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12 APRIL 2010
NO 1563
Excerpt
After the early sessions, I never felt that our experiences were anything but complete, in spite of the fact that our use of speech was limited. I never felt that his lack of a self-concept was an inadequacy, but just the reverse. I saw that Bruce did not have to struggle to be a real self (as most of us do who get self and self-concept mixed up) because he was never anything but his spontaneous, open self.
Although these episodes were rare, there were times when Bruce seemed to be centering on problems rather than growth experiences. From an early age his parents had been forced to keep him locked indoors. They had not wanted to imprison him, but they felt they had to do it. Neighbors had threatened to take action against them if Bruce did not stop "uprooting" their flowers. There was also antagonism from the police who had frequently brought Bruce home when he was "running away" or "lost." His mother could not keep him in the house any other way. She was constantly worried and afraid for his safety and deeply anxious and guilty about the harm that might come to him. In any case, his parents reported that locking him in was never entirely successful. No matter how skillful they were in securing the door and windows, Bruce devised ways of escaping.
After seeing the thorough way he explored the playroom (actually the whole counseling building, including the furnace room and basement, the classroom, offices, and lavatories), I realized that he was journeying or venturing into the territory near his home, moving into the open land, the grasses and the sky, not running away from home but going to a new world. In three different sessions he seemed to be expressing his reaction to being "imprisoned." He would heave sand into all the rooms of the dollhouse, making sure that the windows were covered. Then he would try to break the windows with a wooden hammer. He enacted this scene many times and buried the family figures in the sand repeatedly, until he seemed to have settled his score with his parents.
Another variation in the basic pattern of my relationship with Bruce occurred during our sixth month together. At the time his parents decided to enroll him in the first grade of a parochial school. He remained in the school only two weeks. Then his parents were told he could not return. In school the desks were immovable and he was forced to remain stationary all day. The emphasis was on subject matter. For the first four days he complied with the rule of remaining in his seat, although he seemed not to attend to any of the teacher's instruction. I saw Bruce twice during this period. He was extremely tense and hyperactive. He was continually destructive. He heaved play items across the room, breaking a great many of them. He placed ping-pong balls next to the dollhouse and would turn the house over on top of the balls, crushing them. He threw sand, and attempted to throw other objects, down the drain. He broke all the chalk and crayons into small pieces and threw them around the room. He turned over all the tables, cabinets, benches, and shelves in the room. Every item he could reach was thrown into a heap on the floor. He screamed, made peculiar moaning sounds, and constantly ran back and forth across the room. He was completely unresponsive to the limits I set. I finally had to remove certain costly items from the room which he was attempting to break. It seemed evident to me that the outbursts were caused by the extreme restraint he felt in school. I feel, too, that the teacher's constant harping, criticism, and belittlement touched Bruce's sensitive soul. The violent attack on the playroom did not occur again in our remaining year together.
CLARK E. MOUSTAKAS
Moustakas, C.E. (1959). Psychotherapy with children:
The living relationship. New York. Ballantine Books. pp. 181-183
