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REPORT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL HISTORY AND TREATMENT
PATIENT: Laura M. Riddick
DATE OF BIRTH: November 6, 1966

REPORT DATE:
DRAFT 6

August 14, 2018

REFERRAL AND CONTEXT:
Laura was referred to me by a family friend who was aware of high levels of stress she was
experiencing in association with an investigation of the office she headed as Wake County
Registrar of Deeds. When she initiated treatment, on Feb 28, 2017, she had been significantly
depressed, anxious, fearful, and reporting suicidal thoughts, though with no reported attempts or
immediate plan. Her levels of anxiety were extremely intense, and manifesting in symptoms of
sleep disturbance, rapid heartbeat, chest pains, bowel & stomach trouble, headaches, and
weight changes.

PROCEDURES AND COURSE OF TREATMENT:
Treatment has consisted of weekly psychotherapy sessions in which Laura has often been
accompanied by her husband, Matthew Eisley. The sessions were focused initially on
assessing and treating high levels of anxiety. The treatment focus then turned toward
understanding Laura’s psychological history. Especially important were identifying the causes
of her long-standing chronic generalized anxiety disorder and on specifying conditions that
trigger episodes of nearly unbearable worry and anxiousness.
Shortly after treatment began, I referred Laura to a psychiatrist colleague, Joanna Pearson, MD,
for medication to help with severe stress, anxiety, and depression. She was prescribed antianxiety and anti-depressant medications.

PATIENT’S EARLY HISTORY:
Laura’s early years were marked by repeated traumas and nearly incessant stress. Her earliest
childhood was spent in the Belleville/Nutley area of New Jersey. When she was nine-months
old, her parents separated and returned to live with their respective parents. Following the split,
Laura and her mother were taken in by Laura’s grandparents. With them they lived in tenement
housing, the financial circumstances of the family being routinely drained by her grandfather’s
gambling addiction which he indulged at the Meadowlands. (Laura remembers taking special
satisfaction in accompanying her grandmother when together they took small amounts of money
and hid them from her grandfather to prevent his gambling it away at the track.)
Around this time, Laura’s mother went to work at NJ Bell, where attendance requirements were
extremely strict, putting strain on her ability to adequately care for her toddler. Money was so
tight that Laura’s mother resorted to stealing baby food. Their old car broke down regularly,
compounding the tensions over getting to work at NJ Bell. And Laura remembers her mother
“crying all the time” in despair over lack of money.
Laura’s grandmother worked at the Lionel Train factory, where she was also afraid to miss any
time at work. Daycare for Laura was procured from nuns at the local Catholic nursery. There,
Laura was known to be an apprehensive child. She was especially afraid of bugs. The nuns’
“treatment” for that fear was to make her put her hand into a bag of bugs. Not surprisingly, that

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only served to amplify her fears. But she did not tell her mother because she didn’t want her
mother to worry.
Laura continued in that facility until it eventually closed, necessitating her mother’s finding
another source of daycare when she was between 4 and 5 years of age. The only available
source, a neighbor’s home, proved to be extremely problematic. The neighbor was an elderly
woman who was supposed to watch her. However, she often left Laura in the care of her adult
son who, in his mid-20s, was living at home. The son routinely molested her sexually and
threatened her that, if she told anyone, the “big bad wolf from Little Red Riding Hood would
come and eat her.” She was extremely upset by all of this, but she never told her mother or
grandmother for fear of dire consequences.
Laura now understands that her mother knew that something was wrong from observing her
behavior; but she had no clear knowledge of the molestation – and also there were no other
options for child care.
Laura’s mother eventually married again when Laura was 8 years old. But up until that time, the
compounded stresses of the damaging childcare situation and the unremitting financial strain
added up -- leading to her developing what, in retrospect, appears to be a chronic anxiety
condition that she “self-treated” by learning to squirrel away money that she thought might help
allay the financial anguishes of her mother and grandmother.
When in fifth grade, Laura moved with her mother and stepfather to North Carolina for his job.
As she moved through her adolescent school years, there were additional stresses and yet
again a humiliating incident of sexual abuse. She was a loner who was teased by schoolmates
because her “legs were too skinny” and because her parents were divorced. She had no
friends, walked to school by herself and played by herself. Despite her social awkwardness,
she did well academically. At age 16, when being examined by a podiatrist for foot pain, she
was asked by the doctor to disrobe, after which he “examined” her breasts. Feeling
embarrassed and not wanting to upset her mother, she told no one about this incident.

