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Quotations/Comments685-671685 Finally, we have to consider the role of homosexuality in that most popular and best-known form of addiction, alcoholism. Both superficial and clinical observation concur in stressing the predominance of certain homosexual trends in alcoholics. Here belong such trends as the importance of drinking in common in certain male group activities, the particular kind of conviviality and fraternization displayed by the drinker and, on the defensive side, the manifestation of paranoid tendencies with their further psychotic elaboration. ...... However, psychoanalytic authors, by and large, have agreed on the importance of latent homosexuality in the dynamics of alcoholism. Theoretically, this could be expected in view of such trends as orality and narcissism - trends which certainly are shared by the alcoholic and the homosexual. Clinically, we are impressed by the fact that alcoholism appears as one of the significant patterns of behavior in individuals with a weak ego structure. A similar ego structure is found in most homosexuals, latent as well as manifest. Clinical observations of non-psychotic and psychotic alcoholics point to trends which may be considered as characteristic - though certainly not specific - of latent homosexuality, such trends as impotence, suspiciousness and jealousy. ...... The analytic insight into the personality structure of many alcoholics shows that they are characterized by narcissism and orality. They are individuals in whom difficult family constellations were responsible for oral frustrations in early childhood. Oral fixations resulted in a personality structure similar to the depressive personality with a low frustration tolerance. ...... As a result of this early development, male individuals tend to turn away from the frustrating mother to the father; that is, they substitute an inverted for the positive Oedipal constellation. In this way the basis is laid for future homosexuality. Abraham was the first to recognize the significance of latent homosexuality in the etiology of alcohol addiction. He spoke of men turning to alcohol as a means of gaining an increased feeling of manliness and of flattering their complex of masculinity. He drew attention to characteristic mannerisms of alcoholics and to special drinking customs among such groups as university students - all of them being typical latent homosexual characteristics. He also drew an interesting comparison between the structure of alcoholics and perverts.22 Juliusburger discussed the relation of homosexuality to inebriety and pointed out that periodic stages of anxiety may result from strong latent homosexual impulses. According to his observations, dipsomania is a manifestation of such unconscious homosexual drives, periodically breaking through the barrier of repression. Anxiety which manifests itself at the beginning of a dipsomanic attack arises from the impact of an unconscious homosexual wish; in our modern terminology, we would describe it as a reaction of the ego to the breaking through of the id impulses.23 ...... Weyl (1926, 1944), who has made an extensive study of alcoholism and has developed some original ideas on the subject, stressed the role of homosexuality and the destruction of homosexual sublimations. The latter became replaced by superficial sociability and anal-sadistic regression. ...... Knight observed, in his alcoholic patients, a conscious or almost conscious fear of being regarded as feminine. They showed impotence and ejaculation praecox and a typical dichotomy is their love and sex life.25 I can also confirm his observation that women with a strong homosexual component resort to drinking as a means of identifying and competing with men. In the least complicated alcoholic psychosis, alcoholic delirium, we may observe elements of slightly disguised heterosexuality or homosexuality. Tausk pointed out, as far back as 1915, the analogy of structure between the typical occupational delirium and the occupational dream. He interpreted alcoholic delirium as the expression of sexual excitement in patients who are impotent and, at the same time, it is an attempt to sublimate their homosexualiity.26 The most complete, to my knowledge, analysis of a case of delirium tremens was published in 1926 by Kielholz. The analysis confirmed his former findings concerning the importance of the homosexual component in alcoholics. Clear homosexual and sadomasochistic tendencies in the patient were instrumental in shaping frightening hallucinations of individuals who were, for the most part, objects of his emotional and libidinal attitudes. Some of these fancied attacks on the patient had the characteristics of direct homosexual aggression. Kielholz pointed out the connections between the mass character of animal hallucinations and the deep libidinal links binding the drinker to his male drinking friends.27 The threatening and castrating character of the hallucinations in alcoholic delirium was the object of a special study by Bromberg and Schilder. They described the dismembering tendency of these experiences which they found in the foreground of the clinical picture. The persecutors were chiefly other men - soldiers, drinking companions and the like. The choice of these persons was motivated by latent homosexual tendencies.28 Paranoid elements may already