DUAL PERSONALITY

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 May 1929, Page 8

DUAL PERSONALITY

STARTLING EXAMPLES.

Two of the most baffling problems in modern medicine have been illustrated in the English Courts recently. At Oxford a plea of dual personality was successfully put forward as the defence of a boy of seventeen charged with stealing from a shop. At Liverpool Assizes Joseph Reginald Victor Clarke (21), was sentenced to death for the murder of a woman, "and his life story was revealed that lie possessed an extraordinary power of hypnotism, many girls being among his victims. One of tile most remarkable cases of dual personality of recent years was that of a patient of Dr. Robert M. Riggail, of Wimpole Street, W. “He was under my observation for about three years,” Dr. Riggall said, “and I still hear from him occasionally. “One of his brothers, whose personality he afterwards assumed, was training as a missionary when the war broke out, but enlisted and was killed. Between the two brothers there was a strong affection. The patient served in Gibraltar, Egypt, and France, but I became convinced that his war experiences had produced very little shock, and had simply revived the latent conflict between the two personalities of the man. “He was brought to me after he had been found wandering, and after I thought I had fused the dissociated personality I was able to get him back to his previous employment. “However, he had another period of wandering aimlessly, and came back to me. He recollected nothing of the wanderings, but under hypnotic influence was able to describe them clearly. “My record of one of the conversations I had with him in these circumstances runs: Do you know about your other self?-—Yes. It is my brother X (patient’s own name). What is your name?—B. (the name of the dead man). “In the course of my investigations I carried the patient far back into the past by suggesting to him, under hypnosis, that he should recall red-letter days in his childhood. He talked in childish terms and tones, and brought to mind birthday presents of long ago.

“Finally, after I had succeeded in > curing him, work was found for him. in Australia, and the latest letter from him states that fl© is still all right.” The “Other” Woman/ “Fully authenticated easel, of dual or multiple personality are rare, and , consequently our knowledge of them is only slowly extending. Recently I had the case of a woman in whom two personalities were apparently striving for mastery. One was mischievous, the other religious. At sonie times she would do things which at others she would be the first to condemn. “Writing anonymous letters to herself and smashing articles in her flat were habits of oiie of her personalities. I think that this was a case of acute hysteria. “There have been well authenticated cases of persons possessing more than

two personalities—among the most

famous being that of ‘Sally Beauchamp,’ described by Dr. Morten Prince.” In the case of Miss Beauchamp the dissociatiqn was ! the result of nervous shock, and she exhibited several alternating personalities, some of whom had no knowledge whatever of the existence of the others. Another astonishing case was that of a girl of thirteen, who, after a severe attack of influenza, is said to have developed ten distinct and clearly recognisable personalities. Tliey al-

ternated without any regular sequence In one instance she lapsed from one to another in the evening when the lamps were lit, and on recurring to the first stage several months later her first question was: “Why aren’t the lamps alight?” although it was mid-day. People she met in one personality were complete strangers to her in another, and the changes were always accompanied by completely altered facial expression.

Being taken to the seaside in one phase, she was taught to swim while in another condition she said she had never seen the sea before and was tei rifled at the idea of entering the jyater. At one stage she was able to draw beautiful figures, in all the other nine she was unable to trace •even the crudest outlines. Again, she was a deaf mute, and then had to be taught to read and write. In a further stage she tried to hit people with a strap, and was unable to walk properly, in another she developed into a blind imbecile. Shell shock produced dual personality in the case of a soldier who was badly injured in the war. In one state he spoke with a faint but distinct Lancashire accent, in the other his speech resembled the West Country dialect. His writing also differed slightly.

Except for the ability to play the euphonium in either state, there appeared to be no connection the two personalities. Another case was that of a woman who in one-state was very reserved with strangers and devoted to friends, while in the other she lost formality and reserve with strangers, but neglected her friends. Dr. Riggall has had many cases of what are- known as “fugues,’ which approach the state of dual personality. A girl telephone operator used to go for rides on bicycles’ with men or go swimming, but would after-

wards have no knowledge of having done so.

“Such cases,” he said, “often yield to mild hypnotic treatment. Deep hypnosis is rarely used nowadays, as the view is now gaining that it tends

to encourage the split personality. “The only rational cure for these abnormal states seems to lie in psycho-analysis.

“The patient is encouraged to work out his own salvation by finding out all that is in his mind, bringing him

in touch wtih his unconscious complexes. The fact of getting in touch

with them is usually enough to rid the

patient of neurotic symptoms.”