THE IDEATIONAL CONTENT OF THE STUPOR
_Brief survey of the ideas associated with stupor:_ Having thus
described the formal manifestations of the various stupor reactions, it
will now be interesting to see what ideas seem to be associated with
these reactions. It is, of course, impossible to obtain during a
considerable part of the stupor any statement of the patients’ thoughts.
We therefore have to depend on their utterances during periods when the
inactivity temporarily ceases, or on the retrospective account which the
patient gives after the stupor has completely disappeared; and as we
shall see, we also may obtain considerable information by studying the
ideas which occur in the period preceding the stupor. These last may be
autogenous delusions or thoughts about actual events which precipitated
the psychosis.
It is not likely that many observers have a very clear conception about
what sort of ideas to expect. We have, as a rule, not been in the habit
of paying much attention to the content of delusions, hallucinations,
and the like. So far as we could judge, therefore, the ideas expressed
might be expected to be fairly multiform, and it was distinctly
interesting to us when we found a marked tendency for the trends of
ideas to remain within a certain small compass.[6] It was possible, to
state this at once, to show that in by far the majority of cases the
same set of ideas returned, and that these ideas had among themselves a
definite inner relationship, being concerned with thoughts of “death.”
In isolated instances other ideas were found as well, and they will have
to be discussed later. For the present we shall take up more habitual
content.
In addition to the eleven cases already described, it may be well to
cite four others which present material now of interest to us.
CASE 12.--_Charlotte W._ Age: 30. Admitted to the
Psychiatric Institute October 21, 1905.
_F. H._ The father was alcoholic and quick-tempered; he
died when the patient was a child. The mother was alcoholic
and was insane at 40 (a state of excitement from which she
recovered). A brother had an attack of insanity in 1915. A
maternal uncle died insane.
_P. H._ The patient was described as jolly, having many
friends. She got on well in school and was efficient at her
work.
She was married at 23 and got on well with her husband. The
latter stated, however, that she masturbated during the
first year of her married life. The first child was born
without trouble.
_First Attack at 25:_ Two or three days after giving birth
to a second child, her mother burst into the room
intoxicated. The patient immediately became much
frightened, nervous, and developed a depressive condition
with crying, slowness and inability to do things. During
this state she spoke of being bad and told her husband
that a man had tried to have intercourse with her before
marriage. This attack lasted six months and ended with
recovery.
When 29, a year before her admission, she had an abortion
performed, and four months later another. Her husband was
against this, but she persisted in her intention. Seven
months before admission she went to the priest, confessed
and was reproved. It is not clear how she took this
reproof, but at any rate no symptoms appeared until three
weeks later, after burglars had broken into a nearby
church. Then she became unduly frightened, would not stay
at home, said she was afraid the burglars would come again
and kill “some one in the house.” The patient herself
stated later, during a faultfinding period, that at that
time she was afraid somebody would take her honor away, and
that she thought burglars had taken her “wedding dress.”
“Then,” she added, “I thought I would run away and lead a
bad life, but I did not want to bring disgrace to the
family.”
The general condition which she presented at this time is
described as one of apprehensiveness when at home. For this
reason she was for five weeks (it is not clear exactly at
what period) sent to her sister, where she was better.
About a month before the patient was admitted, the husband
moved, whereupon she got depressed, complained of inability
to apply herself to work, became slow and inactive, and
blamed herself for having had the abortion performed. She
began to speak of suicide and was committed because she
bought carbolic acid. She later said that while in the
_Observation Pavilion_ she imagined her children were cut
up.
_Under Observation_ the condition was as follows:
1. For the first three days the patient, though for the
most part not showing any marked mood reaction, was
inclined at times to cry, and at such times complained
essentially that this was a terrible place for a person who
was not insane.
2. On the fourth day the condition changed, and it will be
advisable to describe her state in the form of abstracts of
each day.
On _October 24_ the patient began to be preoccupied and to
answer slowly. A few days later she became distinctly dull,
walked about in an indifferent way or lay in bed immobile.
Twice on _October 27_ she said in a low tone and with
slight distress, “Give me one more chance, let me go to
him.” But she would not answer questions. At times she
lapsed into complete immobility, lying on her back and
staring at the ceiling. When the husband came in the
afternoon, she clung to him and said: “Say good-by forever,
O my God, save me.” Again, very slowly with long pauses and
with moaning, she said: “You are going to put me in a big
hole where I will stay for the rest of my life.” _On
October 28_ she was found with depressed expression and
spoke in a rather low tone, but not with decided slowness
as had been the case on the day before. She pleaded about
having her soul saved; “Don’t kill me”; “Make me true to my
husband”; once, “I have confessed to the wrong man the
shame of my life.” Later she said she did not tell the
truth about her life before marriage. Again she wanted to
be saved from the electric chair. At times she showed a
tendency to stare into space and to leave questions
unanswered.
3. From now on a more definite stupor occurred, which is
also best described in summaries of the individual notes.
_Oct. 29._ Lies in bed with fixed gaze, pointing upward
with her finger and is very resistive towards any
interference. She has to be catheterized.
_Oct. 30._ Can be spoon-fed but is still catheterized.
During the morning she knelt by the bed and would not
answer. At the visit she was found in a rather natural
position, smiling as the physician approached, saying “I
don’t know how long I have been here.” Then she looked out
of the window fixedly. At first she did not answer, but,
when the physician asked whether she knew his name, she
laughed and said, “I know your name--I know my name.” Then
she would not answer any more questions but remained
immobile, with fixed gaze. When her going home was
mentioned, however, she flushed and tears ran down her
cheek, though no change in the fixedness of her attitude or
in her facial expression was seen.
_Nov. 1._ Lies flat on her back with her hands elevated.
She is markedly resistive.
_Nov. 2._ Free from muscular tension and more responsive.
When asked whether she felt like talking, she said in a
whining tone, “No, go away--I have to go through enough.”
Then she spoke of not knowing how long the nights and days
were, of not having known which way she was going. When
asked who the physician was she whimpered and said, “You
came to tell me what was right.” She called him “Christ”
and another physician “Jim” (husband’s name), though, later
in the interview, she gave their correct names. When asked
about the name of another physician, she said: “He looks
like my cousin, he was here, they all came the first night.
I did not take notice who it was till I went through these
spirits, then I knew it was right.”--She paused and added:
“My God--mother it was; she is here on Earth, somewhere in
a convent--Sister C. (who actually is in a convent) she was
here, too, I could hear her.” She said they all came to try
to save her. When asked whether she had been asleep, she
said: “No, I wasn’t asleep, I was mesmerized, but I am
awake now--sometimes I thought I was dead.” (When?) “The
time I was going to Heaven.” Again: “I went to Heaven in
spirit, I came back again--the wedding ring kept me on
Earth--I will have to be crucified now.” (Tell me about
it.) “Jim will have to pick my eyes out--I think it is him.
Oh, it is my little girl.” (Who told you?) “The spirits
told me.” Again: “Little birds my children--I can’t see
them any more--I must stay here till I die.” (Why?) “The
spirits told me--till I pick every one of my eyes out and
my brains too.” When asked what day it was, she said, “It
must be Good Friday.” (Why?) “Because God told me I must
die on the cross as he did.” When asked why she had not
spoken the day before, she said that “Jesus Christ in
Heaven” had told her she should not tell anything, “till
all of you had gone, then I could go home with him, because
that is the way we came in and it was Jim too all the
time.” Finally she said crossly, “Go away now, you are all
trying to keep me from Jim” (crying).
_Nov. 3._ Knelt by bed during the night. This morning lies
in bed staring, resistive, again she is markedly
cataleptic. She has to be spoon-fed, and is totally
unresponsive. In the afternoon she was found staring and
resistive. Presently she said with tears: “I am waiting to
be put on the cross.”
