old Caylee already was dead.
Going out and partying is the exact opposite of what most healthy people would do if their child was missing. I remember losing my daughter in a department store for a mere 10 seconds once when she was 3. In that blink of an eye, I thought my life was over.
Here’s the difference: Those who question Casey’s actions are expecting her to act as a healthy person would. But she’s not healthy.
People cope in different ways, and it appears that Casey was in denial. If she convinced herself that Caylee was not missing, then it was so.
People have been glued to the Casey Anthony saga for three years. Interest grew from the first days that Caylee was reported missing, through Casey’s murder trial and her controversial acquittal. It’s a real-life CSI or Law & Order murder mystery, and people want to find out what really happened.
But they’ll never know. If Casey writes a book, people on both sides of the debate will buy it, but we’ll never know if it’s the truth.
At the end of the day, what we do know is that a beautiful little girl died, and we all mourn for her.
The most positive way to move forward is to take our collective anger and sadness and do something good with it: kiss our children, love our children and become more aware of our children’s needs and bond with our children.
Most of all, it’s never too soon to strengthen the lines of communication with our children. Talk to your kids. And communicate, communicate, communicate.