COLLEGE:
She attended college at Meredith where she earned high grades. However, her mother, by then
a real-estate broker, lost her job -- bringing Laura’s money fears to the fore again. She
responded by working three jobs and earned enough to cover all her personal expenses; but
she was so stressed that she was not eating, her sleep was disturbed, and she suffered hair
loss. Despite taking on so much responsibility (technically called “over-functioning”) all to avoid
terrible money anxiety, she graduated and earned and Alumnae Fellowship Award and a
scholarship for graduate study at NC State in Public History. She was awarded the degree of
Master of Arts in Public History in May of 1990.

CAREER:
Beginning in 1990, Laura worked for six years at the NC Division of Archives and History as a
supervisor of local records section. From that position she came to recognize that there were
shortcomings at the Wake County Register of Deeds office with poorly maintained microfilm
records. To address this, she became interested in running for the office of Registrar. She was
elected to the Register of Deeds post in 1996 at age 29.
Three years later, in 1999, she launched North Carolina’s first online property record system.

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MARRIAGE AND FAMILY:
Laura married Lanier Riddick in September of 1990. Their daughter, Elizabeth, was born in
2001. Lanier had a sales-manager position that produced high income but at the cost of very
high pressures. The job kept him away from home a great deal. So did his hunting and fishing
when not working. Laura recalls that he was “never at home”. To cope with the marital
uncertainties, Laura reports that she secretly hoarded cash and hid it from Lanier in her closet.
The marriage finally broke in 2004, and a highly contentious divorce followed. And in the
coming fall election she faced an opponent for her registrar position, adding another layer of
stress. Through this general time frame, Laura’s propensity to react with anxiety required
treatment with anti-anxiety medication.
Laura married Matthew Eisley in September, 2005 when Elizabeth as 4 years old. It is
noteworthy that even though her marriage to Matthew was stable and satisfying, Laura
acknowledges that, even under these circumstances, she continued squirrelling money in her
closet, hiding this fact from Matthew.

ADAPTATION AND CHARACTER:
As Laura’s therapist I am struck with what a remarkably strong adaptation she made by applying
native intelligence, enormous energy, conscientiousness, and sense of empathy for others. Her
sensitivity to others feelings and her need to “make it better” for them probably started with her
concern for her mother. As is often the case, stressors in childhood can create incentives to
learn skills, habits, and character traits. Laura’s adaptations drove her to unusually high levels
of ability to take on complicated responsibilities and manage demanding situations, at work and
in her home. Her ability to relate to others and care about their individual circumstances is
apparent from what I can surmise in her career and personal life. In one sense, Laura used her
tendency to worry in the best possible way. It likely motivated her to acquire the skills and the
work habits to become an extraordinarily productive and compassionate person.

RECENT HISTORY:
In her early history, Laura was surrounded with highly stressful conditions, but she was not
provided with any sufficient help in learning effective coping and resilience strategies from
parents, teachers, or counselors, or even peers. Thus, as an adult, when confronted with the
high intensities of emotion caused by any one stressor (or by multiple stressors piled together),
she had only those naive approaches she learned as a child. This created an immense
vulnerability for her – despite all her aforementioned personal qualities.
Realizing that she had this vulnerability, I found it important to inventory her more recent stress
history to see what pressures might have been triggers for her around the time that she began
to take money and sequester it from her work. I found a truly extraordinary array of those
pressures. A brief summary from 2011 to 2014:
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Her house robbed in August of 2011.
Registry moves to new Justice Center, a complex and difficult office move.
Car wreck, spinal injury, severe neck pain, repeated epidural injections.