_Nov. 4._ Still has to be catheterized. She sits up,
staring, with expressionless face, but when asked how she
felt she responded and said feebly: “I don’t know how I
feel or how I look or how long I have been here or
anything.” (What is wrong?) “Oh, I only want to go to a
convent the rest of my days.” (Why?) “Oh, I have only said
wrong things, I thought I would be better dead, I could not
do anything right.” Later she again began to stare.
_Nov. 5._ During the night she is said to have been
restless and wanted to go to church. To-day she is found
staring, but not resistive. When questioned she sometimes
does not answer. She said to the physician, “I should have
gone up to Heaven to you and not brought me down here.” She
called the physician “Uncle James.” Again she said, “I want
to go up to see Jim.” Sometimes she looks indifferent,
again somewhat bewildered.
_Nov. 6._ She eats better, catheterizing is no longer
necessary. She is found lying in bed, rigid, staring,
resistive, does not answer at first, later appears somewhat
distressed, says “I want to go and see Jim.” (Where?) “In
Heaven.” She gave the name of the place and of the
physician, also the date.
_Nov. 8._ In the forenoon, after she had presented a rather
immobile expression and had answered a few orientation
questions correctly, she suddenly beckoned into space, then
shook her fist in a threatening manner. When later asked
about this, she said: “Jim was down there and I wanted to
get him in.” (And?) “You was up here first.” (And?) “I
thought we was going down down, up up--the boat-- --you
came in here for--to lock Jim out so we wouldn’t let him
in.” Later she said, when asked whether anything worried
her, “Yes, you are taking Jim’s place.”
_Nov. 9._ During the night she is reported to have varied
between stiffness with mutism and a more relaxed state.
Once, the nurse found her with tears, saying “I want to go
down the hall to my sister--to the river,” and a short time
later with fright: “Is that my mother?” Again she said: “Oh
dear, I wish this boat would stop--stop it--where are we
going?” In the forenoon she was quiet and unresponsive. In
the afternoon she said in a somewhat perplexed way, “We
were in a ship and we were ’most drowned.” (When was that?)
“Day before yesterday it must have been”--Again she said in
the same manner: “It was like water. I was going down. I
could hear a lot of things.” She claimed this happened
“to-day.” “I saw all the people in here, it was all full
of water,” “I have been lying here a long time--do you
remember the time I was under the ground and it seemed full
of water and every one got drowned and a sharp thing struck
me?” “I was out in a ship and I went down there in a
coffin.” When asked whether she had been frightened at such
times, she said: “No, I didn’t seem to be, I just lay
there.” She also said: “the water rushed in,” and when
asked why she put up her arms, she said, “I did it to save
the ship.”
_Nov. 10._ She is still fairly free. She said that when she
was on the ship things looked changed, “the picture over
there looked like a saint, the beds looked queer.” (How do
things look now?) “All right.” (The picture too?) “The same
as when I was going down into a dark hole.” When asked
later in the day where she was, she said, “In the Pope’s
house, Uncle Edward is it?” but after a short time she
added, “It is Ward’s Island, isn’t it?”
_Nov. 11._ Inactive, inaccessible, but for the most part
not rigid.
_Nov. 14._ Varies between mutism with resistance and more
relaxed inactivity. To-day lies in a position repeatedly
assumed by her, namely, on her stomach with head raised,
resistive towards any interference, immobile face, totally
inaccessible.
_Nov. 15._ Freer. She said: “One day I was in a coffin,
that’s the day I went to Heaven.” She also said she used to
see “the crucifix hanging there” (on the ceiling)--“not now
but when I was going to Heaven.” (When was that?) “Over in
that bed” (her former bed). Later she added, “The place
changed so ... things used to be coming up and down
(dreamily)--that was the day I was coming up on the ship or
going down.” She is quite oriented.
_Nov. 17._ Usually stands about with immobile face,
preoccupied, but she eats voluntarily.
_Nov. 24._ When the husband and sister came a few days ago
she said she was glad to see them, embraced them, cried and
is said to have spoken quite freely. To-day she speaks more
freely than usually. When asked why she had answered so
little, she said she could not bring herself to say
anything, though she added spontaneously, “I knew what was
said to me.” When shown a picture of her cataleptic
attitude with hands raised, she said dreamily, “I guess
that must have been the day I went to Heaven, everything
seemed strange, things seemed to be going up and down.”
(Did you know where you were?) “I guess that was the day I
thought I was on the ship.” When the sister spoke to her,
she seemed depressed and said, “If only I had not done
those things I might be saved, if I had only gone to church
more.”
_Dec. 3._ Seems depressed. She weeps some, says she is sad,
“There seems to be something over my heart, so I can’t see
my little girls.” Again: “I should have told you about it
first--I should not have bought it”--(refers to buying
carbolic acid). She wrote a natural letter but very slowly.
4. There followed then a state lasting for six months,
during which the patient was rather inactive, preoccupied,
even a little tense at times. Sometimes she did not answer,
again at the same interview spoke quite promptly. For the
most part the affect was reduced, at other times she
appeared a little uneasy, bewildered, or again depressed.
She said that sometimes a mist seemed to be over her. Now
and then spoke of things looking queer and she asked, when
the room was cleaned, “Why do they move things about?” and
she added irrelevantly: “I thought the robbers broke into
my house and stole my wedding dress and my children’s
dresses” (refers to the condition during the onset of her
psychosis). In the beginning of this state, when asked
about the stupor, she spoke again of the “ship” and about
going “down, down,” but also said that on one occasion she
heard beautiful music, was waiting for the last trumpet and
was afraid to move. Moreover, she had some ideas referring
to the actual situation which were akin to those in the
more marked stupor period. Although she admitted she was
better, she said on December 8 that she still had queer
ideas at times, “I sometimes think the doctor is Uncle Jim”
(long dead). She also spoke of other patients looking like
dead relatives, and added, “Are all the spirits that are
dead over here?” “We never die here, the spirits are here.”
But after that date no such ideas recurred, in fact this
whole period seems to have been remarkably barren of
delusions. Exceptionally isolated ones were noted. Thus, on
January 28 it is mentioned that she stated she sometimes
felt so lonely, and as though people were against her; and
on February 13 she said she felt as though the chair knew
what she was talking about. It is also mentioned in January
that she wept at times, but this seems not to have been a
leading feature at all. In March, when asked why she was
not more active and cheerful, her lips began to quiver and
she said, “Oh, I thought my children would be cut up in
Bellevue.” “I don’t know why I feel that way about them.”
She sometimes cried when her friends left her.
5. Then followed a week of a rather faultfinding,
self-assertive state, during which she demanded to be
allowed to go home, saying indignantly that she was not a
wicked woman, had done nothing to be kept a prisoner here;
she wanted justice because another patient had called her
crazy. But in this period also she said that after the
robbery (at home) she felt afraid that her honor would be
taken away. When told that her husband had been with her,
she said “Yes, but I was afraid they would get into a
fight.” (You mean you were afraid the other man would kill
him?) “No, he is not dead.” She further talked of a
disagreement she had at that time with her husband, and
that she felt then like running away and leading a bad
life, but thought of the children. With tears she added: “I
would not do anything that is wrong. I have my children to
live for.” Quite remarkable was the fact that she then told
of various erotic experiences in her life, though with a
distinctly moral attitude and minimizing them.
6. On _June 16_ another state was initiated with peculiar
ideas, the setting of which is not known, as she told them
only to the nurses. She said that she was not Mrs. W. but
the Queen of England, again that she was an actress, or
again the wife of a wealthy Mr. B., and that she was going
to have a baby. But at night she is said to have been
agitated and afraid she was to be executed. She asked to be
allowed to go to bed again, then stopped talking, and
remained in this mute condition for about a week. She often
left her bed and went back again, remained much with a
perplexed expression. On one occasion she put tinsel in her
hair saying it was a golden crown.
7. At the end of that time she became freer and more
natural, and remained so for three weeks. She occupied
herself somewhat. When asked what had happened in the
condition preceding, said she thought she was a queen or
was to be a queen.