appear in the acute stages of so-called alcoholic hallucinosis. Voices accuse the patient of various misdeeds, among them not infrequently homosexual activities, and threaten him with a punishment which often amounts to symbolic or undisguised rape and castration. In further clinical development, both the delirium and the hallucinosis may evolve into a chronic paranoid psychosis. It is generally believed that, in such cases, alcoholism was the manifestation of a latent or otherwise not recognized schizophrenia. It is easy to recognize typical defense mechanisms, used by the ego in its struggle against the breaking through of homosexuality, in the ideas of jealousy. They are a classic feature in many a chronic alcoholic and reach their peak in a paranoid psychosis. The struggle against homosexuality may be covered up by the ego in various ways so that, in certain cases, we may see in succession a whole gamut of defense mechanisms. Obsessive compulsive symptomatology may be followed by paranoid episodes until, finally, aggressive homosexuality may break through under the impact of alcoholic intoxication. In such patients, inebriety assumes the characteristics of so-called pathological intoxication, with outbursts of violent aggression and homosexual acts or, at least, overt impulses and phantasies. [ (Ibid, Quotation 681, Gustav Bychowski, Homosexuality and Psychosis, pages 117-123.) ]
From a study of the multitude of clinical examples delineated above, it is impossible not to conclude that the factor of repressed, or latent, homosexuality plays the same basic etiological role in alcoholic addiction as it does in all the other previously cited addictions. The choice of which particular addiction, or addictions, is unconsciously "chosen" by the addict to deal with his or her "bearded lady" conflict, most likely depends on that individual's family background and environment. For example, an addiction-prone person raised in a family where alcoholic beverages are regularly consumed as part of the daily social routine, would theoretically be more susceptible to choosing alcohol rather than, for example, heroin, as his or her drug of choice to alleviate the severe tension and anxiety caused by the bisexual conflict.
684 The personality structure of drug addicts shows in many instances, elements of latent or manifest homosexuality. ...... The homosexual deviation in cocaine addicts was first described by Hartman in extensive clinical studies.18 ...... In certain cases, addiction is but the manifestation of a latent or circumscribed psychosis. In an observation of Benedek, the patient wanted to destroy her feminine body which she hated. This wish had emerged in her adolescence. She drank heavily and stuffed herself with large quantities of food. The drive toward bodily self-destruction served as a defense against repressed homosexuality. ...... In this context, I would like to mention briefly my own observation of compulsive bulimia in a schizophrenic girl. Here analysis demonstrated clearly that the compulsive eating served the purpose of re-establishing the original oral identification with her mother; at the same time it meant the destruction of her feminine loveliness, since it transformed her into a shapeless mass of flesh and fat. In this way the patient was defending herself desperately not only against any heterosexual potentialities but, on a deeper level, against the narcissistic homosexual love for the mother and her substitutes. ...... In my observations of neurotic obesity, I became aware of the role played by repressed homosexuality in my predominantly female patients. One of them, in addition to compulsive overeating, developed during analysis addiction to benzedrine which led her to take, in complete secrecy, immense quantities of the drug. She then displayed a transient paranoid psychosis in which the analyst became her chief persecutor with evil sexual intentions. The homosexual element could easily be detected in this heterosexually oriented delusional formation. ...... Among my woman patients who were addicts, denial of femininity was a prominent feature; it manifested itself by amenorrhea and avoidance of feminine grace and apparel. In homosexual episodes, patients played the aggressive masculine roles. In their heterosexual relations they showed complete vaginal anaesthesia and, as one of my patients put it: they did not "discover" their vagina until a fairly advanced stage of analysis. [ (Ibid, Quotation 681, Gustav Bychowski, Homosexuality and Psychosis, pages 114-116.) ]
We can see from the above examples cited by Dr. Bychowski of patients in the throes of extreme emotional and physical distress, that the underlying cause of their distress, no matter how ostensibly different their outward symptoms may appear, is always the direct result of the inner conflict between their masculine and feminine selves, or between their heterosexual and homosexual strivings. In drug addiction, anorexia, bulimia and "neurotic" obesity the malignant factor of severe bisexual conflict and gender confusion is invariably to be found as the source fueling the pathology underlying the various symptoms. And as will be further illustrated in the next quotation, number 685, every case of alcoholism likewise falls into the same category as each of the above mentioned symptoms of mental illness, and has precisely the same pathological root..
