But does it say they ever realize what they are doing in the book. Do they ever “come back” to their normal self? My friends daughter drowning triggered something in my wife, I wonder if she will ever realize what she is doing?
They realize what they are doing when they are doing it, they just don't know WHY they are doing it. Some unseen force is driving them. They don't "come back" to their normal self because they are never "not" their normal self. They are doing things that are out of character for them, but they are still who they were at the same time. A teen will sneak their parents' car keys, go joy riding, wreck the car, bring the keys back and put them where they found them. When confronted they will deny and say the car must have been stolen. When finally presented with irrefutable evidence they will sheepishly admit they did it. When asked why they will always say "I don't know", and the point of the book is to explain that indeed, they really don't know why and to help parents contend with the fact that something is going on in their body and mind, a chemical change or something, that is driving them to do things that are not normal for them. I really think this happens in a lot of WAS situations too. There's a reason most WAS's are in the "midlife crisis" age range.
By the way, the above example of the teen taking the keys and wrecking the car is an actual example that happened in my family.
