The case of "Hooky" (Hysteria: mentally induced disability)

Casebook of Biblical Psychiatry © Version 7 (CBP-7)

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The case of "Hooky" (Hysteria, mentally induced disability)

The case of "Hooky"
Biopsychiatric labels DSM-5	Hysteria, mentally induced disability
Checklist Behaviours DSM-7	Deception, lying, duty shirking
Insights MMPI-7
Quick Pick EDS-7.1	Duty shirking, Unnatural repetitive thoughts or actions
Self-disablement EDS-7.2	Physical disablement to stay home from school.
Chemical imbalance EDS-7.3	No. Never ingested opium. Although before the era of prescribed psychiatric drugs (1950's) which create chemical imbalances in the brain, at this point in history Opium was the only drug widely used to create chemical imbalances in the brains of the insane.
Benefits EDS-7.4	Escape duty or life situation: EDS-7.4.4 Sympathy: EDS-7.4.5 Control over others: EDS-7.4.6
Monetary EDS-7.5	-
Annoyance Scale EDS-7.6	Medium
Diagnostic Laws EDS-7.7	Law of Narcissistic Behaviour Choice (NBC) EDS-7.7.1.NBC Law of Derivative Personal Benefit (DPB) EDS-7.7.2.DPB Law of Narcissistic Selective Dysfunction (NSD) EDS-7.7.3.NSD Law of Diagnostic Anosognosia Relativism (DAR) EDS-7.7.7.DAR Law of Manipulative Rhetorical Malingering (MRM) EDS-7.7.9.MRM Law of Pediatric Multifarious Obfuscation (PMO) EDS-7.7.12.PMO
Determine the Problem	Didn't want to attend school, so faked he was sick.
Ask a Child	Very clever. Wish I had thought of that. It worked better than the day I tried to fake my mom out and get a day off of school. EDS-7.7.12.PMO
5 years later EDS-7.7.LPT	Repented, restored

The case of "Hooky"

Carl Jung, psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology, tells his own story of psychotic behaviour he invented for personal benefit as a child. It is in his own experience that he learned at an early age that psychotic behaviour (neurosis) has no biological etiology.

