If you are parenting an adopted child who was severely abused, you might find that your child has trouble wearing a watch. Apparently, there is something about severe child abuse that affects the child’s body magnetism. I don’t know why, but my sister and I both struggle with this (her more than me).

My sister has never been able to wear a watch. Within a day or two, the battery will die. She replaces the battery, and the new one dies within a day or two. She has tried different brands and types of watches. If the watch touches her body, it will stop working. (Thank goodness for cell phones – She now has a way to keep the time on her!)

I never had this issue until I started recovering flashbacks. Whenever I was moving toward another level of emotional healing, my watch would slow down. I would take the watch to the store, only to hear that the battery is just fine.

Like my sister, I tried buying other watches, but apparently the newer watches must not be as thick because I cannot wear them. I just wind up returning them because they run either too fast or too slow. I just hope this watch I received for my high school graduation in the 1980’s will keep on ticking!

One time, my watch slowed down by exactly one hour, so I spent an entire Saturday thinking it was one hour earlier than it was. I wound up being an hour late to appointment! The minute hand perfectly matched any clock I saw during the day, so I never questioned the time.

Truddi Chase talks about this phenomenon in her book When Rabbit Howls. I wrote about this topic on my personal blog and invited other child abuse survivors to share their stories.

My sister’s body magnetism is so strong that it goes beyond frying watches. She can pick up a knife, hold it for a few minutes, and then make the knife pick up paper clips – even a whole string of paper clips! It is the most unbelievable thing you have ever seen. She used to do this at bars to freak people out.

I don’t know why there is a link between severe child abuse and body magnetism, but there definitely is one. I wonder if it has something to do with the way the brain stores trauma memories. My watch issues tend to flare up right before I am going to deal with some heavy duty trauma issues.

Do any of your traumatized children struggle with body magnetism issues?

Photo credit: JulieC