ABSTRACT
A striking scene was observed on the seashore one August in which men and women wept and lamented loudly. As a result of what had happened, they knew they were forever damned and doomed. In another setting, two little children burst into tears when a man was killed by a gunshot close by. In yet another situation, a man described a certain three decades of his life as having been fun: "I am filled with gratitude for the friends, the adventure, the love, the learning, the excitement, the sheer fun ofthose years" (Rittenberg & Bennett, 1993, p. 447). Which of these people had been subject to a toxic event, and what was its nature?