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•

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•
•
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Sexual harassment and stalking by attorney Ron Garber for six months. She was at first
afraid to report his unwanted and repulsive behavior – an echo of her experience as a
young girl, afraid she would be hurt if she told her mother about the abuse at the hands
of the neighbor boy. Eventually, she reached out to Wake County Attorney Scott
Warren, asking him to intervene. Garber eventually ceased his behavior.
Intense pressure for months around same-sex marriage and especially her decision to
keep the office open for same-sex couples to marry at a critical time following a federal
judge’s definitive ruling against NC’s same-sex marriage ban.
Vital records vendor declaring bankruptcy forcing an emergency vendor RFP.
Email hack and stalking by Registry staff person, discovered in August 2014 and
investigated by the SBI, with the staffer eventually convicted of two criminal counts.
A string of computer problems in her office.

The accumulation of stresses continued into the next two years. For example:
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Her former deputy’s use of county computers to access the Ashley Madison infidelitymatching web site, with prospect of adverse publicity in 2015.
General Assembly’s bill giving Registry staff ability to refuse to preform duties associated
with same-sex marriages, creating a threat of staff shortages.
Change in the state’s voter identification law, putting additional administrative
responsibility on the Registry staff.
Lawsuits threated from atheists regarding standard references to God in marriage
certificates and from Zillow over its demand for special provision of real estate records.
Her receiving a terrifying telephone call in 2015 from someone begging for help and then
hanging up. The caller sounded like just like her daughter, Elizabeth, who was traveling
with her father and grandparents. It was only after an agonizing, deeply unsettling time
that Elizabeth was located and safe. Police traced the calls to two young pranksters.
Agreeing to run again for her job in 2016 despite internal emotional objections.

During this time frame, Laura was living with a stress load that would be enormous for anyone.
But for Laura, carrying the above-mentioned vulnerabilities, it was likely that her anxiety was
uncomfortable in the extreme, often unbearable, and even occasionally disabling.

LAURA’S COPING STRATEGIES:
It is important to note that when very young children are exposed to intense, repeated, and
chronic stress, they develop coping mechanisms that are designed above all else to “make the
pain go away” as soon as possible. Even though at such young ages they are unable to apply
logic to the stress problem, or even to adequately discriminate one cause of stress from
another, they do come to recognize what kinds of circumstances alleviate the stress. At very
young ages, much of their coping behavior is supported by magical and often superstitious
thought, since they have neither the cognitive capacity nor the life experience to make or
execute logical plans. However, they quickly fasten onto any approach that seems to have
“worked” in their extremely limited experience.
For Laura, taking matters into her own hands to “help” her mother and grandmother with their
money problems appeared to be her immature way of coping. Her history strongly suggests
that, as she grew older, she elaborated on the strategy by “over-functioning”; that is by
becoming overly conscientious, over-responsible, and over-committed. She tried deal with
every stressor by trying ever harder and by doing it all, if necessary, by her own efforts.
Perfection was her goal, because being perfect in her little-girl logic protected her from the

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stress. But, of course, she could never get to “perfect,” and she could never be free of stress.
She could only exhaust herself in the effort.
Remarkably, reflecting on her childhood, adolescent, and adult history, Laura reports that she
never received any sustained help, nor any effective modeling by important adult figures of
better ways to cope with fears and anxieties. Unfortunately, because she did not recognize that
she could personally benefit, she never sought treatment that might have helped at that time.

