Rebel Without a Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath
- Type:
Reviews
- Author:
Robert M. Lindner, Ph.D. United
States Public Health service. Wm. Heinemann (for Research Books Ltd.). Pp. 259. 21s.
It is characteristic of modern clinical psychology and psychiatry that every now and then their devotees make remarkable rediscoveries which are promptly hailed, sometimes even by experienced colleagues, as milestones on the road to a new understanding of mental function or to a new technique of mental treatment. This naive book is a case in point. Rated by the publisher as a ” unique accomplishment” and by two reputable sponsors, Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck, as a ” significant milestone “?assessments, by the way, with which the author himself appears to be in entire agreement?the book falls heavily between two stools. This is already manifest in the title which combines a popular appeal with a formal suggestion of scientific pioneering. These approaches, although not strictly speaking incompatible, call for entirely distinct techniques of presentation.
The first two chapters, to the publication of which the author would have been well advised to restrict himself, discuss respectively the nature of criminal psychopathy and the therapeutic method, by no means new, to which he gives the new name of hypnoanalysis. Criminal psychopathy which Dr Lindner, in common with the Gluecks, appears to regard as identical with psychopathic personality, is, according to him, characterized by the following features: the desire for immediate gratification of instinct leading to infantile forms of behaviour; an aggressive reaction to frustration; a shrewdness and secretive cunning which tend to give a false suggestion of high intelligence; a homoerotic or otherwise perverse sexual organization, underlying which is to be found profound hate of the father, associated with unresolved Oedipus conflict and castration anxiety; and a complete incomprehension of the rights of others. The psychopath is burdened with guilt and seeks punishment in order to expiate it. All this Dr Lindner thinks, may be a ” homeostatic ” adjustment to a disturbance of organic balance, but, whether or no, psychopathic behaviour is, according to him, ” relative to the culture in which it flourishes and can be measured by no other rule than that of the prevailing ethic and morality ” This perfectly legitimate though by no means uncontroversial set of formulations ends with a disarming comment to which the author himself might well have paid more attention. ” It is “, says the writer, ” of paramount importance that we know more about psychopathic personalities than the tentative conclusions we have so far outlined.”
As for the method, it is perhaps sufficient to say that Dr Lindner describes it as ” compounded of psychoanalysis and hypnosis Many years ago Freud considered the possibility of combining psycho-analytical procedures with hypnotic and other non-analytical devices in order to meet the increasing demand for psychological treatment: but he was careful to point out that this combination could not be regarded as true psycho-analysis. Subsequently he gave it as his final opinion that the best way to carry out an analysis was to follow the established technique. Nevertheless many experiments in ” short treatment ” have been carried out by non-Freudian analysts. There are many reputable exponents of ” combined ” methods in this country: and, of course, wartime psychiatry has given a fillip to the already established use of hypnotic or drug therapies in conjunction with a kind of complex-hunting based on psycho-analytical understanding. None of this is-’ really psycho-analysis. Indeed Dr Lindner’s own technique of testing the depth of trances by applying a live cigarette to the dorsal surface of the patient’s hand could scarcely be regarded as conducive to psychoanalytical progress.
Nor for that matter can the concealment of a microphone in the consulting room be regarded as a very progressive device, although, in fact, it was by this means that a transcript of the ” hypnoanalysis ” of the case was secured. Perhaps the most useful comment on this transcript, which covers forty-six sessions and occupies over seven-eighths of the whole book, is that, contrary to Dr Lindner’s expectations, it adds no more to our knowledge of psychopathy than he had already outlined in his introductory chapters. The psychogenesis of his patient’s disordered conduct and of some eye-symptoms is traced to the witnessing between the sixth to eighth month of life of a ” primal scene ” of parental coitus and to the fear, jealousy, frustration and father-hostility that ensued. Evidence for the authenticity of this scene is considerably weakened by the factor of hypnotic dressage. In any case the most striking feature of this ” hypnoanalytic ” investigation is precisely the barrenness of the ” personality” formulations, and the emphasis laid on purely traumatic factors. Something more than a simple primal scene formula is needed to account for the complications and perversities of the psychopathic character.
So much by way of criticism, which, incidentally, the author goes out of his way to invite by claiming that his method is a new form of personality research. On the other hand Dr Lindner’s enterprise in tackling the therapeutic problem of the chronic delinquent calls for unstinted praise; I know of only one psychotherapeutist in this country who has had the courage and conviction to apply analytical procedures to the ” hardened criminal ” and to do so under ” ambulant conditions, that is to say under conditions of freedoit!Recent experience in the handling of delinquents leads beyond the obvious view that the recidivist is a hard nu? to crack. One of the stumbling blocks to progress i11 this direction lies in the fact that court authorities tak6 a dim view of cases relapsing during treatment, and are only too ready to regard such lapses as a proof of the Mutations of psycho-therapeutic procedure in delinquency. But even if the therapeutic results of treating ?hronic cases were entirely negative, this would not Justify neglect of a psychological approach to the Problem. If only for purposes of research it is essential that chronic cases should not be left to the untender ^rcies of purely legal disposal. Psychological study of Tronic insanity has provided invaluable information 011 the nature of mental regression and thereby accelerated Progress in the handling of borderline cases. There is n? reason to suppose that similar benefits could not be reaped from the study of chronic delinquency.
As for the actual technique there is no question that treatment of delinquency calls for considerable Modifications of the procedures applied, for example, ‘I the psycho-analysis of the psycho-neurotic. But not t course for modifications of the principles regulating approach. Had Dr Lindner borne this reservation .n rnind, he might have produced a book more modest ft size and in pretension yet of unquestionable value to ne experimenter in the psycho-therapy of delinquency. Edward Glover
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