Post-traumatic stress disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a possible explanation Sofia Zetterlund considers for Samuel Bai’s psychological difficulties, not a diagnosis the novel confirms. Her assessment links what he endured as a child with signs of dissociation and personality disturbance, while leaving the relationship between trauma and his behavior as a clinical suspicion.

Clinical Assessment

When Sofia first meets Samuel, he seems reserved and uninterested. Her suggestion that they speak Krio rather than English changes the conversation: he becomes more communicative. The contrast shows that his initial reserve does not capture his whole manner of engaging, and that language affects how readily he participates.

Sofia also observes that Samuel struggles to concentrate, cannot remain seated for more than about thirty seconds, and has difficulty restraining sudden impulses and emotional outbursts. These behaviors remind her of ADHD, particularly its hyperactive and impulsive features. The novel presents them as observations and an analogy, not as a confirmed diagnosis.

Trauma and Dissociation

Sofia suspects that Samuel’s childhood experiences have left him with post-traumatic stress and may have provoked a personality disorder. She sees signs that he has several distinct personalities and that he shifts between them without conscious awareness. Her formulation connects the possibility of trauma with the apparent dissociation, but does not claim certainty about either the cause or a formal diagnosis.

Sofia compares Samuel’s presentation with the dissociative tendencies she had discerned in Victoria Bergman, saying that in Samuel they seem to have reached full fruition. The comparison makes dissociation a recurring concern in Sofia’s clinical work while keeping the two cases distinct: the evidence describes her perception of a resemblance, not an identical history or diagnosis.

Limits and Significance

The novel holds several explanations in view at once: Samuel’s difficulty focusing and controlling impulses recalls ADHD, while Sofia’s trauma hypothesis offers a possible connection between his childhood and his dissociative symptoms. Neither observation settles his condition. The uncertainty matters: the account gives space to Sofia’s clinical interpretation without turning a complex set of behaviors into a definitive label.