8. Towards the end of this period she had again three more
absorbed days, but when examined on the third of these days
got rather talkative and somewhat drifting in her talk on
superficial topics.
9. Two days later she began to sing at night, kissed
everybody, said it was the anniversary of her meeting her
husband, again cried a little, and on the following morning
began to sing love songs, with a rather ecstatic mood, and
at times stood in an attitude of adoration with her hands
raised. This passed over to a more elated state, during
which she smiled a good deal, often quite coquettishly; she
sang love songs softly; on one occasion put a mosquito
netting over her head like a bridal veil; or she held her
fingers in the shape of a ring over a flower pinned to her
breast. But even during this state she said little, only
once spoke of waiting for her wedding ring, and again, when
asked why she had been singing, said “I was singing to the
man I love.” (Why are you so happy?) “Because I am with
you” (coquettishly).
This, however, represented the end of the psychosis. She
improved rapidly. At first she smiled rather readily, but
soon began to occupy herself and made a perfect recovery.
She gave a rather shallow retrospective account about the
last phase: at first she said it was natural for people to
feel happy at times, and that she did not talk more because
the inclination was not there. The only point she added
later was that she held her fingers in the shape of a ring
because she was thinking of her wedding ring.
She was discharged on _October 11_.
The patient was seen again in _September, 1915_. She then
stated that she had been perfectly well until 1912, when
she had a breakdown after childbirth. (A childbirth in 1910
had led to no disorder.) The attack lasted six months. She
slept poorly, lost weight, and felt weak, depressed, “my
strength seemed all gone.” In _July, 1915_, following again
a childbirth, she was for about six weeks “despondent, weak
and tired out.”
At the interview she made a very natural, frank impression,
and displayed excellent insight.
CASE 13.--_Johanna S._ Age: 47. Admitted to the Psychiatric
Institute January 23, 1904.
_F. H._ It was claimed that there was no insanity in the
family.
_P. H._ The patient was said to have been bright and rather
quick-tempered. She came to the United States from Ireland
at the age of 20, worked as a servant, was well liked, and
retained her position well.
She was married at 24. After a second confinement, at the
age of 26, the patient had her first attack of manic
excitement, from which she recovered in four months. She
had, subsequently, at the ages of 28, 30, 32, 35, 43, and
45, other attacks of the same nature, each one lasting
about four months. No precipitating cause was known for any
of them. Only one of the attacks, the fifth, (none were
well observed) seems to have shown features different from
an elated excitement with irritability. At the end of this
attack she was said to have been “dull” for a month.
Her husband died four years before the present admission,
evidently soon after her sixth attack.
The present attack:
About two months before admission the patient began,
without appreciable cause, to be sleepless, complained of
headaches and appeared downhearted and sad. She sat about.
After a week she would not get out of bed and remained in
bed until she was sent to the Observation Pavilion, getting
up only to go to the closet. She said very little and would
not eat much. About a month before admission she began to
say that she did not want to live, begged her daughter to
throw her out of the window. About two weeks before
admission she began to insist that she heard the voice of
her brother (living in Ireland) calling her. She got out of
bed to look for him.
At the _Observation Pavilion_ she was described as slow,
looking about in an apprehensive manner, bewildered, dazed,
saying “I am dead--there is poison in it (not clear in
what)--I am dead, you are dead.”
_Under Observation:_ 1. On admission the patient had a
coated tongue, foul breath, constipation, lively knee-jerks
and a pulse of 110. She appeared dull, inactive, lay in bed
with her eyes closed. She would open them when urged but
appeared drowsy and her face was strikingly immobile. At
times she moaned a little. She could be made to respond in
various ways such as shaking her head, or making some
motions as though to indicate that she could not give any
explanations. All movements were slow. She also responded
to a few questions by “I don’t know.”
Two days after admission the condition was not essentially
different except that she was a little uneasy when urged to
speak, corrugated her forehead, said “Everything is dark,”
again “I am very sick,” or she turned away her head.
On the fourth day, i.e., January 26, the picture altered,
inasmuch as she was much more responsive. She was found
sitting up in bed and, at times, a little uneasy. She was
slow in her movements and answers, speaking in a whisper
and sometimes a little fretfully. The answers, though slow,
were, however, by no means given in the shortest possible
manner, but with variations, e.g., from “I don’t know,” to
“I could not tell you,” or “I can’t tell that either.” She
said herself that everything had “been so dark--it is light
now, but it gets so dark sometimes.” She denied knowing
where she was, even in what city, also denied knowing the
month, adding to the latter answer “the nurse can tell
you.” She could not tell where she had been before coming
to the hospital, or how she came. Finally, she also claimed
not to know her age, her birthday or the date of her
marriage; but she gave the current year correctly, the
place where she went to school, the names of some of her
teachers, and the year of her arrival in the United States.
She also stated in answer to questions that she came to the
hospital “to get well.” She repeatedly said “I am so sick,”
or “I am so stupid,” or “My mind is mixed up, twisted,” or
“My mind is not so good,” or “I am so tired.” What could be
obtained of a content was as follows: When she spoke of
being “twisted,” she said, “I got all kinds of medicine.”
(How does it affect you?) “Through my head and it made me
hot inside.” Again, when asked whether anybody had done
anything to her, she said “No, I have done wrong myself, by
speaking bad of my neighbors.” She claimed to hear voices
“all over,” but could not tell what they said. When, in the
evening of that day, the nurse asked her why she did not
talk more, she said, “God damn it, I am all twisted, my
brain is mixed up, my system is all upset, the doctor made
me stupid with questions, and the medicine I have taken
made me all stupid and I am inhaling gas now.” Then she
again settled into a dull state and was found by the
physician with immobile expression, slow motions and mute.
2. For about ten days, i.e., from January 27 to February 8,
her condition was of a more pronounced character. For the
most part she lay in bed with often quite immobile face and
with eyes closed, or she looked about in a bewildered
manner. She was very inactive, presented a marked
resistance in her arms and jaw when passive motions were
attempted, or, again, exhibited decided catalepsy. She had
to be tube-fed. Once on the 27th of January, when the nurse
tried to feed her, she pushed her away and said, “I am
dead--I am not home.” Sometimes she turned her hands about
with slow tremulous movements, looking at them in a
bewildered manner.
She usually was mute, except on the few occasions to be
mentioned later, as well as on February 3, when she was
generally a little more responsive. At that time she could
be made to open her eyes, and then replied to a few
questions slowly and in a low tone; others were left
unanswered. (To the questions where she was and how long
she had been here, she replied with “I don’t know,” but to
questions about who the physician and the nurse were, by
saying “You are a doctor,” and “she is a nurse.”)
In the general setting just described there occurred at
various times changes in behavior which were as follows: On
the evening of the 27th of January she got out of bed and
walked about with slow restlessness, saying: “They say I am
going to be cut up.” On February 1, she was seen for a time
making peculiar slow swimming motions with her hands. Again
on the 3d of February she got out of bed, walked about
slowly, with peculiar steps, as though avoiding stepping on
something. Next day (the 4th) she sat up in bed--again made
at times her peculiar slow swimming motions. She presented
at the same time a peculiar dazed bewildered uneasiness
and, when questioned what was the matter, said: “I am--I
am--at the bottom of the deep--deep water--oh--oh--the
deep--deep--dark water.” And when further urged she added
with the same manner, “I can’t swim--I don’t know--but the
place”--She did not finish but later again muttered “the
deep--deep--dark water.” (Do you really think you are in
the water?) “I don’t know--my head is so bad.”
For the following five days this behavior was repeated
from time to time, when she would sit up and with
bewildered uneasiness make slow swimming motions and mutter
when questioned, “I am in the deep, dark water.”
Some other emotional responses in reaction to external
events must still be mentioned. They were rare. On February
1 the patient’s daughter came while she was lying
motionless in bed. She slowly extended her hands, tried to
speak, and then her eyes filled with tears. Again, at the
end of the interview of February 3, after she had made a
few replies, she settled down to her usual inactivity and,
when further urged to answer, her eyes filled with tears.
