_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Thanks, Remote! And thanks for the updates. I missed Samuel but will tune in now.

And "hi" to rt and rumpole

Rumpole - I'm going to send you a PM. Thanks.

Hi Forensicpsy... this stuff up your alley?

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

5:22 p.m. ET: Samuels said journals can help people remember things, and also help strengthen people's ability to store memories.

5:21 p.m. ET: Willmott is asking Samuels about Arias' journals. He said he has read all of them going back to junior high school.

5:19 p.m. ET:

“It’s entirely possible, and actually highly likely, that someone would not be able to recall anything about a situation. Or, if they do, it would be foggy or bits and pieces. But this is common, this is well-known and it’s not really arguable,” said Samuels.

5:18 p.m. ET: Willmott just brought up how Arias said she was in a "fog" during the attack and when she was driving out into the desert. Samuels said someone fleeing a scene seems be able to function in automatic function. So Samuels said in this "fog" people can even drive cars.

"Once a person enters this state, while the memories are not being formed, any activities that are involved in fleeing seem to be able to occur. Such as running away or getting into a car and driving away or getting on a horse and trotting away,” said Samuels.

5:15 p.m. ET: Willmott is Samuels if humans have any control over how their brain records memories, and he said now, and their ability to record memories gets worse with age. He also says in stressful situations people also don't have control of their emotions.

“When our emotions take over, we don’t have control. That’s why sometimes people make very bad decisions regarding relationships because their emotions overpower their reasoning,” said Dr. Samuels.

5:12 p.m. ET: The attorneys are at a sidebar with the judge.

5:11 p.m. ET:

“The brain is interested in survival and so all our energies are focused on self-protection. We don’t start thinking, ‘Oh what a beautiful color my attacker is wearing.’ We don’t think about that. We don’t think about, ‘Oh I wonder what song I’d like to have played at my funeral?’ We don’t think about that. We simply fight for our lives or we flee from the scene. That’s all that happens whether you’re a rat, an alligator or a human being,” said Samuels.

5:10 p.m. ET:

"People who suffer from stress-inducing trauma frequently will not recall what happened for a certain period starting with the beginning of the trauma until sometime thereafter, which could be measured in either hours or even days, sometimes even weeks,” said Dr. Samuels.

Samuels is now showing the jury this quote from an article that shows what happens when someone's brain is "under fire."

5:03 p.m. ET: The attorneys are at a sidebar with the judge.

5:01 p.m. ET: Wilmott is asking Samuels about the human bodies fight or flight response. Samuels is walking the jury through the biological changes in the body when someone prepares to defense themselves.

4:59 p.m. ET: Stress can limit the brains capability to store memories according to Samuels.

4:58 p.m. ET: Samuels is explaining where memories and emotions are created in the brain.

4:56 p.m. ET: Samuels is showing the jury a diagram of a human brain.

4:52 p.m. ET: Willmott asked Samuels to explain Biophsychology, and he told her it is the study how the brain functions. Willmott is now setting up Samuels power presentation, and Judge Stephens said they can consider it, but they will not get a copy of it for deliberations.

4:50 p.m. ET: Samuels said it is common for the defendants that he works to not tell the truth at first. He also thought Arias had low self esteem when he met her, and she has grown more confident and more in control of her life. She has also become less depressed as Samuels has known Arias.

"I’ve had patients that I’ve worked with for a year who haven’t told me the whole story, so yes, this is not at all unusual," said Samuels

Willmott asked, "Did you notice a change in her self-esteem from then until the end of last year?"

"The end of last year, I found her to be more confident, and more in control of her feelings, more positive about her life. She was very depressed when I first met her and she talked about suicide…that depression seems to have lifted to a large degree by the last time I had seen her," said Samuels.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Totally! I've been following the case closely.

Glad I found a discussion board where I like the people.

I am glad you found us.... things a bit slow here at the moment.. a few absentees

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

5:32 p.m. ET: The attorneys are now at a sidebar with the judge.

5:31 p.m. ET: Samuels says someone suffering from dissociative amnesia they may only remember bits and pieces of the trauma. They can also feel a sense of detachment, which is like an out of body experience.

5:28 p.m. ET: Samuels is explaining how amnesia can happen when someone experiences acute stress or have an acute stress disorder.

5:27 p.m. ET: Willmott is asking Samuels to explain "acute stress." Samuels said "acute stress" is some severe trauma that causes an individual great stress.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I'd be more interested (and probably so would the jury) if the psych would discuss her attachment to men disorder.

I think it's obvious why this psychologist is testifying, so that the defense can say that Jodi's memory failure regarding the stabbing, etc, is quite normal when a 'normal' person like Jodi is witnessing a traumatic event.

Not to diminish this man's 'learning', but there's no way the human brain is going to show evil in a person, because that resides in the heart. Hence, his testimony is useless. Can't wait for Juan's cross examination. Wonder if he'll ask about this, or if he'll just stick to memory loss due to a traumatic event.

_________________
­
"Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour." Leviticus 19:15

He's a "Fogologist"

You can get a psychologist to confirm or deny almost anything.

