Boarding School Syndrome

Joy Schaverien Talking with Jenni Murry on Radio 4 about Boarding School Syndrome, making observations on the lasting damaging psychological effects of boarding schools on those who attended them.

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Education

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• Joy
• Schaverien

[dezboss]

Having been a boarder at Shrewsbury school myself, I understand this completely.

[radoxme]

I have met Joy in a consultation and she is lovely. However she would not take me on as I had had a breakdown and she felt therapy may trigger another one so I should just take the pills. Too ill for talking! I must be more messed up than I realised.

[gagehughes1]

I can relate to what Joy Schaverin says about boarding schools; however some things never change, the sense of being abandoned, the loss of love and affection, the separation from all you held dear, the bullying, the emphasis on team sports which for a sensitive child can be quite awful. Then came the abuse in all its manifestations. And I was not able to tell anyone about untill i became an aged man. For me it was profoundly damaging and it still haunts me to this very day.

[MsParselmouth]

As someone who boarded in the 1970s I can fully relate to what Joy Schaverein says about boarding school syndrome and how the loss of everything that mattered to me at such a young age profoundly harmed the development of my personality. It seems a shame that this piece concentrated so much showing on how modern boarding schools are different, rather than addressing the issue of how people affected by boarding school syndrome can help themselves to overcome the difficulties they are left with.