WHAT HAPPENED THAT TRIGGERED LAURA’S COMPULSION TO HOARD MONEY?
In recent years, a perfect storm of her psychological vulnerabilities, her undiagnosed heart
problems, and a set of extreme external conditions all combined to trigger Laura’s compulsion to
sequester money.
Background vulnerabilities. As detailed above, even the briefest history of Laura’s life reveals
that she and at least two parental generations have all been deeply afflicted with general anxiety
and intense insecurity over money matters. Laura watched their struggles and learned in her
naïve way that having money could chase away worry and bring relief.
Heart condition. Laura’s tachycardia condition is a significant anxiety trigger. It likely has some
genetic component, since both her mother and maternal uncle also have the condition. At one
point before correct diagnosis, her resting rate was over 140 beats per minute with arrhythmias.
Such high rates have the effect of increasing one’s experience of stress; they do this because
the sensation of a racing heart (even when there is no objective danger) makes one feel as if
there is something really wrong – and thus it increases anxiety in a negative feedback loop.
External conditions. On top of these “internal” factors were the external stressors outlined
above. The conditions that serve as triggers for compulsive money hoarding were present in
Laura’s life in in the past several years. As can be seen in the above review of her recent
history, there were at least a dozen discrete sources of stress of various intensities. By its
nature, stress tends to “pile up”; in other words, it accumulates in an additive fashion until it can
become unbearable. In my view, the cumulative effects of these exceeded her capacity to cope
using her normal strategies, which relied on working harder and striving for perfection.
From the point of view as her therapist, there is a clear and direct connection between Laura’s
theft from the Registrar’s office and her obsessive fears about being without money throughout
her life.
As can be seen from the above history, Laura’s general response when stress got too intense
almost always included trying to put aside money in an attempt to relieve her anxious insecurity.
Her need to sequester money at stressful times historically rose to the level of a psychological
compulsion. In her case, this means that when certain conditions are present, she feels that
she must hoard money to prevent, what feels to her like terrible consequences. I believe that
under the circumstances she was experiencing, the impulse to have a safety-stash was so
strong that it overrode both her rational thinking and her own moral values. She describes that
overriding urge as an attempt to be sure her daughter would be all right should some vague,
unforeseen disastrous event occur. A person with generalized anxiety disorder (her diagnosed
condition) experiences abnormally pervasive and unpleasant feelings that are often not
connected to any real or objective threat. In my judgement, Laura resorted to methods she
learned in childhood to bring down that chronic anxiety. Taking and stashing away money was
her unfortunate way to survive unbearable worry and tension.

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ASSESSMENT AND MENTAL STATUS:
Life-long untreated general anxiety appears to have been Laura’s principal mental health
condition. However, it should be noted that during the worst of her last years at the Registry,
she also suffered with symptoms of depression. Depression is a common accompaniment
when an anxious person runs out of their normal of ways to cope; and that was happening with
Laura. She was experiencing problems as overwhelming; she was exhausted, discouraged,
losing sleep, and feeling despair. She was feeling guilty, blaming herself for failures she
couldn’t prevent. All the above was causing depression. That depression added to her anxiety;
the anxiety then fanned her depression in a vicious cycle. And all that made worse by her twin
heart ailments, tachycardia and atrial fibrillation.
Over the last year, Laura has been in treatment for both her anxiety condition and depression.
She is responding very well under extreme circumstances. She is demonstrating remarkable
insight into the sources of her anxiety and depression. She is rapidly acquiring skills at
managing emotions, and maintaining a positive outlook, even though she is frequently feeling
devastated by her many personal losses and uncertainties about the future. From the outset of
the psychotherapy, she has been far more concerned about the welfare of her daughter and
husband than about herself. And she is managing to stay engaged with close friends and
family, despite the daunting challenges she faces.
Laura has demonstrated emotional courage as she thinks and communicates about the
uncertainties that lie ahead. And what presently gives her resilience is seeking ways to use the
experience she is now undergoing to eventually help others in the future. She has had
courageously candid talks with her daughter, Elizabeth, about the range of possible outcomes
that lie ahead. The result has been a truly remarkable response from Elizabeth, who is rising to
this occasion by performing even better in school than she had been before Laura told her
about the current plight.
Finally, It should be noted the frequency with which Laura reflects on how different her situation
would be had she sought treatment for her anxiety disorder years earlier. I would concur,
because she so readily benefited from the outset of that treatment. The combination of
psychotherapy and medications, together with strong support from family and friends, has
brought her significant relief from overwhelming anxiety. I strongly agree that effective
treatment would very likely have disabled the triggers for compulsive behavior and prevented
her from behaving in a manner so contrary to logic and her to her own deeply held values.

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MAJOR DIAGNOSES:
Psychiatric:
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Medical: (by Kevin Jackson, MD):
Atrial Fibrillation and Supra-ventricular tachycardia (SVT)

I will be glad to respond to questions regarding this report.

