Cruciatus Syndrome
The Cruciatus Curse has been widely used for a variety of reasons, from corporal punishment, to public justice. Because of this, the long-term effects of the curse are a well studied phenomenon, colloquially known as “ Cruciatus Syndrome” or “ Cruciatus Flashbacks.”
(This is vaguely familiar to you, and causes your stomach to sink, but you don’t know where you heard of it, or why it causes you such stress.)
To understand the effects of this curse, one must understand its inner workings. The Cruciatus is a variant on the Imperius (See page 100 for more on Curses of the Mind) one that convinces the mind it is in terrible, world ending, fatal pain. It does this by targeting the brain, which can then be convinced to fool the nerves into thinking an injury has been afflicted. This means the nerves really do feel the pain, unlike the popular misconception that is a physical hallucination triggered and enacted only in the mind.
(Oh Merlin, you’ve heard people talk about their experiences under the curse, joke about it, even.)
Onto the effects, the most obvious, is the tremors. Because the nerves have been so overwhelmed after long-term-exposure to the curse, they begin to dull themselves to any and all sensation. This can cause numbness, tingling, and even sharp pains as the nerves have fried, and now cannot differentiate. Luckily, this only happens after extremely severe exposure, often after months and months.
(Your father’s hands shake often.)
The more common, but significantly less obvious effect, is the memory loss, and confusion. Often, this isn’t noticeable because only the direct period of time during and around the actual experience of the curse is lost. Meaning the memory loss usually isn’t bemoaned, or missed. However, after repeated exposure, this can become more of a problem. As the brain seeks to protect the mind and consciousness from the traumatic experience of the curse, it will begin to blur further and further, blocking out things with even a remote connection to the curse, the environment where the curse was cast, or the caster. Overall, extreme cases present as confusion, significant and extreme memory loss, and a perceived separation from the experience.
This is all meant to preserve the sanity of the unconscious mind. By blocking out memories of the pain, and separating the victim from the curse, the mind can effectively pretend nothing has happened at all.
(To not remember your own life, even in small increments, sounds like a personal hell.)
There have been documented cases of long-term-exposure resulting in the complete forgetting of family members, personality, or entire years of life.
(This is too upsetting. You close the book for today.)