3. From about February 9 to February 24 the condition again
presented a different aspect, inasmuch as while there was
still a marked reduction of activity, she showed this to a
decidedly lesser degree. Moreover, there was no
bewilderment at any time. No resistance, but cataleptic
tendencies were still seen occasionally. There was at no
time the peculiar dazed uneasiness and slow restlessness
associated with the idea of being in the deep, dark water.
She now dressed herself very slowly, ate slowly but of her
own accord, and spoke, though her voice was consistently
slow, in a low tone and her words were few.
At the beginning of this period on February 9, when asked
how she was, she said “I--I am sick.” To the questions as
to where she was, how long she had been here and how she
had been taken sick, she replied by saying “I don’t know.”
But she knew she was in a hospital, had been here before
“many times.” (Correct.) She was then again asked for the
name of the hospital, but replied “I don’t know.” So the
physician pointed out of the window and asked her what it
was that she could see there (the East River). She replied,
“It is the dark water. Sometimes I go there and don’t come
back again--and--something throws me up and I come back.”
(What has been the matter with you?) “I have been sick all
this time.” Again, “I can’t tell--I am not a good woman--I
am very sick.” (Why do you say you are not a good woman?)
“Oh, I did not do things right.”
At a later interview, during the same period, she knew the
doctor’s name, knew she had seen him at Ward’s Island,
knew she was in a hospital, but somehow could not connect
the present place with Ward’s Island. She said she didn’t
know, when asked where she was, and when questioned about
the season, said, after a pause “Summer” (February 15).
We have seen above that she once spoke of not having been a
good woman. She repeated this on February 10, said “I have
done lots of harm, I have been a bad woman all my life.”
Again: “I had bad thoughts.” (What kind?) “I have forgotten
all about them.” It should be added that at this interview
she also said, “My mind is better now.”
On February 25 there was a sudden change. She laughed when
a funny remark was made on the ward. Later, when the
physician came to her, she still lay in bed inactive and
had to be urged considerably at first, but presently began
to laugh good-naturedly and quite freely commented on the
funny remark she had heard earlier in the morning, and on
peculiarities of some patients. She spoke quite freely and
without constraint. But it was striking how little account
of the condition she had gone through could be obtained
from her. She either turned the questions off by flippant
remarks, or said she did not know. The only information
obtained was that she had been sick since Christmas, felt
like a dummy, that she had lost track of time, and did not
know how she had felt during that period. When asked why
she had not spoken, she said, “I couldn’t, I had a jumping
toothache,” or she said, “Ask the nurse, she put it down in
the book.” Or again she said, “Did you ever get drunk? That
is the way I felt. I felt like dead.”
She soon developed a lobar pneumonia and died.
The following typical case of partial stupor is quoted as an example of
delusions appearing only during the onset.
CASE 14.--_Maggie H._ Age: 26. Admitted to the Psychiatric
Institute February 8, 1905.
_F. H._ The father died when 33. The mother was living.
Psychopathic tendencies were denied.
_P. H._ The husband and brother stated that the patient
was natural, capable, rather jolly. She married about a
year before admission and shortly became pregnant. During
the pregnancy she was rather nervous and had various
forebodings, among which were that the child might be born
deformed, or that she would die in childbirth.
The baby was born three weeks before admission. The patient
seemed much worried immediately after the childbirth,
fretted about not having enough milk, was quite concerned
about her husband and did not want him to leave her side.
The brother stated that about this time the patient heard
that the husband was out of work. She worried about this
and told her sister so. She also began to say that her head
was getting queer. On the fifth day after childbirth, a
change came over the patient. She cried and said she was
going to die. She also spoke of poison in the food and
accused the husband of unfaithfulness. The next day she
became silent, “did not seem to want to have anything to do
with anybody,” lay in bed, had a tendency to pull the
covers over her head and scarcely ever spoke. But during
this period she continued to look after the baby
faithfully. Sometimes she clung to her husband, saying she
was afraid he was going to die.
After recovery the patient said that while she was at home
she thought she saw bodies lying about.
At the _Observation Pavilion_ she was quiet and apathetic,
indifferent to environment and could not be induced to
speak. She soiled, refused food, and was resistive when
anything was done to her.
_Under Observation:_ 1. On admission the patient was fairly
well nourished but looked rather anemic and weak. The
temperature was normal, the pulse a little irregular but of
normal frequency, the tongue coated. She lay inactive but
looked about, and the facial expression sometimes changed
as she did this. Any interference met with intense
resistance. There was no catalepsy. In contradistinction to
this inactivity and resistance, natural, free motions were
observed at times, as, for example, when she arranged her
pillows. She did not speak and could not be made to answer.
For the rest of the first week she made no attempt to
speak, except once when she seemed to attempt to return a
“good morning,” or on another occasion, when the nurse
tried to feed her, she said, in quite a natural tone, “I
can feed myself.” The resistance to interference remained
in a variable degree, and was at times quite strong. It was
largely passive, though not infrequently associated with a
scowl, or she moved away when approached. She sometimes
looked dull and stared, again she looked determined,
“disdainful,” or scowled; or she looked about watching
others, sometimes only out of the corners of her eyes. She
had to be spoon-fed at times, again she ate naturally when
the food was brought. Repeatedly, when taken out of bed,
though she resisted at first, she dressed with natural free
motions. She always retracted promptly from pin pricks.
Towards the end of the week she even complied at times with
a request to do some work, but on the same day she would
remain passive, with a look of disdain, or resist intensely
when interfered with, e.g., when an attempt was made to
make her sit down. She never soiled and never showed any
catalepsy.
2. Then the condition changed, inasmuch as the marked
resistance ceased entirely, and the mutism gave way first
to slow and low answers, and later to much freer speech,
though the inactivity improved only gradually. Thus at the
examination on February 19, though she was quite inactive,
she answered some questions, albeit in whispers and
briefly. This was the case when questioned about the year,
month and date, which she gave correctly, but she merely
shook her head when asked how long she had been here, why
she was here, what was the matter with her. Once she smiled
appropriately. Later she became freer in speech, with a
more natural tone, although her answers continued to be
short. Not infrequently, when asked to calculate or to
write, she would not coöperate, saying “This has nothing to
do with my getting well,” or (later) “What has that got to
do with my going home?” or she would simply say she did not
want to. Improvement in her listlessness and inactivity was
more gradual.
The prevailing affective state was indefinite. She denied
repeatedly that she was depressed, though later she
admitted once being downhearted, yet it seems that even
then her mood was not so much one of sadness as of a slight
resentment. On one occasion, however, she showed some tears
when asked about the baby. She repeatedly expressed the
wish to go home, but not in a pleading, rather in a
resentful, way, saying she would never be better here, that
the questions which were asked had nothing to do with her
going home, that she would be all right if she went home.
She never admitted that she had ever been sick enough to be
taken to a hospital, though she quite appreciated that
there had been something the matter with her head at home
and in the hospital. She stated, in answer to questions,
that she had a peculiar feeling in the head which she could
not explain, that she could not remember so well as
formerly. Once she said, “I hear so much around here that
my head gets so full.”
When towards the end she was questioned about her
condition, i.e., the reason for her resistance, her mutism,
and her refusal of food, she said that then she “wanted to
be left alone”; that she did not eat “because she did not
want food,” and she also spoke of not having had any
interest.
She was discharged on April 29, i.e., about ten weeks after
admission before she had become entirely free.
The last case is interesting in that a depressive onset to a deep stupor
was observed in the Institute. It was characterized by constant
repetitions of a request to be killed.
CASE 15.--_Meta S._ Age: 16. Admitted to the Psychiatric
Institute June 26, 1902.
_F. H._ The father was dead, and the mother living abroad.
Not much could be learned about them and the immediate
family.
