46 CASE HISTORIES 



been sent to Portsmouth for committing perversions. His brain 

 was deadening the other man's brain and keeping it down, so he 

 was winning out (an ingenious dramatization of the conflict with 

 perverse impulses, into which the fear of consequences was 

 injected). 



"Before I came here, there was a mindreader who used to 

 say what I thought before I could say it myself. That happens 

 often now too. I believe there are people all around here who 

 can do that. 



"Voices talk a lot about the Lord. They say the Lord was 

 assassinated before the birth of Christ. Then the Holy Ghost 

 went to Bethlehem and had a child by Mary Magdalen, which 

 was Jesus Christ." This peculiar jumble seemed to be the old 

 GEdipus complex in a religious disguise. The father was killed 

 off in favor of the son, and Mary Magdalen symbolized the 

 soiled mother. The composite Holy Ghost and Christ stood for 

 both husband and son. 



General observations: When he first entered the ward he did 

 nothing but sit in a chair, frequently wearing his coat over his 

 head. Gradually he began to extrovert, first singing out of a 

 book, then pushing the floor polisher and finally joining in 

 basket weaving. He didn't mix much with the other patients 

 but seemed to feel no antagonism towards them. 



He said that after soldiering three years he thought it was 

 the place of the army to look after him and not try to get rid of 

 him for little offenses. He believed he could earn his living out- 

 side now if the work wasn't too hard. However, he was satisfied 

 to be kept and cared for. That was all there was in the world 

 for him. Outside he would have to work for his living, and he 

 was as well off in here as a working man outside with pick and 

 shovel. " I think there are lots of people in freedom who if they 

 were put in here like us couldn't get out again." 



Occupational therapy: When the instructor first came to our 

 ward, he sat all day with a coat over his head. In three days 

 she had succeeded in getting him to do basket weaving and he 

 worked every day, improving steadily in ability. He made many 

 mistakes at first and was impatient of instruction. He would 

 willingly work all the time if she could furnish him sufficient 