683 Elements of homosexuality may be included in the structure of various forms of depression. They are evident in some cases of paranoid depressive reaction in the period of involution. Here the paranoid ideas not infrequently represent a projection of long-repressed homosexual fantasies; the patient either feels directly accused of homosexual acts or threatened by persecutors who want to assault him, make him into a male (or female as the case may be) prostitute, etc. ...... To be sure, some germ of paranoid delusion can be observed in almost every case of depression of long duration. This was already recorded by that great expert on melancholy, Robert Burton. "The melancholy are always aggressive. They cannot speak but they must bite. But they are unaware of their own aggression and feel attacked instead. As they that drink wine think all runs around when it is in their own brain."15 ...... Under certain circumstances, it may even be possible that a young person is preconsciously or even consciously aware of his sexual deviation but tries to deny it to himself, usually under the impact of horror aroused by a feeling of guilt. In these cases, which naturally have become less and less frequent due to the progress of general enlightenment, we have the rare opportunity of relieving an individual from depression by means of a simple and thorough explanation. It will depend upon a variety of circumstances whether we should then attempt to correct the inversion by means of analytic therapy ...... We need more detailed psychoanalytic observations to understand the role of latent homosexuality in the structure of depression. [ (Ibid, QUOTATION 681, Gustav Bychowski, Homosexuality and Pyschosis, pages 108,109.). ] "Latent homosexuality" always leads to bisexual conflict and gender confusion in the individual, which condition, if not satisfactorily resolved either through psychotherapy or more rarely self-insight, invariably leads to mental illness, one of the many manifestations of which is depression..
The bisexual conflict neutralizes the person's libido to such an extent that all sexual satisfactions are muted and the afflicted individual becomes, in essence, sexually starved. At its core, depression is caused by the absence of libidinal happiness and wellbeing, directly attributable to the unresolved bisexual conflict. Or, to express it more succinctly, in the simple but intuitive words of an unidentified young French girl, "Passion is always the sister of joy." If a person lacks this "passion" (sexual) due to a severe bisexual conflict (latent homosexuality), there can be no genuine happiness, or joy, in his or her emotional and physical life, and consequently the malignant psychological process we call "depression" will gain the upper hand.
682 Passive homosexual feelings began to dominate the transference situation and were warded off by fleeting ideas of reference and persecution. I shall return to this observation at a later point in the discussion of the structure of latent psychosis. For future reference, I shall call this patient Michael. Such changes in the body ego, when further advanced, may result in the sensation of transformation into a female. Incidentally, we observe with much less frequency the delusion of transformation into a male in a woman. It would be incorrect to assume that such changes occur only in advanced clinical stages of frank schizophrenia. We observe them in initial stages of ambulatory or even latent schizophrenics, when we have the opportunity to study their structure and various shadings. Generally speaking, we may say that these patients [male] begin to feel, as it were, an invasion by a feminine body image substituting in parts for their masculine self. Since the process, in my opinion, consists in the maternal introject trying to replace the paternal image, it is natural that, in most cases, the change starts with the breasts. They seem to grow and to assume the feminine shape. One may say that the patient's body ego tends to revert to its original identification with the maternal breast. [ Ibid, Quotation 681, Gustav Bychowski, Homosexuality and Psychosis, pages 100-101. ]
The inescapable factor of bisexual conflict and gender confusion, which is clearly observable in all schizophrenic persons, and, to a lesser extent, in less severely mentally ill persons, is precisely demonstrated by the above-quoted case history. This example could be multiplied a million-fold in both men and women who have been fortunate enough to experience similar psychoanalytic depth psychotherapy, if undertaken to help them cope with relentless emotional distress.
681 There is hardly any need to multiply these examples. This and similar observations led me to the conclusion that the latent homosexual constellation is a constant and most significant element of latent schizophrenia. This constellation centers around a primitive maternal identification [in the male] which, by virtue of splitting, remains isolated from the rest of the ego field. Among these defensive measures of the ego, we may detect narcissistic withdrawal, secondary hostility and bouts of active homosexuality. Owing to the dissociation of the passive segment of the ego field, the rest of the ego is able to develop a deceptively "normal," seemingly realistic and even pseudo-masculine behavior while passivity, masochism and the megalomania of primary narcissism remain confined to the dissociated segment of the ego. This facade may be maintained until the moment when, due to some precipitating event, a breakdown of ego defenses reveals a crack in the total ego structure and results in manifest psychosis. Psychoanalytic observations of schizophrenics subjected to insulin shock therapy provide another opportunity for an understanding of the role of latent homosexuality in the origin of paranoid schizophrenia. In particular, these observations illustrate the important role played by the homosexual disappointment and the homosexual panic. The cathartic