_P. H._ An aunt who gave the anamnesis had known the
patient only since she came to the United States, a year
before admission. After her arrival the patient at once
went to work as a servant. It was claimed that her employer
liked her, but that she was rather slow about the work. The
only trouble known was that she sometimes complained of
indigestion. She went to see her aunt about once every two
weeks.
Three weeks before admission, when the patient visited her
aunt, she seemed quieter than usual. Further, she spoke
about sending money home on the _Kaiser Wilhelm der
Grosse_, which was thought peculiar because she had no
money, and on a walk through a cemetery said “I would like
to be here too.” At the time this did not impress the aunt
as very peculiar. The patient continued to work until nine
days before admission. The employer then sent for the aunt
and said the patient had been very quiet for about two
weeks, and that she now had become more abnormal. She
suddenly had begun to cry, said the police had come,
claimed, without foundation, that she had “stolen,” and
kept repeating “I have done it, I will not do it again.”
The aunt took her home with her. There she was quite
dejected, cried, spoke of killing herself (wanted to jump
out of the window, wanted to get a knife). On the whole,
she said very little, but when the aunt pressed her to say
why she was so worried, she said she had allowed men to
kiss her and had taken money from them. It is claimed that
she never menstruated.
After recovery the patient herself described the onset as
follows: Ever since she came to this country she had been
homesick, and felt especially lonesome for some months
before admission. She knew, however, of no precipitating
cause, in spite of what she had said to the aunt and what
she said at first under observation. She consistently
denied that anything had happened with young men. A short
time before she left her place (she left it nine days
before admission) she could not work, began to accuse
herself of being a bad girl and of having stolen. Then she
was taken to the aunt’s house. There she wanted to die.
_Under Observation:_ 1. On admission the patient appeared
depressed, sat with downcast expression, looking up rarely.
She spoke in a low tone and slowly. But, in spite of delay,
she answered all questions, knew where she was and gave an
account of the place where she had worked. When questioned
about trouble with men, she claimed that a man who lived in
the same house where she worked had tried to make her “lie
on the bed,” but that she refused; that later a man had
assaulted her and had after that repeatedly come to her
room when she was alone. Yet when asked whether she worried
about this, she denied it.
2. For eight days her condition was sometimes one of marked
reduction of activity, with preoccupation. She sat in a
dejected attitude, and had to be urged to do anything.
Sometimes she was very slow in greeting and slow in
answering, and said very little. But whenever spoken to she
was apt to cry and this might lead to such distress that
the reduction of activity was no longer to be seen. Thus on
June 28, when greeted, she began to cry and say, “Oh, what
have I done!--Oh, just cut my head off--Oh, please what
have I done--I have given my hand.” (Tell me the whole
story.) Imploringly and with hands clasped: “No, I can’t do
it--just cut my head off, please, please.” (Why can you not
tell me?) “Oh, what have I done!” The imploring to cut her
head off was then several times repeated, and she could not
be made to answer orientation questions. On June 29 she
became agitated spontaneously and cried loudly, saying,
“Oh, let me go home and die with my father.” She was then
put to bed, and when seen she could not be made to answer
orientation questions. But when asked whether she had seen
the physician before, she said, “I saw you yesterday.” She
could not be made, however, to say how long she had been
here, “I think a”--not finishing the sentence. Although she
would not answer further, she presently began to say “Oh,
cut my head off--oh, where is my papa and mamma?” When told
that her people were in Germany and that she could go back
to them, she said “I haven’t any money to pay it.” Then she
wanted to know if she was to pay for her board and bed and
said she could not do it.
Again, on July 1, although she had been quite preoccupied,
inactive and silent, she began to say when greeted, “Oh,
please cut my head off.” But she then answered some
questions, said she had not worked enough. On questioning,
she explained it was not that the work had been too much,
but that she had been nervous, had tried to work as much as
the servant next door, but could do only half as much, “Oh,
I ought to have worked.”
Repeatedly on other occasions she begged, with distress, to
have her head cut off or to be killed. Frequently there
were statements of self-blame: she ought to have worked
more, was lazy or “I am not worthy”; or she said she had
lied and stolen; or again, “I have not paid for these beds
and I cannot,” or “I am a bad girl.”
3. For a month she presented a more marked reduction of
activity. She sat about with a dejected look, often gazed
in a preoccupied manner, or she stood or walked around
slowly. Sometimes she had to be spoon-fed. At other times
she ate slowly. Toward the latter part of this period, a
distinct tendency to catalepsy appeared. During this
period, too, as a rule (though not always), she would cry
when spoken to. A few times she would make some ineffectual
motions when questioned, but she scarcely ever spoke.
4. Then followed a period again lasting about one month in
which the picture was at times one of still greater
inactivity. She would retain uncomfortable positions, allow
flies to crawl over her face. She presented resistance in
the jaws, did not react to pin pricks. She sometimes sat
with eyes closed or, with an immobile face, the eyes stared
with little blinking. The catalepsy was more decided. She
often would not swallow solid food but swallowed fluid.
Again she held her saliva, sometimes drooled. Once she held
her urine and had to be catheterized. When spoken to she
once smiled at a joke, sometimes there was no response, but
as a rule there were tears or flushing of the face. On the
physical side, there were marked dermatographia and, for a
time, towards the end of the period, profuse sweating.
Throughout the stupor proper her temperature was between
99° and 100° as a rule.
5. The period which followed and which lasted about two
months was characterized, like the one just described, by
marked stupor symptoms, associated, however, with more
resistance, while the crying practically disappeared. On
the other hand, a number of plainly angry reactions were
seen and, towards the end, smiling and laughing. She lay in
bed, on her back, staring, allowing the flies to crawl over
her face; retained uncomfortable positions without
correcting them, and her arms often showed a decided
tendency to catalepsy. Sometimes she soiled. She constantly
held saliva in her mouth, though she did not often drool.
She was totally mute, did not respond in any way except in
the manner to be presently indicated. She had to be
tube-fed a good part of the time, was quite resistive when
an attempt was made to open her mouth. When attended to by
the nurse, she was apt to make herself stiff. But as a
rule, she was not resistive to passive motions when tested.
On a few occasions she had, as was stated, marked angry
outbursts. Thus on one occasion when her temperature was
taken she angrily pushed the nurse away and then struggled
vigorously. On another occasion, when the bed-pan was put
under her, she threw it away angrily and struck the nurse;
once she did the same with the feeding tube. She struck a
patient, on another occasion, when the latter came to her
bed. On two occasions she suddenly threw herself headlong
on the floor. Towards the end of the period, when the
blood-pressure was taken, she smiled and then laughed out
loud. She could be made to smile again later.
6. The last period, before the more definite improvement,
lasted about a month. She was inactive and slow, ate slowly
(feeding no longer necessary), and was mute. But she did
not stare, was no longer resistive, no longer held saliva.
She appeared indifferent, but could be made to smile quite
readily when spoken to. On one occasion she laughed out
loud when a comical toy was shown her, again was amused at
a party. In the beginning of the period she was once seen
to cry a little when sitting by herself, and at the same
time wept a little when spoken to, but this was now
isolated. Towards the end of the period she spoke a little,
asked for paper and pencil and wrote: “Dear Mother.--I only
take up the pencil in order to write you a few lines. We
are all cheerful and in good health and hope that you are
the same and we congratulate you on your birthday 19th of
December that I have not written to you for a long time
were in the same ...” (Translated.) This was written very
slowly.
On the day after this letter she was distinctly freer,
talked a little to the nurse and then improved rapidly. A
week after this, January 16, she is described as quite free
in her talk and activity, but when asked about the
psychosis she merely shrugged her shoulders. However, mere
extensive retrospective accounts were taken later.
The retrospective accounts were obtained on January 24 and
March 13. As these two accounts do not seem to be
fundamentally different for the period of the psychosis,
they may here for the sake of brevity be combined.
