Financial service senses worries of 35 whirlpools below sound 1846, 45, 44, A.D. Augusta City treasury, Richmond County treasury, United States Treasury of Mississippi River flood area. Gentlemen will you come to . . . and idenafy none minastrative body that receives the life generated by fourth patented generative below sound. Further arrange financial credit for same. Would like two bedrooms at up town Hotel and convenient to roof garden. Until you gentlemen decide further what my occupation is you may as well announce me as comforting 35 whirlpools below sound. May you gentlemen have gray eyes and thick bones as the flat sense minastrated are very valuable in idenafying me...
...was a writing sample from a schizophrenic patient in a locked ward. It was collected by Dr. Hervey Cleckley, author of "The Mask of Sanity" (first ed. 1941), a study of psychopathic (a.k.a. "sociopathic") personality disorder.
The book is an out-of-print classic. Amazon has a few used copies going for $70 and up, but I found a place to download it as a free PDF file.
Cleckley, now deceased, was an unusual shrink in a number of ways. His views were not always flattering to the standard practices or practitioners of psychiatry and psychotherapy. He didn't shy away from making moral judgments. Unlike your typical scientist who tends to be afflicted with logorrhoea, he was a highly skilled and marvellously entertaining writer, with a gift for understatement.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. highly recommends "The Mask of Sanity" and so do I. Besides being a great read, it will familiarize you with the seriousness and extent of a problem that continues to plague the psychiatric profession, society at large, and (Vonnegut claims) the upper reaches of the U.S. government and our largest corporations.
If I wasn't so old I'd go back to school and pursue the systematic study of psychology. I find it endlessly fascinating.
1 comment:
You are never too old. Go for it! I find your comments fascinating.
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