Character Clinic: Frankie Gilchrist

Today's assessment is for Josie. She's writing a modern thriller-type book featuring 26-year-old Frankie, a telepath who keeps to herself as much as possible. Her father was violent with mob connections. He murdered her mother when Frankie was 9 and locked Frankie in the hotel room with her mother's dead body for 3 days before Frankie managed to escape. She can erase people's memory with a touch of her hand, but she isn't often with other people to even worry about it.

Josie wants to know: How can Frankie get a life? A real one that involves other people? How can she overcome her fear and her past and just be happy?

Frankie -

The kind of trauma that you suffered at the tender age of 9 isn't the kind one is likely to get over soon, if ever. (Not to be fatalist here, but realistic.) You'll carry it with you, but that doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing.

Since you're sorta searching for a goal, I've got one to throw out. Just a thought, but there are so many wounded healers out there, people who go into career fields simply because of their own pain. You could be a social worker, determined to help orphaned children who remind you so much of yourself. Children who've come from homes of violence or neglect.

It's be interesting to see your struggle in this type work because you'd have to weight the benefit of your talent of erasing memories (which might be seen as a courtesy to extend these traumatized souls) against the moral implications.  In fact, I could see this as a huge decision for you to make later in the book...and coming to grips with your own past and the fact no one was around to erase it for you and that what you went through made you into the person you are today might help you make the right decision.

I also think that this type goal would give you lots of internal angst, because social workers are by their very nature social. They have to be around people to help them. But perhaps since you'd work mainly with kids, you wouldn't feel as much anxiety with them. But dealing with other professionals might be challenging. But what if one of them were a super cute lawyer or police officer? That might make it a bit more palatable to face your fear...

Speaking of, I want to ask you why you're so scared of other people. Your father, I understand. He's out there somewhere, and the more you show your face or are noticed, the more likely he might be to make a reappearance. But what has another soul done to you that has made you scared of them? If you live off your fear that they will find out about your telepathy and use you in experimentation, that would only apply to a very few select individuals, perhaps in a science field. See where I'm going? I'd need more info as a reader for this to really ring true.

I hope that you've enjoyed your time on the couch today. If you want to go deeper, flesh out your fear of others and find healing from your trauma, purchase a full assessment from me and get another spin on the couch!