She remembered clearly going to the Observation Pavilion,
and feeling frightened, as she did not know where she was
going and what they were going to do with her. She knew
when she was in the Observation Pavilion and had a good
recollection of the place, also of the transfer to the
hospital, the ward she came to, who spoke to her, etc. She
did not know what the place was until the doctor told her a
day or two after admission. Unfortunately definite
incidents were inquired into only for the first part
(July). But she remembered those clearly. She also claimed
to remember all visits which were made to her by her
friends, but it was not specifically determined whether
there was a period of less clear recollection or not.
However, she remembered the tube-feeding, which occurred
only during the more marked stupor. Her desire to be
killed, to have her head cut off, she recalled but claimed
not to know why she wanted to be killed. However, she
remembered worrying about being bad, about the fact that
she could not “pay for the beds,” etc.
Her mutism and refusal of food she was unable to account
for. She could not talk, her “tongue would not move.” As
regards ideas during the more stuporous period, she claimed
that (when quite inactive) she heard voices but did not
recall what they said. But she remembered having dreams at
that time “of fire,” “of her dead father and of home.”
In a survey of thirty-six consecutive cases of definite stupor, literal
death ideas were found in all but one case. They seem to be commonest
during the period immediately preceding the stupor, as all but five of
these cases spoke of death while the psychosis was incubating. From this
we may deduce that the stupor reaction is consequent on ideas of death,
or, to put it more guardedly, that death ideas and stupor are
consecutive phenomena in the same fundamental process. Two-thirds of
these patients interrupted the stupor symptoms to speak of death or
attempt suicide, which would lead us to suppose that this intimate
relationship still continued. One-quarter gave a retrospective account
of delusions of being dead, being in Heaven, and so on. From this we may
suspect that in many cases there may be a thought content, although the
patient’s mind may seem to be a complete blank. It is important to note
that when a retrospective account is gained, the delusions are
practically always of death or something akin to it, such as being in
prison, feeling paralyzed, stiff, and so on.
In the one case of the thirty-six who presented no literal death ideas,
the psychosis was characterized essentially by apathy and mild
confusion, a larval stupor reaction. It began with a fear of fire,
smelling smoke and a conviction that her house would burn down. It is
surely not straining interpretation to suggest that this phobia was
analogous to a death fear. When one considers the incompleteness of
anamneses not taken _ad hoc_ (for these are largely old cases) and that
the rule in stupor is silence, the consistence with which this content
appears is striking.
To exemplify the form in which these delusional thoughts occur we may
cite the following: Henrietta H. (Case 8) said, retrospectively, that
she thought she was dead, that she saw shadows of dead friends laid out
for burial, that she saw scenes from Heaven and earth. Annie K. (Case 5)
claimed to have had the belief that she was going to die, and to have
had visions of her dead father and dead aunt, who were calling her. She
also thought that all the family were dead and that she was in a
cemetery. Rosie K. (Case 11) said she had the idea that she wanted to
die and that she refused food for that purpose, and during the stupor
she sometimes held her breath until she was cyanotic. Mary F. (Case 3),
before her stupor became profound, spoke of the hereafter, of being in
Calvary and in Heaven. In this case, as well as in the above-mentioned
Henrietta H., we find, therefore, associated with “death” the closely
related idea of Heaven. Whether Calvary merely referred to the cemetery
(Mt. Calvary Cemetery) or leads over to the motif of crucifixion, cannot
be decided. It is, however, clear that this latter motif may be
associated with that of death, as is shown in Charlotte W. (Case 12),
who, during intervals when the inactivity lifted, spoke of having been
dead, of spirits having told her that she must die, of having gone to
Heaven, of God having told her that she must die on the cross like
Christ. But this patient also showed in a second subperiod of her stupor
another content. She said: “It was like water. I was going down.” Or
again, she spoke of having gone “under the ground”; “I went down, down
in a coffin.” She spoke of having gone down “into a dark hole,” “down,
down, up, up”; again, of having been “on a ship.” We shall see in the
further course of our study that this type of content occurs not at all
infrequently.
_The internal relationship among the different ideas associated with
stupor:_ Before we go any further it may be advisable to examine the
meaning of such ideas when they arise in other settings than those of
the psychoses. If we consider these ideas of death, Heaven, of going
under ground, being in water, in a boat, etc., we are impressed with the
similarity which they bear to certain mythological motifs. This is, of
course, not the place to enter into this topic more than briefly. We are
here concerned with a clinical study, and therefore, among other tasks,
with the interrelationship of symptoms, but for that purpose it is
necessary to point out how these ideas seen in stupor can be shown to
have, not only a connection amongst each other, when viewed as
deep-seated human strivings, but also are closely related to, or
identical with, ideas found in mythology.
To one’s conscious mind death may be not only the dreaded enemy who ends
life, but also the friend who brings relief from all conflict, strife
and effort. Death may, therefore, well express a shrinking from
adaptation and reality, and as such may symbolize one of the most
deep-seated yearnings of the human soul. But from time immemorial man
has associated with this yearning another one, one which, without the
adaptation to reality being made, yet includes a certain attempt at
objectivation, the desire for rebirth. We need not enter further into
possible symbols for death _per se_, but it is quite necessary to speak
briefly of the symbolic forms in which the striving for rebirth has ever
found expression. The reader will find a large material collected in
various writings on mythology, for the psychological interpretation of
which reference may be made to Jung’s “Wandlungen und Symbole der
Libido” and Rank’s “Mythos von der Geburt des Helden.” From them it
appears how old are the symbols for rebirth, and how they deal chiefly
with water and earth, and the idea of being surrounded by and enclosed
in a small space. Thus we find a sinking into the water of the sea,
enclosure in something which swims on or in the water, such as a casket,
or a basket, or a fish, or a boat; again, we find descent into the
earth. The striving for rebirth might be assumed to have adopted these
expressions or symbols on account of the concrete way in which the human
mind knows birth to take place. The tendency for concrete expression of
abstract notions causes the desire for another existence to appear,
first as a rebirth fantasy and then as a return to the mother’s body.
One thinks of Job’s cry, “Naked came I from my mother’s womb and naked
shall I return thither,” as an example of the literal comparison of
death with birth. We need only refer to the myths of Moses and the older
one of Osiris, and the many myths of the birth of the hero, to call to
the mind of the reader the examples which mythology furnishes. There is
probably not one of the ideas expressed by these patients which cannot
be duplicated in myths. We have, therefore, a right to speak of these
ideas as “primitive,” and to see in them, not only deep-seated strivings
of the human soul, but to recognize in them an essential inner
relationship. It is especially this last fact to which at this point we
wish to call attention: that without any obvious connection the
fantasies of our forefathers recur in the delusions of our stupor cases.
We presume that in each case they represent a fulfillment of a primitive
human demand. In one of our cases a vision of Heaven and a conscious
longing to be there was followed by a stupor. On recovery the patient
compared her condition to that of a butterfly just hatched from a
cocoon. No clearer simile of mental rebirth could be given.
_Brief survey of the ideas associated with the states preceding the
stupor:_ If we now return to the study of the further occurrence of such
ideas in the cases described, we find motifs, similar to those seen in
the stupor, in the period which immediately precedes the more definite
stupor reaction. Indeed we find the ideas there with greater regularity.
In Meta S. (Case 15) the stupor followed upon six days with reduced
activity and crying, with self-accusation, but also with entreaties to
be allowed to go home and die with her father. At the very onset of her
breakdown, the desire for death had also occurred. Anna G. (Case 1)
expressed a wish to be with her dead father, and, at the visit of a
cousin, she had a vision of the latter’s dead mother. A second attack of
this same patient began with the idea that the dead father was calling
her. Maggie H. (Case 14) saw dead bodies, and during outbursts of
greater anxiousness, she thought her husband was going to die. In
Caroline De S. (Case 2) the psychosis began with a coarse excitement,
with statements about being killed, with entreaties to be shot, with the
idea of going to Heaven, again with frequent calling out that she loved
her father (who was dead since her ninth year), while immediately before
the stupor the condition passed into a muttering state in which she
spoke of being killed. Mary D. (Case 4) began by worrying over the
father’s death (dead four years before), had visions of the latter
beckoning, and she heard voices saying, “You will be dead.” Mary F.
