Case XXI ‘George’ aet 13 Years

Finally I wish to describe a case of potential delinquency which can not be dealt with adequately by the kind of work that I am describing in this book. I have tried to illustrate the mechanism of stealing by examining cases in which the rigidity of the defences of the child is not too great so that movement can be detected, and in which an environment that was previously hopeless and helpless now becomes hopeful and effective.

The degree of illness in the following case can be seen in the fact that the details are very much like those of many other cases. It is healthy boys and girls who are entirely individual and unlike each other. Illness patterns have resemblances, and the degree of illness is often measured by the fixity of the illness pattern. Even in this very ill case, however, there was a certain amount of movement following the interview that I had with the boy, and this makes a link with the last case. After my interview with this boy he said to his mother: ‘It's funny, the doctor asked me if I ever dreamed about stealing or burglars and I told him that I have never dreamed that kind of dream. But after I saw him I had a dream in which I had stolen a wallet and I went off to the next town where I stole another wallet and then I had to go to another town where I stole another wallet, and so it went on. It's funny I have never dreamed about stealing before.’

If a treatment of this boy were to be undertaken the most hopeful aspect of such a treatment would be to make use of the dreams of this kind, since it is because of the dissociation in his personality which makes his dream world unavailable to him that he needs to keep in touch with dream by compulsive acting-out. Here again, even in this very severe case, the positive element can be seen in that hope is shown so long as a boy or girl is trying to integrate a dissociated personality even when in the attempt antisocial activities appear and give society trouble.

I gave the boy an hour's interview on his ow