◌

February 1st

We have relieved Aura of our care this afternoon. It is unfortunate that the treatment didn't work for her. It has helped so many other people overcome trauma once thought unable to be recovered from. Many people have been able to reclaim their lives and build better futures.

But not Aura — perhaps her pain was too insurmountable to be erased with treatment. Maybe our treatment isn't to a level of helping someone of her status. Maybe someday, we can.

In many ways, this institution has failed our patient in her most dire times of need. Regrettably, I am tasked with writing an explanation for why things happened the way they did. If we learn from the errors of this patient, we will be sure to avoid making the same mistakes for another.

Perhaps the single greatest failure is the way the building is arranged — the sheer size of it and the way patients need to be escorted from room to room lends itself to curiosity and exploration. Most people resign themselves to their room but not people like Aura. They can't be confined.

If we were ever to treat someone like Aura again, we would need to construct a specially designed room with everything she would need in one place — an area to sleep, a toilet, and a sink. Perhaps those prisons were onto something with their bleak yet utillitarian design.

More care must be given when dealing with someone as delicate as Aura. Our treatment, while being the best for most people, isn't a one size fits all solution. If we can make adjustments to personalize the treatment even further, who knows what we could have accomplished?

Aura's memories were too strong. They held too much pain and emotion. Instead of going through with the treatment, we should have treated her with medication to lower the intensity of her emotions. The stronger the emotion tied to the memory, the more likely it is for resurgence.

We also underestimated her connection to the patient known as Mira. Having those two be so close to each other — inadvertently allowing them to meet was another mistake on our part. Mira, in particular, is another case that went wrong, but I won't dig into the details in this report.

May we continue to pave the way towards a bright future for us all.

Signed,
Dr. Schultz