Caine Mutiny, The - Herman Wouk [241]
With an annoyed glance at the judge advocate, Blakely ordered the court cleared. The parties were summoned back in less than a minute. Blakely said, “The question is material. Objection overruled. The doctor has the privilege of medical discretion in answering.” Challee flushed, and slouched in his chair. The stenographer repeated the question.
“Well, you might say the over-all problem is one of inferiority feelings,” said Lundeen, “generated by an unfavorable childhood and aggravated by some adult experiences.”
“Unfavorable childhood in what way?”
“Disturbed background. Divorced parents, financial trouble, schooling problems.”
“And the aggravating factors in adult life?”
“Well, I can’t go into those too much. In general, the commander is rather troubled by his short stature, his low standing in his class, and such factors. Apparently the hazing at the Academy was a scarring experience.” Lundeen paused. “That’s about what I can say.”
“How about his present family life?”
The doctor said reluctantly, “Well, you begin to tread on clinical ground there.”
“But there are tensions, without describing them?”
“I won’t answer further questions in that direction. As I say, the commander is well adjusted to all these things.”
“Can you describe the nature of the adjustment?”
“Yes, I can. His identity as a naval officer is the essential balancing factor. It’s the key to his personal security and therefore he’s excessively zealous to protect his standing. That would account for the harshness and ill temper I spoke about before.”
“Would he be disinclined to admit to mistakes?”
“Well, there’s a tendency that way. The commander has a fixed anxiety about protecting his standing. Of course there’s nothing unbalanced in that.”
“Would he be a perfectionist?”
“Such a personality would be.”
“Inclined to hound subordinates about small details?”
“He prides himself on meticulousness. Any mistake of a subordinate is intolerable because it might endanger him.”
“Is such a personality, with such a zeal for perfection, likely to avoid all mistakes?”
“Well, we all know that reality is beyond the hundred-percent control of any human being-”
“Yet he will not admit mistakes when made. Is he lying?”
“Definitely not! He-you might say be revises reality in his own mind so that he comes out blameless. There’s a tendency to blame others-”
“Doctor, isn’t distorting reality a symptom of mental illness?”
“Certainly not, in itself. It’s all’ a question of degree. None of us wholly faces reality.”
“But doesn’t the commander distort reality more than, say, you do, or any other person not under his tensions?”
“That’s his weakness. Other people have other weaknesses. It’s definitely not disabling.”
“Would such a personality be inclined to feel that people were against him, hostile to him?”
“It’s all part of it. Such a man by nature is constantly on the alert to defend his self-esteem.”
“Would he be suspicious of subordinates, and inclined to question their loyalty and competence?”
“Maybe somewhat. It’s all part of the anxiety for perfection.”
“If criticized from above, would he be inclined to think he was being unjustly persecuted?”
“Well, as I say, it’s all one pattern, all stemming from one basic premise, that he must try to be perfect.”
“Would he be inclined to stubbornness?”
“Well, you’ll have a certain rigidity of personality in such an individual. The inner insecurity checks him from admitting that those who differ with him may be right.”
Greenwald suddenly switched from his fumbling manner to clicking preciseness. “Doctor, you’ve testified that the following symptoms exist in the commander’s behavior: rigidity of personality, feelings of persecution, unreasonable suspicion, withdrawal from reality, perfectionist anxiety, an unreal basic premise, and an obsessive sense of self-righteousness.”
Dr. Lundeen looked startled. “All mild, sir, all well compensated.”
“Yes, Doctor. Is there an inclusive psychiatric term-one label-for this