discharge provoked by the insulin coma creates a release of repressed libidinal impulses. The ambivalent homosexual attitude becomes split into its two components, with the positive one invested ideally in the transference reaction and thus accessible to analytic interpretation and working through. Psychoanalytic investigations have demonstrated the affinity between homosexuality and the schizophrenic break. In certain complex cases of latent homosexuality, the counter-cathexis built by the ego in order to maintain the dissociation of the psychotic core from the rest of the ego, is so precarious that the psychotic invasion occurs, as it were, spontaneously and periodically...... The kinship between schizophrenia and homosexuality is based on certain characteristics of ego formation. In my study of the ego of homosexuals, I have shown that the ego weakness characteristic of them is related to the ego weakness characteristic of schizophrenics. I came to the following conclusion: "The homosexual [male] does not pursue the union with the woman, since, in its deep core, his ego has never separated from her. For the same reason, his ego has never really abandoned his prenatal narcissism and he has never acquired the feeling of virility. As a final consequence, he has never really been born into the society of men." ....... Exaggerated narcissistic cathexis is a common characteristic of the ego of the homosexual and the ego of the schizophrenic. [ Homosexuality and Psychosis, Gustav Bychowski, in Perversions, Psychodynamics and Therapy, edited by Sandor Lorand, M.D. and Michael Balint, M.D., Gramercy Press, New York, copyright, 1956, by Random House, Inc., pages 105-7. ]
We can once again observe in the above examples how homosexuality and schizophrenia are inextricably intertwined, the one - schizophrenia - being the negation of the other - homosexuality. This is invariably the case. Underlying and fueling schizophrenic symptomatology can always be found repressed homosexual desires, fantasies and concerns. Furthermore, the same equation holds true for all the other more common manifestations of functional mental illness, including depression, mania, alcoholism and drug addiction, as we shall see more convincingly elucidated in QUOTATIONS 683, 684 and 685. Repressed bisexual conflict and gender confusion are the sine qua non underlying every case of severe emotional disturbance, in all races, cultures and in both sexes.
680 "Schreber's basic bisexuality had developed into a true manifest ambisexuality, male and female potentials being equally matched. Thus he developed fantasies of self-impregnation while he was acting the part of the woman having intercourse with himself."6. This penetrating reanalysis of Schreber's material reminds us of elements described in some former detailed clinical observations of schizophrenia, in particular the classic publications of Nunberg.7 The role of ambisexuality, with its far-reaching consequences in the clinical picture of advanced schizophrenia, has been evident for a long time. From a clinical point of view, one should bear in mind that Schreber not only went through periods of deep paranoid aggression and extensive elaboration but also long periods of catatonia. We know especially, from detailed observations of catatonic attacks and catatonic stupor, that fantasies of self-procreation frequently play an important part.. It is also generally recognized that confusion about one's own sexual identity is a frequent and important part of schizophrenic symptomatology. It may occur at a relatively early stage of the illness and, at times, may be detected by psychological testing prior to becoming manifest clinically. In my opinion, this symptom reflects a significant change in the patient's ego and may be described as a struggle of the feminine and masculine identification or, in their words, generally speaking, of the paternal versus the maternal introject. [ "Elimination of Guilt as a Function of Perversions," by Ritske Le Coultre, M.D., in Perversions - Psychodynamics and Therapy, edited by Sandor Lorand, M.D, and Michael Balint, M.D., Gramercy Books, New York, copyright, 1956, by Random House, Inc., New York, p. 98,99. ]
The above quotation provides further unassailable evidence of the key etiological role that bisexual conflict and gender confusion plays in the formation of schizophrenic symptomatology. All schizophrenic persons suffer from the bearded lady disease, a devastating, mentally destabilizing conflict between their male and female selves. In truth, all mentally ill patients suffer from the bearded lady disease, some more, some less, and the different stages and degrees of their illness (see "catatonic stupor" above) have been arbitrarily labeled with different names, but basically their illness is the direct product of but one disease process, and therefore can be designated by whatever arbitrary name(s) one wishes.
679 Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher served with the combined British-Prussian army that was about to whip Napoleon Bonaparte on June 18, 1815, at Waterloo. But the field marshal didn't get into that fray. Immediately after he made a short speech to his troops, he was taken into protective custody and hustled away from the front. He later retired as the most highly decorated marshal in the Prussian Army. But what he said on that day in that short speech was he'd just discovered he was pregnant and about to give birth to an elephant. [ From a newspaper clipping, author not noted. ]
It is very obvious the field marshal was having a psychotic (schizophrenic) breakdown when he publicly stated he was pregnant and ready to give birth to an elephant. That he was suffering from a severe case of bisexual conflict/gender confusion is glaringly apparent and marks him as definitely afflicted with schizophrenia, the bearded lady disease. It would be interesting to know if he ever recovered from his psychosis or remained insane for the remainder of his life.