Charles L. Cooper, PhD
Clinical Psychologist

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ADDENDUM A:

Riddick Phone Prank Episode in 2015 (as recounted by Ms. Riddick and her husband)
In the summer of 2015, by which time Laura’s twin heart problems were persistent and
were aggravating her underlying anxiety disorder, she experienced a brief but acute
episode of panic, of which several people around her became aware. One day when
Elizabeth was in Beaufort, N.C. with her father and her grandparents, Elizabeth called
Laura to say she was going for a walk alone. A short while later, Laura received a
phone call from a child who sounded like Elizabeth crying: "Help me, Mom! Help me!"
The caller then hung up.
Laura couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like Elizabeth, and it seemed that she was
distressed -- maybe kidnapped? Alarmed, Laura first called Elizabeth’s cell phone, but
Elizabeth did not answer. Laura then called Lanier’s cell phone, but Lanier was on a
fishing boat offshore and did not receive the call. Likewise, Laura called the home of
Elizabeth’s grandparents, but no one answered there, either.
Then in a full panic, Laura became hysterical, calling for help from her deputy, Matt
Wagner, in the next office. Laura also phoned her husband, Matthew Eisley, who
suggested she call 911, which Laura did, sobbing hysterically on the phone with the 911
operator as she had throughout her attempts to locate Elizabeth. Eventually Lanier
called to say Elizabeth was safe and sound.
Police later traced the phone call to the McSoley household in Wake County, whose two
young boys were making random prank calls. Their mother not only apologized to
Laura, but much to her credit also brought her boys to the Registry to apologize to
Laura in person.
This would have been little more than an annoying episode (and a lesson for the boys) if
not for Laura’s underlying extreme anxiety and her heart conditions, which made it
seem to her as though it was a full-blown crisis threatening the life of her only child.
The episode demonstrated the thin emotional ice on which Laura was skating every
day. The slightest crack, and she would fall through -- or feared that she would.

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ADDENDUM B:
These are the mitigating factors under ncgs 15A-1340-16(e):
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(1) The defendant committed the offense under duress, coercion, threat, or
compulsion that was insufficient to constitute a defense but significantly reduced the
defendant's culpability.
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(2) The defendant was a passive participant or played a minor role in the commission
of the offense.
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(3) The defendant was suffering from a mental or physical condition that was
insufficient to constitute a defense but significantly reduced the defendant's culpability for
the offense.
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(4) The defendant's age, immaturity, or limited mental capacity at the time of
commission of the offense significantly reduced the defendant's culpability for the offense.
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(5) The defendant has made substantial or full restitution to the victim.

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(6) The victim was more than 16 years of age and was a voluntary participant in the
defendant's conduct or consented to it.
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(7) The defendant aided in the apprehension of another felon or testified truthfully on
behalf of the prosecution in another prosecution of a felony.
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(8) The defendant acted under strong provocation, or the relationship between the
defendant and the victim was otherwise extenuating.
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(9) The defendant could not reasonably foresee that the defendant's conduct would
cause or threaten serious bodily harm or fear, or the defendant exercised caution to avoid
such consequences.
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(10) The defendant reasonably believed that the defendant's conduct was legal.

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(11) Prior to arrest or at an early stage of the criminal process, the defendant
voluntarily acknowledged wrongdoing in connection with the offense to a law enforcement
officer.
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(12) The defendant has been a person of good character or has had a good
reputation in the community in which the defendant lives.
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(13) The defendant is a minor and has reliable supervision available.

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(14) The defendant has been honorably discharged from the Armed Forces of the
United States.
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(15) The defendant has accepted responsibility for the defendant's criminal conduct.

(16) The defendant has entered and is currently involved in or has successfully
completed a drug treatment program or an alcohol treatment program subsequent to
arrest and prior to trial.

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•

(17) The defendant supports the defendant's family.

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(18) The defendant has a support system in the community.

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(19) The defendant has a positive employment history or is gainfully employed.

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(20) The defendant has a good treatment prognosis, and a workable treatment plan
is available.
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(21) Any other mitigating factor reasonably related to the purposes of sentences.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1340.16