It is a noble field of study that I dabbled in myself.. but really in the context of a trial.. it comes down to opposing psychobabble.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

5:59 p.m. ET: Judge Stephens has recessed court for 15 minutes. The live blog will resume at 6:15, when testimony picks back up.

5:58 p.m. ET: Samuels is now explaining to jury what PTSD and detachment means

5:57 p.m. ET:

Willmott asked, “Can this test be manipulated by people? Can you fake the answers?”

“Sure, absolutely,” said Samuels.

“And is that something that’s easy to do?” asked Willmott.“No, not in this test. Unless the person has read the manual, understands the concept of post traumatic stress disorder and is in their mind trying to prove to someone that they do suffer from this disorder. This is not that well-known. This is not in every psychologist’s office,” said Samuels.

5:56 p.m. ET: Samuels said that the PTSD test can be manipulated, but it is difficult for someone to do if they do not understand a lot about pyschology.

p.m. ET: Samuels said the results of the tests confirmed that Arias had PTSD disorder. He is now explaining how the tests work.

5:49 p.m. ET: Arias was given two psychological tests during her interviews with Samuels. One of the tests was for PTSD.

5:48 p.m. ET: Samuels said acute stress disorder only last for a couple months after the trauma. If it lasts longer than that it is a different diagnosis.

5:43 p.m. ET: Samuels said common every day trauma can cause amnesia like being dunked in cold water.

“You don’t have to be in a horrible situation, but an everyday situation, and you’re still prone to having this transient global amnesia,” said Samuels.

5:40 p.m. ET:

“Perpetrators of horrible crimes can also develop post traumatic stress disorder for having acted as the source of the crime,” said Samuels.

5:39 p.m. ET: Samuels is explaining how amnesia can be proportional to the amount violence someone experiences.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Boys and Girls, please try to be be attentive and respectful during our lesson today about the hypothalamus, or was that the hippocampus.... by our expert Fogologist.

_________________
­
"Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour." Leviticus 19:15

6:47 p.m. ET: Samuels is talking about all the patients he has had treating people with PTSD. He has over 30 years of working with victims of PTSD.

6:46 p.m. ET: Therefore, Arias can still experience PTSD even though she is the one who killed Alexander according to Samuels.

6:44 p.m. ET: Willmott is asking if someone can experience PTSD if they create the trauma. Samuels says new research indicates that perpetrators of crimes can experience PTSD.

6:40 p.m. ET: Samuels is further explaining how the PTSD test works and how it helps him diagnosis a patient.

6:38 p.m. ET:

“It’s not unusual at all. Some people go through life with a defense mechanism impeding their lives. But it took [defense attorney] Mr. Nurmi and I a couple of visits actually to help her get through -- to help her break down that barrier. And if you look at it from the perspective of therapy it would be considered a therapeutic breakthrough,” said Samuels.

6:34 p.m. ET: Samuels believes Arias can remember killing Alexander, because she was in a state of acute stress. He also said she may also have trouble remembering Alexander's alleged abuse.

6:32 p.m. ET: Arias was allegedly in denial about killing Alexander, because based on Arias' journals Samuels believes she is a pacifist. Therefore, she could not reconcile her behavior with her personal beliefs. This denial made Arias create a story or lie that someone else killed Alexander according to Samuels.

“We call it denial. It’s a very intense form of denial where a person cannot deal with the fact that something they did was so opposite of everything else they stood for in life. I determined that by reading her diaries. And in her diaries, she is essentially a pacifist, not a violent word, not a negative word…” said Samuels.

6:28 p.m. ET: Samuels just finished reading to jury about the types of behavior people display who suffer from PTSD.

6:23 p.m. ET: Samuels is telling the jury about the criteria to diagnosis someone with PTSD.

6:22 p.m. ET: The jury was just seated, and the attorneys are at another sidebar with the judge.

6:19 p.m. ET: The judge is back on the stand, and the attorneys are at a sidebar.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

6:57 p.m. ET: The judge has recessed court until Monday.

6:56 p.m. ET:

“She was not able to tell her family about what happened. She was not able to tell anybody about what happened. And this is a classic symptom of an acute stress disorder,” said Samuels.

6:55 p.m. ET: Samuels says Arias probably also suffered from acute disorder after the first couple of months of killing Alexander, and her mental issues eventually morphed into PTSD.

6:52 p.m. ET: Someone suffering from PTSD can have nightmares or hallucinations that relieve the truama according to Samuels.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

This psychological testimony is such a waste of time. He's giving a full 4 year course on how 'scientific' psychology can get Jodi off the hook. And someone just said on HLN that the symptom of loss of emotion in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is also a symptom of Psychosis.

I can't wait for Juan's turn.

_________________
­
"Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour." Leviticus 19:15

I think she is nuts and not the good nuts like us at the CTH she just loco.

_________________
"I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers."

"If a man talks in a forest, and there is no woman there to hear him.

Is he still wrong?"

Jane on HLN said tune in tomorrow (FRIDAY) for what is going to be an interesting evidentiary hearing, where fireworks might fly.

_________________
­
"Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour." Leviticus 19:15