678 Consistently, psychosexual confusion and underlying homoerotic impulses are apparent. On Rorschach Card III he cannot decide whether to attribute male or female gender characteristics to ambiguous figures, and passive floral imagery abounds - an apparent polar opposite to his father. In more heavily identifying with his mother he apparently perceived her as consistently the more powerful parent - symbolically castrating both himself and his father. Her control, perhaps in part resulting in a resentful paternal aloofness and covert competition toward the son, has left Mr. Koffend with fears of a male attack. But the strength of his castration fears seems in direct proportion to his driven need to deny all negative or aggressive feelings towards men. He attempts to diminish the frightening power of other males in an almost hysterical counterphobic manner. [ A Letter To My Wife, by John Kofend, Saturday Review Press, New York, 1972, p. (xxvii) ]
The individual described in the above-quoted psychological analysis is very obviously a person afflicted with severe bisexual conflict and gender confusion and is one who has described himself as "schizoid, though not schizophrenic" and suffering at various times from alcoholism, intense depressions and suicidal thoughts. Furthermore, he is very fortunate to have gained just enough ego strength from various positive masculine life experiences to keep him from slipping into outright schizophrenic symptomatology from his self-described "schizoid" state. There is a very fine line, however, to be drawn in this case between the one and the other, and that "schizoid" balance could very easily be upset by any further negative life influences impinging upon his male/female self-image, or his "bearded lady" self.
677 If you talk to God, you are praying. If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia. [ Dr. Thomas Szasz, psychiatrist. ]
What is the difference, really? If hearing voices is one of the common symptoms of schizophrenia (see, for example, the case of Joan of Arc), then answering or initiating a discourse with the source of that voice, be it God or otherwise, would also be a mark of schizophrenic behavior.
676 I am tired of being sad; I had a beautiful giggle, now my heart is split in two. It will take time to heal. I am clean now, I don't want to be dirty; it's like being gay. I drove tanks at Ft. Knox and loved the discipline of the Army. I loved being clean, perfect, with my brass shined; I shined all my bars until they glowed. [ Solving Psychiatric Puzzles, How Sad and Bad and Mad It Was, V. Sagar Sethi, MD, PhD, with George W. Jacobs, AuthorHouse, Bloomington, IN, 2004, p.155. ]
My mind began to unravel. The only thing I could focus on was killing myself. If I tried to concentrate, thoughts would bind me to the sadness of childhood. I was finally under a psychiatrist's care. I began to tell him things that had haunted me for years - my desire to be...I still refuse to bear the thought of being gay or bisexual. I just want to be a mother, take care of others, or give a hug to a person with cancer. It felt right. Being gay is not me, being a woman would make the thoughts and desires normal. (Ibid, p.162) At his third visit, three weeks later, Lee was doing better. He was seeing a new therapist, his business was doing well, and he was considering reconciliation with his wife. However, this stage in his recovery was brief. When Lee came the following month he recounted many problems: suffering from diarrhea and back pain, was irritable and depressed, and was having problems with the phone at work. At this session, he recounted an issue that obviously brought him severe stress. Lee was quite confused with his sexual identity. Unsure if he was gay or bisexual, he practiced cross-dressing. He enjoyed shaving his legs, wearing pantyhose and women's clothing. His therapist encouraged him to discuss this issue with me. Lee was specific in relating that he was not happy in his own body as a man. He denied being suicidal. I increased his Remeron to 60 mg, and recommended him to a therapist who specialized in sexual issues. (Ibid, p.166-167) His sexual therapy was going well. He was able to masturbate. He liked women's clothing, and had been purchasing panties, sweaters, and bras. (Ibid, p. 169) At his August visit, Lee spoke about telling his story during an AA meeting, and at his church. He feels very proud of his accomplishments in business and his relationship with his sons, who are working with him. Lee has wanted to be a girl all his life. He received laser treatment to remove hair from his face, arms, and legs. He is wearing pantyhose, bras and makeup. He also has found a jeweler who has made him rings and a necklace. He is planning to take estrogen, and has located a surgeon who specializes in removing male sexual organs and reconstructing them to resemble female organs. Lee says he has not had sexual relations with anyone for three years and denies being homosexual. While this may appear rather contradictory, becoming a woman for Lee allows him to feel feminine, have relationships with men, and not consider himself homosexual. (Ibid, p. 170-171) Lee, the name of the above patient, had been obviously suffering from schizophrenia, the bearded lady disease, before taking the ultimate step of having himself surgically transformed into a female. He had previously been an alcoholic, a