"My twelfth year was indeed a fateful one for me. One day in the early summer of 1887 I was standing in the cathedral square, waiting for a classmate who went home by the same route as myself. It was twelve o'clock, and the morning classes were over. Suddenly another boy gave me a shove that knocked me off my feet. I fell, striking my head against the curbstone so hard that I almost lost consciousness. For about half an hour after-ward I was a little dazed. At the moment I felt the blow the thought flashed through my mind: "Now you won't have to go to school any more." I was only half unconscious, but I remained lying there a few moments longer than was strictly necessary, chiefly in order to avenge myself on my assailant. Then people picked me up and took me to a house nearby, where two elderly spinster aunts lived. From then on I began to have fainting spells whenever I had to return to school, and whenever my parents set me to doing my homework. For more than six months I stayed away from school, and for me that was a picnic. I was free, could dream for hours, be anywhere I liked, in the woods or by the water, or draw. I resumed my battle pictures and furious scenes of war, of old castles that were being assaulted or burned, or drew page upon page of caricatures. Similar caricatures some-times appear to me before falling asleep to this day, grinning masks that constantly move and change, among them familiar faces of people who soon afterward died. Above all, I was able to plunge into the world of the mysterious. To that realm belonged trees, a pool, the swamp, stones and animals, and my father's library. But I was growing more and more away from the world, and had all the while faint pangs of conscience. I frittered away my time with loafing, collecting, reading, and playing. But I did not feel any happier for it; I had the obscure feeling that I was fleeing from myself. I forgot completely how all this had come about, but I pitied my parents' worries. They consulted various doctors, who scratched their heads and packed me off to spend the holidays with relatives in Winterthur. This city had a railroad station that proved a source of endless delight to me. But when I returned home everything was as before. One doctor thought I had epilepsy. I knew what epileptic fits were like and I inwardly laughed at such nonsense. My parents became more worried than ever. Then one day a friend called on my father. They were sitting in the garden and I hid behind a shrub, for I was possessed of an insatiable curiosity. I heard the visitor saying to my father, "And how is your son?" "Ah, that's a sad business," my father replied. "The doctors no longer know what is wrong with him. They think it may be epilepsy. It would be dreadful if he were incurable. I have lost what little I had, and what will become of the boy if he cannot earn his own living?" I was thunderstruck. This was the collision with reality. "Why, then, I must get to work!" I thought suddenly. From that moment on I became a serious child. I crept away, went to my father's study, took out my Latin grammar, and began to cram with intense concentration. After ten minutes of this I had the finest of fainting fits. I almost fell off the chair, but after a few minutes I felt better and went on working. "Devil take it, I'm not going to faint," I told myself, and persisted in my purpose. This time it took about fifteen minutes before the second attack came. That, too, passed like the first. "And now you must really get to work!" I stuck it out, and after an hour came the third attack. Still I did not give up, and worked for another hour, until I had the feeling that I had overcome the attacks. Suddenly I felt better than I had in all the months before. And in fact the attacks did not recur. From that day on I worked over my grammar and other schoolbooks every day. A few weeks later I returned to school, and never suffered another attack, even there. The whole bag of tricks was over and done with! That was when I learned what a neurosis is. Gradually the recollection of how it had all come about returned to me, and I saw clearly that I myself had arranged this whole disgraceful situation. That was why I had never been seriously angry with the schoolmate who pushed me over. I knew that he had been put up to it, so to speak, and that the whole affair was a diabolical plot on my part. I knew, too, that this was never going to happen to me again. I had a feeling of rage against myself, and at the same time was ashamed of myself. For I knew that I had wronged myself and made a fool of myself in my own eyes. Nobody else was to blame; I was the cursed renegade! From then on I could no longer endure my parents' worrying about me or speaking of me in a pitying tone. The neurosis became another of my secrets, but it was a shameful secret, a defeat. Nevertheless it induced in me a studied punctiliousness and an unusual diligence. Those days saw the beginnings of my conscientiousness, practiced not for the sake of appearances, so that I would amount to something, but for my own sake. Regularly I would get up at five o'clock in order to study, and sometimes I worked from three in the morning till seven, before going to school. What had led me astray during the crisis was my passion for being alone, my delight in solitude. Nature seemed to me full of wonders, and I wanted to steep myself in them. Every stone, every plant, every single thing seemed alive and indescribably marvelous. I immersed myself in nature, crawled, as it were, into the very essence of nature and away from the whole human world." (Memories Dreams Reflections, Carl Gastav Jung, 1961 AD, p30-32)

Discussion:

Jung is honest enough to admit, that which most "mental patients" lie about: They have chosen the behaviour others wrongly interpret as a medical condition, rather than a spiritual choice. Jung's story has wide application in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Hysteria, and illustrates the first and second laws of Psychiatry:

1. Behaviour is a choice. Checklist behaviors. Identify the Benefit. (no school, picnic)
2. Neurotic behaviour is a solution. Identify the problem. (hated school and homework)

This is really all that needs to be said about the case of "Hooky". Its simple. A kid fakes he is sick in order to stay home from school. If that is all there was to this story, it never would have met the high standards for inclusion in the Casebook of Biblical Psychiatry.

But there is a very important lesson to be learned: Although Jung clearly fabricated the habit of throwing himself into "I am sick" fainting spells, he found it surprisingly difficult to stop fainting. What had begun as a freewill game of "fainting on command" when he needed to get out of cleaning up his room, ended up entrapping him. This illustrates the Neuroplasticity of the brain to adapt to freewill behaviours according to the needs of the individual. Mario Beauregard describes what happened to Jung. Although the specific top is OCD, the same change in Jung's brain took place.

"The key problem with OCD [Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder] is that the more often the patient actually engages in a compulsive behavior, the more neurons are drawn into it, and the stronger the signals for the behavior become. Thus, although the signals appear to promise, "Do it one more time and then you will have some peace," that promise is false by its very nature. What was once a neural footpath slowly grows into a twelve-lane highway whose deafening traffic takes over the neural neighborhood. The challenge is to restore it to the status of a footpath in the brain again. Neuroplasticity (the ability of neurons to shift their connections and responsibilities) makes that possible." (The Spiritual Brain, Mario Beauregard Ph.D., Neuroscientist, 2007, p 128)

Notice that voluntary fainting spells that were practices frequently over a six month period actually became semi-involuntary. The solution was not drugs, but simple willpower to fight the desire of the body to act out the fainting. Like a body builder increasing muscle size, so too, it would take time for the special provisions the brain had made to accommodate the fainting spells. This process is shows that the mind has control over the body.