(Case 3) had a vision of “a person in white,” and thought she was going
to die. In Henrietta H. (Case 8) the stupor was preceded by nine days of
elation, with ideas of shooting and of war, but this had commenced with
hearing voices of dead friends, and with ideas that somebody wanted to
kill her family. In the case of Annie K. (Case 5) we find before the
stupor a state of worry, with reduction of activity, and then a vision
of the dead father coming for her. In Charlotte W. (Case 12) the stupor
was preceded by a state of preoccupation, with distress and entreaties
to be saved, partly from being put into a big hole, partly from the
electric chair.
We see, therefore, in the introductory phase of the stupor in almost
every case ideas of death, and in one case an idea belonging to the
rebirth motif, namely, of being put into a dark hole. In well-observed
cases apparently we do not find the stupor reaction without either
coincident or preceding ideas of death.
_Relation of death and rebirth ideas with affect:_ In order to
investigate the relation of these ideas to the affective condition
associated with them, it will be necessary to study not only the
abstract ideational content but the special formulation in which the
content appears. In looking over the enumeration of the ideas given
above, it is very clear that these formulations differed considerably
from each other. A priori we would say that it is, psychologically, a
very different matter whether a person expresses a desire to die, or has
the idea that he will die or is dead, or says he will be killed. We
associate the first with sadness, the last with fear, while our daily
experience does not give us so much information about the delusion of
being dead. A vivid expectation of death is usually accompanied by
either fear or resignation.
In studying the ideas which we obtained from the patients by
retrospective account after the psychosis or from a retrospective
account during freer intervals, it is, of course, difficult, especially
in the former case, to say whether they have persisted for any length of
time. Probably in most instances this was not the case, and we must
remember in this connection that in a considerable number of cases the
patients recalled no ideas whatever.
Of the five cases which we may consider as types, Henrietta H. (Case 8)
and Mary F. (Case 3) formulated their ideas simply as _accepted facts_
during the stupor. The former thought she was dead, saw dead friends
laid out for burial, and scenes from Heaven and earth. The latter spoke,
during the stupor, of being in “Calvary,” “the hereafter,” or “Heaven.”
We have seen that these stupors were essentially affectless reactions
and we can therefore say that, so far as these two cases are concerned,
the ideas thus formulated were not associated with any affect.
Annie K. (Case 5) was a little different. During the stupor she made a
few utterances about priests and “all being dead,” and retrospectively
she said that she had thought she was in the cemetery, was going to die,
that she had repeated visions of her dead father and once of a dead aunt
calling her; that she had thought her family were dead, again that the
baby (who was born just before the psychosis) was dead. The formulation
is therefore less one of fact than of something prospective, something
which is coming--the _going_ to die. Correlated, perhaps, with this
anticipation were slight modifications of the usual apathy. The patient
often had an expression of bewilderment. She was also more in contact
with her environment than many stuporous patients are, for, not
infrequently, she would look at what was going on about her. Her apathy
was also broken into in a marked degree by her active resistiveness,
which was sometimes accompanied by plain anger. It seems that a prospect
of death may occur in other instances in a totally affectless state. We
have recently seen it in a partial stupor during which the patient spoke
and had this persistent idea in a setting of complete apathy. We see
here also, as in one of the former cases, the idea of other members of
the family being dead.
More difficult and deserving more discussion are the two remaining
cases, Rosie K. (Case 11) and Charlotte W. (Case 12). Rosie K. showed a
peculiar condition. She said, retrospectively, that during the stupor
she had the desire to die and that for this purpose she refused food.
Moreover, she was repeatedly seen to hold her breath with great
insistence, though without affect. This is worth noting. We are in the
habit in psychiatry to say in a case like this that “there is no
affect,” and yet there is evidently a considerable “push” behind the
action. We shall later have to mention in detail a patient whom we
regard as belonging in the group of stupor reactions, and who for a time
made insistent, impulsive and most determined suicidal attempts, yet
with a peculiar blank affectless facial expression and with shouting
which was more like that of a huckster than one in despair. Here also,
then, there was a great deal of “push,” yet not associated with that
which we call in psychiatry an affect. In both instances we see acts
which we are in the habit of calling for this very reason “impulsive.”
Evidently this is an important psychological problem which leads
directly into the psychology of affects and deserves further study. For
the present it is enough to say that with a different formulation--that
of wishing to die--there is here not, as in other psychoses, a definite
affect, such as sadness or despair, but no affect, though there may be a
good deal of “push” or impulsiveness.
The case of Charlotte W. (Case 12) is a complicated one, for she had
short stupor periods with inactivity, catalepsy, resistiveness, etc.,
which were interrupted with freer spells. A careful analysis of her
history has been instructive and justifies a detailed and lengthy
discussion. For the purpose in hand it is necessary to separate the
ideas which she expressed only in the freer periods (during which some
affect was at times seen) into those which referred retrospectively to
the stupor phase and those which referred to the freer periods
themselves.
We find that the time during which more marked stupor symptoms appeared
may be divided into two subperiods. This is not possible in regard to
the manifestations belonging to the general reaction, which seem to have
undergone no decided change, but only in regard to the form of the
delusions. In this we find there was a first phase in which ideas of
death and Heaven (and crucifixion) occurred, and a second phase in which
ideas were present which belonged essentially to the motif of rebirth
but which were also associated with ideas of Heaven.
About the first subperiod she said: “I was mesmerized,” or “I thought I
was dead,” or “God told me I must die on the cross as He did,” or “I
went to Heaven in spirit.” About the second subperiod she said
retrospectively: “We were on a ship and we were ’most drowned.” “It was
like water, I was going down, down.” She said she saw the people of the
hospital and “it was all full of water”; or again, “I went under the
ground and it was full of water and every one got drowned and a sharp
thing struck me”; or “I was out on a ship and I went down in a coffin.”
She claimed she put up her arms to save the ship. Again she spoke of
having gone into a dark hole. She also said: “One day I was in a
coffin--that was the day I went to Heaven.” “They used to be coming up
and down, that was the day I was coming up in a ship or going down.” And
when shown her picture in a cataleptic attitude, she said: “That must
have been when I went to Heaven--everything seemed strange, things
seemed to go up and down--I guess that was the day I thought I was on
the ship.” Finally she also said: “Once I heard beautiful music--I was
waiting for the last trumpet--I was afraid to move.”
We see, therefore, that most of the ideas which she thus spoke of
retrospectively as having been in her mind during this stupor, and which
belonged both to the death and the rebirth motifs were formulated as
facts (as in the cases of Henrietta H. and Mary F. above mentioned). It
was, moreover, a condition which was accepted without protest. Here
again an affect was not associated with these ideas, and when the
patient was asked whether she had not been frightened, she said herself,
“No, I just lay there.” The idea that God told her she would have to die
on the cross like Christ, is, in the religious form, like the beckoning
of the father with Henrietta H. The only exception to the claim that the
ideas were formulated as facts and accepted as inevitable seems to be
the statement that she held up her arms to save the ship. This would
seem to be, in contradistinction to the rest, a formulation as a more
dangerous situation. However, this was isolated and we can do no more
than to determine main tendencies. We must expect, especially in such
variable conditions as we see in this patient, to find occasional
inconsistencies.
In summing up we may say, therefore, that so far as the stupor itself
is concerned, the ideas are formulated as a rule:--
1. As accepted facts (being dead, being in a ship, etc.).
2. As accepted prospects (going to die).
3. As the wish to die.
In the first two types the ideas are not associated with affect; in the
third, though not associated with affect, they are combined with
“impulsive” suicidal attempts.
In order not to tear apart the analysis of Charlotte W. (Case 12) too
much, we may begin our study of the intervals and the conditions
preceding the stupors with the ideas which this patient produced when
the stupor lifted somewhat. We shall see that the ideas are closely
related to those mentioned above but formulated differently.