drug addict, suicidally depressed, and hospitalized numerous times in psychiatric institutions. Being unable to tolerate the thought he was a homosexual, he took refuge in the illusion that he had been born into the wrong body as a male rather than a female. Finally he took the steps to right what his considered this grievous wrong done him by mother nature by having himself "reborn" as a female. Thus his long, tortuous journey through all the painful vicissitudes of being severely mentally ill had led him to this ultimate destination, one where hopefully at last he would experience a modicum of happiness and contentment, so long absent from his previous life. Lee would certainly be in agreement with that famous psychiatric patient, Daniel Paul Schreber, who wrote in his seminal autobiography, "Memoirs of My Nervous Illness,” that "I would like to meet the man who, faced with the choice of either being a demented human being in male habitus or a spirited woman, would not prefer the latter. Such and only such is the issue for me." Lee had lived his own life as a "demented human being" before having himself transformed into a "spirited woman" by the marvels of modern medicine. Daniel Paul Schreber was instead forced to utilize the powers of his own delusional, psychotic imagination to self-transform his body into that of a female. In the words of Dr. Ida Macalpine and Dr. Richard A. Hunter, editors of the Wm. Dawson & Sons Ltd., London, l955, edition of Schreber's monumental treatise describing his own case of "nervous illness" - "Schreber's name is legion." What they meant by this description is that all cases of paranoia/schizophrenia invariably have as their common denominator this factor of bisexual conflict/gender confusion. In other words, Schreber, Lee and brethren are afflicted, one and all, with the bearded lady disease - schizophrenia.
675 A patient just released from a mental hospital feels, whether correctly or incorrectly, that he is being watched with some degree of doubt and suspicion and even with hostility. He is paralyzed by the fear of doing or saying anything, because it may seem strange and be misinterpreted. Whether his feelings about how others are reacting to him may be only in his mind, nevertheless he feels keenly that others are sizing him up and perhaps discussing him (and what is more, some of them really are doing just that). He is compelled continuously to prove himself in some way - to pass some kind of test and jump through hoops - in order to be readmitted to the society of "normal" people. He becomes so anxious to prove that he is normal that he often does do and say strange things that make him appear "different" and unlike himself. There is bound to be at first a strained atmosphere, and the ex-patient becomes bewildered and feels rejected and frightened. [ The Prison of My Mind, Barbara Field Bennziger, Walker and Company, New York, 1969, pp. 154-155. ]
The questions this resident asked caused resentment and loss of faith in myself again and generated old doubts and fears. I said nothing at the time to him, but I hated myself for being so passive, and decided to have it out with him. I felt a lot better after I had talked to him. I told him, "Please try never to be unaware about a former mental patient's feelings. He is already so troubled about physical and mental stability and emotional health that the attitude with which he is approached can cause grave doubts in his mind about himself, withdrawal, and a relapse." Ibid, p. 143 The fear of losing me, or my identity, again is still with me. The fear of "going back" remains the worst of all. I say to myself, even if I did have to "go back," and I don't think I will, I made it once, and I can make it again, and it will be easier next time because I know more about the kind of treatment I need. I don't always believe I could make it again, though. Ibid. p. 145 Without first knowing the identity of the author of the above quotations, the average person reading them would undoubtedly be very surprised to learn that it is a woman rather than a man, since all references to mental patients in them are presented in the masculine gender, whereas in reality their author is a female mental patient. This very clearly demonstrates the very powerful, unconscious identification of the patient with the male sex rather than with her own sex, thus highlighting her severe bisexual conflict/gender confusion and its consequent role in being the root cause of her mental illness, as it invariably is all mental illness. The fear of losing her "identity", which she mentions in the last quotation, is really her fear of once again losing her gender identity as a female, which loss had originally precipitated her descent into mental illness. . Before she had succumbed to her mental breakdown she had been a typical "daddy's girl,” or tomboy, who had strongly identified unconsciously as a male with her father, having engaged in many childhood hunting and fishing expeditions with him and then later in life participating actively in highly competitive sports. This is a common formula which leads to the development of severe bisexual conflict and gender identity confusion in women, resulting inexorably in schizophrenic, or bearded lady disease symptomatology when the consequent bisexual, or homosexual, interests and cravings are deeply repressed by the concerned individual.
