The Three Christs of Ypsilanti - Milton Rokeach [135]
There was no way to be sure exactly when Joseph had developed the ulcer. He had, indeed, begun to complain of a pain in his stomach early in December, and shortly afterward of nausea from the smells in the vegetable room. But then—when had Joseph not complained? One clear-cut fact does, however, emerge: placebos, prescribed for a paranoid schizophrenic by his authority referent, had served to inhibit for approximately two or three months, not imaginary pains, but somatic ones. This finding is probably the most striking of all the findings reported herein for either Joseph or Leon. It demonstrates most dramatically the positive effects which can be achieved by suggestions originating with the paranoid schizophrenic’s own delusional authority figures. This finding is all the more remarkable when one remembers that paranoid schizophrenics are typically negativistic, that, because they view other people with suspicion and mistrust, they resist suggestions that others make. But our data clearly suggest that paranoid schizophrenics are, like everyone else, quite capable of following positive suggestions when the suggestions originate with positive referents. In this respect, the major difference between normal people and paranoid schizophrenics lies not so much in the fact that the schizophrenics are less suggestible but in the fact that they have no positive authorities or referents in the real world; if they have any at all, these positive referents exist only in the world of their delusions.
[1]Joseph’s letter to President Kennedy, like all letters from patients, was first scanned by ward personnel, and then, after the contents of the letter were copied, it was mailed. A few weeks later, Joseph casually mentioned he had received an acknowledgment from the White House. He hastened to add, however: “I don’t think the President saw it. The secretary probably answered it. I wrote him a long letter about getting me out of the hospital. That’s going to be a failure, not a reality. That’s not realistic. You just simply ask but they don’t pay any attention to it. I doubt very much I’m going to be taken out.”
[2]G. Bateson, D. D. Jackson, J. Haley, and J. H. Weakland: “Toward a Theory of Schizophrenia,” Behavorial Science, I (1956), pp. 251-64.
CHAPTER XVII
THE LOYALTY TEST
THE CHANGES in Joseph’s behavior that were produced as a result of the letters from Dr. Yoder, and particularly the effects of the placebos on his physical state, were sufficiently dramatic to lead us to a further question: Could placebos issued by his authority figure alter his delusional system too?
It should be stated at the outset that the feat we now tried to achieve proved impossible. We did not succeed in changing a single one of Joseph’s delusions. But, in the course of trying, we gained some additional clinical and theoretical insights about the limits beyond which his delusional system could not be pushed.
On April 12, Joseph received a letter from Dr. Yoder which read in part:
No! You do not yet have the head for it, to be deported back to Canada (as you yourself correctly state in your letter to your father). You must first get your values back! Loving you like a father loves his own son, I am now taking definite steps to give you back your values. A new powerful drug has just been discovered. It is not yet available to the general public. It has been made specially available only to you. It is called potent-valuemiocene, and I have given orders to the attendants that you be given two tablets every day. These are small tablets but extremely powerful. They are designed to accomplish the following things: to give you back your values, to give you back your head, to give you back what belongs to you,