It will be remembered that Charlotte W. had freer intervals when she
responded and was less constrained generally, and that it was in these
that the ideas above mentioned were gathered. Since they were spoken of
in the past tense, we regarded them as not belonging to the actual
situation but to the more stuporous period. It seems tempting now to see
whether the ideas which are expressed in the present tense are different
in character, the general aim being to discover whether any tendencies
can be found in regard to the types and formulations of delusions
associated with different clinical pictures. We see that on November 2
the patient, when speaking much more freely than before, said she had
felt that she was mesmerized, was dead, and that she had gone to Heaven,
ideas which we have taken up above as belonging to the stupor period. In
addition to speaking much more freely in these intervals, she showed at
times some affect. Thus to the physician whom she called Christ, she
said, with tears, “You came to tell me what was right,” or again with
tears, “I will have to be crucified,” or she spoke in a depressed manner
about her children, “I can’t see them any more,” “I must stay here till
I die,” and she spoke of having to stay here till she picked her eyes
and her brains out; or she claimed her husband or her children had to
pick them out. Once she exclaimed crossly and with tears, “You are
trying to keep me from Jim” (husband). Another idea was not plainly
associated with affect. She said she had come back from Heaven, “The
wedding ring kept me on Earth.” What strikes one about these
formulations is that they are, on the one hand, sometimes associated
with an affect, and that, on the other hand, they refer much more to her
actual life, her marriage, her husband, her children. At least this
seems to be a definite tendency. A similar tendency may be seen later:
On November 4, while generally stuporous, this suddenly lifted for a
short time, and with feeble voice she uttered some depressive ideas. She
said she wanted to go to a convent, that it would be better if she were
dead, that she could not do anything right. On November 5 and 6 she
said she wanted to go to Jim in Heaven (in contradistinction to the
retrospective statements that she had gone to Heaven), and on the 8th,
when she had the idea of being in a boat, she said with some anger that
she had wanted to get her husband into the boat, but that the doctor
kept him out and took his place.
Later there were at times ideas expressed which referred to the actual
situation or essentially depressive ideas in a depressive setting. Thus
on December 3 she appeared sad, retarded, and spoke of not being able to
see her children and that she had done wrong in buying carbolic acid
(her suicidal attempt). So far as this case is concerned, therefore, we
do find a distinct tendency for the ideas which refer to the more
stuporous condition to differ from those which refer to the actual
situation in the freer intervals, a difference which we may formulate by
saying that, though primitive ideas are expressed, the tendency seems to
be to connect them more with actual life, or that the primitive
character is lost and the ideas take on a more depressive character with
a depressive affect. A few words should be added in regard to the
peculiar ideas that she or her husband or her child had to pick out her
eyes (or her brain). It is probable that this idea belongs to the motif
of sacrifice (the _Opfer motiv_ of Jung) into which we need not enter
further, except to say that in this instance it was plainly connected,
like some of the other ideas just spoken of, with the real situation of
her life (husband, children).
It will now be necessary to examine the earlier state of Charlotte W.
The condition preceding the stupor set in with pre-occupation, slow talk
and slight distress. During the time she asked to be given one more
chance, she said to the husband she would not see him again. Then
followed a day when she was very slow and with moaning said she was
going to be put into a dark hole. Again on the next, when speaking more
freely, she begged to be saved from the electric chair, and also said,
“Don’t kill me, make me true to my husband,” etc. [Again the connection
with real life!] We see here the idea of death and especially an idea
pertaining to the rebirth motif in a setting of distress and slowness,
as an introduction to the stupor which had in it both of these motifs.
We must leave it undecided whether it is accidental or not that the
distress was associated with more slowness (i.e., more marked stupor
traits) when she spoke of the dark hole than when she spoke of the
electric chair or death. But what interests us is that distress and
reduction of activity (not sadness and reduction of activity, which
seems as a rule to have a different content) are here associated with
ideas seen in stupor but formulated as prospective dangers. We know from
experience that we often find associated with the fear of dying
considerable freedom of action, and we see at times in involution states
conditions with freedom of motion and marked anxiety, whereas the ideas
seem to belong to the motif of rebirth; e.g., the fear of being boiled
in a tank.[A]
In this connection, however, two other cases should be taken up which
show a condition which reminds one somewhat of that we have just
discussed, but in which the rebirth motif appeared, not as prospective,
but, as in the stupor, as an actual situation. At the same time this
situation was not passively accepted but conceived as a dangerous
situation. The significant phenomenon in both these conditions was that
there was not anxiety with freedom of action but a bewildered uneasiness
with marked reduction of activity.
The first case is that of Johanna S., whose history has been given in
this chapter. It will be observed that in the fourth period the patient
presented two days of typical stupor with the idea that she was dead. We
are familiar with this. But this was followed by several days of
bewildered uneasiness and slow restlessness, with ideas that she was at
the bottom of the deep, dark water and for a time she made attempts at
stepping out of the water or swimming motions. All of this was in a
general setting of reduction of activity with bewildered uneasiness. In
the ideas about being at the bottom of the deep, dark water, we
recognize again the rebirth motif, yet the situation is not accepted
but attempts are made by the patient to save herself, i.e., the attitude
is one in which the situation is taken to be one of danger. It is
interesting in this connection that immediately following this state
there was one day of ordinary retardation with sadness and ideas of
being bad and sick. That is, when the element of anxiety, the
uneasiness, disappeared and sadness supervened, the rebirth ideas were
no longer present.
In Mary C. (See Chapter II, Case 7) we have, unfortunately, not a direct
observation, but we have, at any rate, a description from the
Observation Pavilion which seems so plain that we should be justified in
using it here. The condition we refer to is described as a dazed
uneasiness, with ideas of being shut up in a ship, of the ship being
closed up so that no one could get out, of the boat having gone down, of
the people turning up. We should add here that the condition was not
followed by a typical stupor. Essentially it was a retardation, in which
only on one occasion was a definite akinesis observed. During this phase
she soiled her bed. Perhaps the persistent complaint of inability to
take in the environment belonged also more to the retardation of stupor
than to that of depression. We have again, therefore, in this initial
phase, a similar situation, namely, ideas belonging essentially to the
rebirth motif, formulated as of a threatening character if not as
actually dangerous.
We can say, therefore, that what characterizes these three cases, and
brings them together, is the fact that all three had ideas belonging to
the rebirth motif, but formulated as dangerous situations. Associated
with this there was not a typical anxiety with the relative freedom of
activity belonging to this state, but an anxiety or distress or
uneasiness with traits of stupor reaction, namely, slow movements, lack
of contact with the environment, and a dazed facial expression. It would
seem that these facts could scarcely be accidental but that they must
have a deeper significance. As a discussion of this belongs, however,
more into the psychological part of this study, we shall defer it for
the present, and be satisfied with pointing out here the clinical facts
of observation.
In brief, then, our findings as to the ideational content of the benign
stupor are as follows: From the utterances during the incubation period
of the psychosis, from the ideas expressed in interruptions of the deep
stupor, as well as from the memories of recovered patients, we find an
extraordinary paucity and uniformity of autistic thoughts. They are
concerned with death, often as a plain delusion of being no longer
alive, or with the closely related fancy of rebirth. The rule is a
setting of apathy for these ideas, but when they are formulated so as to
connect them with the real life and problems of the patient, or when
rebirth is represented as a dangerous situation, some affect, usually
one of distress, may appear.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] Kirby, _loc. cit._, pointed out that stupor showed resemblance to
feigned death in animals, that the reaction suggested a shrinking from
life and that ideas of death were common.
[A] We may mention that since this study was made we risked a prediction
of stupor, which events justified, in the case of a patient who showed
expectation of death without affect. Such opportunities are rare,
however, since we usually do not see these cases till the stupor
symptoms are manifest. It would be unsafe to dogmatize on the basis of
such meager material.