674 For example, on one or two occasions in my years-long work with a physically attractive and often very seductive paranoid schizophrenic woman, I have felt hard put to it to keep from going crazy when she was simultaneously (a) engaging me in some politico-philosophical debate (in which she was expressing herself with a virile kind of forceful, businesslike vigour while I, though not being given a chance to say much, felt quite strongly urged to argue some of these points with her, and did so); and (b) strolling about the room or posing herself on her bed in an extremely short-skirted dancing costume, in a sexually inflaming way. She made no verbal reference to sex, except for charging me, early in the hour, with having 'lustful', 'erotic' desires; from there on, all the verbal interaction was this debate about theology, philosophy, and international politics, and it seemed to me that the non-verbal interaction was blatantly sexual. But - and here is, I think, the crucial point - I felt no consensual validation (at a conscious level) from her about this more covert interaction; this non-verbal sexual interaction tended to appear as simply a 'crazy' product of my own imagination. [ Collected Papers on Schizophrenia and Related Subjects, Harold F. Searles, M.D., International Universities Press, New York, l965, P. 258. ]
It is very obvious from a reading of the above quotation that this deeply disturbed, paranoid schizophrenic woman is mightily conflicted between her male and female sides, or her bearded lady self. Displaying them both so forcefully yet simultaneously is what makes her 'craziness' readily apparent, while concurrently demonstrating the very unsettling effect her deep-rooted bisexual conflict/gender confusion state of mind has on Dr. Searles’ own mental equilibrium, just as it would affect anyone engaged in any manner of personal interaction with her, be it a male or a female.
673 Mr. Rogov, a professor at City College of New York, argues in his book "A Fatal Friendship: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr" (Hill and Wang, 1998) that Hamilton became obsessed with his hatred of Burr and that this obsession ultimately prompted him to force the situation that led to his death in their duel. Hamilton, more than Burr, was thus responsible for Hamilton's death, Mr. Rogow argued..........Mr. Rogov used his psychoanalytic knowledge to diagnose Hamilton as a manic depressive who, in effect, committed suicide by agreeing to fight a duel with Burr. Mr. Rogov argued that Hamilton was pulled down by recurring illnesses and was depressed by Washington's unexpected death in 1799. Hamilton's decision not to fire, as well as his serenity in the days before the duel, contributed to Mr. Rogov's diagnosis. [ Douglas Smith, The New York Times, March 2, 2006, P. C23. ]
Alexander Hamilton's obsessive hatred of Aaron Burr was based on a powerful, unconscious homosexual attraction to him, as is always the case in such examples of paranoid and obsessive behavior. The fact that Hamilton was known by his peers to be suffering from "recurring illnesses", i.e. manic-depression, which name is interchangeable with the term schizophrenia, adds further proof to this diagnosis. As Sigmund Freud so brilliantly explained the working of the paranoid mechanism, the schizophrenic's thinking invariably follows the following pattern: "I love him." Then immediately comes the denial, "No, I don't love him, I hate him." Next appears the so-called paranoid projective shift, "No, I don't hate him, he hates me and wants to kill me, so I have to kill him first in self defense." (This same paranoid mechanism holds equally true for schizophrenic women, obviously.) Note here that it was Hamilton who forced the fateful (and fatal) duel, not Burr. Furthermore, there was clearly a passive, feminine homosexual undertone in Hamilton's actions at the duel, as he presented himself in a totally helpless physical posture to Burr and waited for the latter to shoot him with a gun, symbolically representing being penetrated by the issue of Burr's penis, i.e. gun. Basically what Hamilton's actions were telling Burr was "Here, take me, and do what you will with my body." As Burr was later quoted as having remarked following the duel, "My friend Hamilton, whom I shot." This is proof that Burr held no great animosity towards Hamilton and that all the hate and anger were emanating from Hamilton's side as the direct result of his psychotic paranoia. Currently, almost everyday, we are confronted with similar cases wherein a psychotic male will set up a situation where police officers are forced to fire at him in order to protect their own lives. We call this "Suicide by cop." In Hamilton's case it was "Suicide by Aaron Burr." It is true that Burr didn't have to kill Hamilton after Hamilton refused to fire, but in Burr's defense Hamilton may later have insisted on another duel at which time he could have fired and killed Burr. Thus we see that schizophrenia, the bearded lady disease, claimed yet another of its countless victims, the esteemed but psychotic Alexander Hamilton. (Professor Arnold A. Rogov, the author of the above quoted book on Hamilton and Burr, who recently died, was a great psychoanalyst/political scientist and will be sorely missed by all in the intellectual and rational world.)
