THE SPLIT EGO

Evening Star, Issue 22233, 10 January 1936, Page 10

THE SPLIT EGO

PEOPLE WITH DOUBLE MINDS Brain specialists and psychologists are grappling with a mystery far stranger than any that detectives in or out of fiction—have ever been called on to elucidate. It is the mystery of the “split” personality (writes i'. D. Prince-White in the ‘ Daily Mail. ) During the last few years queer, and sometimes incredible, transformations in the characters of apparently . ordinary people have given clues to it. And in not a few cases such transformations have reached their climax in tragedy. Added to these cases was recently that of Miss Nancy Turnbull, daughter of a doctor—a brilliant medical student of 21 who was found dead at her home at Corbridge, Northumberland, with wounds in her throat. Her father, Dr J. N. Turnbull, said at the inquest that she was* worried by a “ split ” personality. It is noteworthy that the phenomenon of “ split ” personality occurs more often in girls and women than in men, and in almost every instance it is accompanied bymental brilliance. The general effect—as a psychologist pointed out to me recently—is that of a “ double”' mind working to contrary purposes., Big and little matters are equally affected; a man with a “ split ” personality may be as thoroughly “ torn between two minds ” in trying to decide an issue of life and death, as in deciding which leg to put first in his trousers when dressing in the morning. An official of the Institute of Medical Psychology said: — • “ Everybody at different times has different personalities; a man in his office is nof the game man in his home, nor yet when he is playing golf. “ Persons with ‘ split ’ personalities, however, are decidedly abnormal. Their different personalities are disintegrated.

“ This . disintegration is very often brought about by some serious emotional strain, or shock. Women and girls are' more prone to emotional disturbance than are men.” - Mr C. E. M. Joad, head of the Department of Philosophy and Psychology, Birkbeck College, University of London, said: “A ‘ split ’ personality is the result of a sort of volcanic eruption from the depths of the unconscious mind of elements which have been suppressed while the normal, everyday personality lias been developed. A powerful emotional upheaval would bring it about. “ Naturally these suppressed elements are entirely opposed to the established personality. Having now formed a second personality of themselves, they at once set about opposing every thought and desire that springs from the first.

“ This is what produces mental confusion. A person suddenly finds that all his or her normal judgments, tastes, and values are alternated, and cannot tell which ought to dominate actions.”