Benefits from behaviour: This illustrates the Law of Narcissistic Behaviour Choice (NBC) EDS-7.7.1.NBC

1. Escape duty or life situation: EDS-7.4.4. school work, home work, chores around the house.
2. Sympathy: EDS-7.4.5. Without putting on a convincing show, he would get no sympathy. When he actually got sympathy, he knew his con was working.
3. Control over others: EDS-7.4.6. An inversion of power took place. Now the child can chose to trump the choices of home duty and attending school. Now the child was in control of the parents. They catered to him.

Diagnostic laws that are seen illustrated in the case of "Hooky":

1. Jung had calculated the cost of being labeled sickly as lower than the benefit of skipping school and domestic chores. However, he failed to see how his game was hurting and disappointing his father. " Then one day a friend called on my father. They were sitting in the garden and I hid behind a shrub, for I was possessed of an insatiable curiosity. I heard the visitor saying to my father, "And how is your son?" "Ah, that's a sad business," my father replied. "The doctors no longer know what is wrong with him. They think it may be epilepsy. It would be dreadful if he were incurable. I have lost what little I had, and what will become of the boy if he cannot earn his own living?" I was thunderstruck. This was the collision with reality. " Jung recalculated the cost and it was now too high, considering the benefits he derived from the behaviour.  This illustrates the Law of Derivative Personal Benefit (DPB) EDS-7.7.2.DPB
2. Jung was quite functional in areas he like and dysfunctional in areas he disliked: school and work. "For more than six months I stayed away from school, and for me that was a picnic. I was free, could dream for hours, be anywhere I liked, in the woods or by the water, or draw. I resumed my battle pictures and furious scenes of war, of old castles that were being assaulted or burned, or drew page upon page of caricatures. Similar caricatures some-times appear to me before falling asleep to this day, grinning masks that constantly move and change, among them familiar faces of people who soon afterward died. Above all, I was able to plunge into the world of the mysterious. To that realm belonged trees, a pool, the swamp, stones and animals, and my father's library." This illustrates the Law of Narcissistic Selective Dysfunction (NSD) EDS-7.7.3.NSD
3. Jung knew he was neither sick not did he have epilepsy as the doctor diagnosed him with. In fact he mocked the doctors because he knew they had no idea what they were talking about. This is the same today when psychotic people refuse to take their prescribed drugs. They know they have nothing wrong with their body. Indeed they know they in full control of their behaviours. Schizophrenics commonly say, “I am not sick. I don't need your help. I will not take your psychiatric drugs.” This is because a "Schizophrenic" knows their odd behaviour is the result of a conscious chose, not a disease. This is exactly what Jung said: "One doctor thought I had epilepsy. I knew what epileptic fits were like and I inwardly laughed at such nonsense." This illustrates the Law of Diagnostic Anosognosia Relativism (DAR) EDS-7.7.7.DAR
4. Junk knew that if he just said he didn’t want to go to school any more, that he would be scolded and refused. So rather than using normal channels of communication, Jung let his disability do the asking for him. People who find themselves unable to get what they want from others with normal modes of communication, will manufacture odd behaviors and conditions to get what they want. This illustrates the Law of Manipulative Rhetorical Malingering (MRM) EDS-7.7.9.MRM

6. Doctors observed a simple game a boy was playing and created complex explanations that the behavior had a medical etiology of epilepsy. This is what psychiatrists do today, when they observe psychotic behaviour and create complex medical etiologies of chemical imbalances in the brain. A child would view Jung and say, "Great Idea! Wish I had thought of that." Or "He got that idea from me when I told him I faked having a cold and my mom let me stay home from school a few days." This illustrates the Law of Pediatric Multifarious Obfuscation (PMO) EDS-7.7.12.PMO

By Steve Rudd: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.

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