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Ten years of work with over two thousand juvenile delinquents has led Kaufman and his associates to view certain impulsive acts as serving not only to discharge disguised wishes arising from preoedipal fixations, but also to defend against anxiety. Thus, actions such as running away from home, stealing, promiscuity, assaults, arson, and even murder are seen as symptomatic acts, discharging impulses which, if not discharged, would arouse uncontrolled anxiety—anxiety springing from fear of separation or annihilation rather than fear of castration.
The 'impulse-ridden character disorder' type of child usually suffered much real trauma from parents who were often alcoholic or promiscuous, had frequent violent fights, and inflicted repeated separations and losses on the child. Regardless of socioeconomic level, racial or ethnic background, the character structures show 'little or no evidence of an internalized superego'. The body image is often like that of patients with an agitated depression, i.e., these children feel 'empty' or 'hollowed out'. Girls may try to rid themselves of this feeling by getting pregnant. Boys may run away from home to express the suicidal fantasy, 'You'll be sorry when I'm gone'. Another group, most often schizophrenic, tends to commit the more destructive crimes of arson and murder. 'Those