672 Current nosology lists schizophrenia, affective disorders, and paranoia as "functional" psychoses. These psychoses normally can be readily distinguished from organic psychoses. Evidence of organic brain disease is absent and intellectual deterioration does not occur. Sexual disturbances are multifaceted and common. With affective disorders, the sexual drive frequently increases with mood elevation and decreases with mood depression. Homosexual aspirations and concerns may be associated with all psychoses, but are most common with paranoia. Doubt about sexual identity, altered sexual performance, exaggerated sexual needs, and especially intimacy fears predominate in schizophrenia. [ Patrick T. Donlon, M.D., Assoc. Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of California School of Medicine (Davis), in Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality, November 1976. ]
Dr. Donlon here provides further corroboration of the fact that severe bisexual conflict/gender confusion lies at the root of all functional mental illness. He says that "homosexual aspirations and concerns may be associated with all psychoses, but are most common with paranoia." In actuality they are equally common to all the psychoneuroses as well, but become clinically most apparent in the delusional behavior associated with paranoid schizophrenic symptomatology.
671 Boston, Feb. 6 - The note was short, scrawled by hand and not very detailed. But to investigators in New Bedford, Mass., where 18-year-old Jacob D. Robida used a hatchet and a gun to attack three patrons in a gay bar last Thursday, the note Mr. Robida apparently wrote that same night was a portent there was more violence to come. [ Pam Belluck, The New York Times, 2/7/06, Page A-13. ]
This is a classic case of a schizophrenic young man in a so-called "homosexual panic", one brought on by his own powerful and long repressed homosexual longings which are suddenly threatening to break through to conscious awareness. This factor is invariably the trigger in all these cases where men (and less often women) suddenly run amok, trying to kill all within their reach and then finally, in most instances, themselves also, either by their own hand or by forcing others in self-defense to destroy them, as in this particular case. District attorney Walsh, in commenting on Jacob Robida's note, stated that "My gut early on, in kicking it around with the investigators, was that he will go down in a blaze of bullets, that this is a suicidal rampage, and our fear was that he would kill five cops." (Ibid, New York Times, p. A-13, see above.) Mr. Walsh was certainly prescient, as Robida finally ended his "suicidal rampage" after killing one police officer and then a woman friend riding with him in his car, until he was finally shot to death by the police. Robida had been driven to suicide, always the most serious symptom of schizophrenia, by his fulminating schizophrenic delusions fueled by his repressed bisexual conflict/gender confusion. Tragically, in all too many cases the schizophrenic person will kill others before he himself is either killed or commits suicide. This case has all the elements of a "suicide by cop" situation, wherein the schizophrenic person transfers responsibility for his act of self-destruction over to the police. That "trigger" Mr. Walsh was searching for is always the homosexual panic situation which drives the afflicted person literally insane. Previously there had been "no suggestion that he was antigay", said Mr. Walsh, speaking of Mr. Robida, so it was puzzling to the investigators why Robida would suddenly go into a gay bar and attack the patrons within. Actually what Robida was really attacking was the enormous temptation the patrons of the gay bar represented to his own deeply repressed and denied homosexual feelings, feelings which were so powerful they both terrified him while concurrently tempting him to act upon them. It was this terrible inner conflict, finally surfacing from his unconscious mind where it had long been repressed, that drove him mad and was the immediate trigger leading to his psychotic and lethal rampage, as it is in every such case of sudden and terrible mayhem. Finally, the district attorney's comment that "This kid's awful young to be that hateful" can readily be explained by the fact that schizophrenia most often strikes at young persons during their pubertal period, or closely thereafter. The original name for this devastating illness was "dementia praecox", because it was observed that it most often developed for the first time during this critical period of adolescence when new, powerful sexual feelings, fueled by the pubertal hormonal surges, become all-important in the individual's psychic and physical development. And if there have been prior deviations in this development, such as bisexual conflict and gender identity confusion in the individual, then the conflict caused by the onset of these powerful new forces of sexuality can lead to psychotic, or schizophrenic behavior in the afflicted individual of either sex, exactly as happened in this case. Mr. Robida's puzzling and psychotic "hate" was the direct result of the complete frustration of his homosexual drives through their repression. Frustrated sexuality always converts into hate. This is a basic law of nature. The energy of the denied sexual urge is what fuels the hate, and the stronger the denied sexual urge is, the more powerful the hate, as in this case of the unfortunate Mr. Robida and his unfortunate, innocent victims. Schizophrenia, the bearded lady disease, has once again reaped death and destruction upon the world we live in, as it will do again and again ad infinitum into the future, like it has always done in the past, until we can understand it's mechanism, thus enabling us to deconstruct it before greater damage and tragedy can ensue. |
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