Case XVII. ‘Ruth’ aet 8 Years

The case of Ruth came to me in the following way. A man consulted me about himself; this was Ruth's father. In the course of the hour or so in which he said what he wanted to say about himself, he told me a great number of facts. Among these facts were two things that were significant in the description of Ruth's problems. The first of these was that his daughter, the middle one of three, had started to steal at school, and along with this she had changed in her personality and become secretive and furtive. Her school work had degenerated and the school had asked for her removal. The other fact was that this man, who was trying to keep his family together while doing his own job, had become confused in the management of his wife's illnesses. His wife had three illnesses and these had involved him in three sets of hospital situation and somehow or other there was a failure of communication between the social-work agencies in the three hospitals. He felt torn into three pieces and a great deal of his time was taken up with complying with the demands of the three hospitals and taking his wife first to one and then to another, and it seemed as if there really had been a failure of communication with him himself. At the end of the interview with me he said that because one person had listened to his various and varied complaints he had now for the first time become able to see them as a unit and he said he felt he could now manage them without further help.

He did feel, however, that he needed help for Ruth and I therefore arranged to see his daughter. It would be necessary for me in my interview with the daughter to reverse her tendency towards antisocial behaviour. If I could succeed, then I felt confident that this man could cope with the total family situation including the three illnesses of his wife, helped of course by the very positive qualities which she also displayed in spite of her illnesses.

It is necessary to enumerate the three illnesses because they affect