I first met J. when he began his stay at C, a residential school for emotionally and behaviourally disturbed boys. He was then 12 years old.
This is from notes whch came with J., about his early history.
Squint in left eye. Mild 'inconsequential' features, (Stott), hyperactive, and short concentration span. M.b.d.. Distractible, conversations can follow a very strange course! Poor temper control. Poor coordination in gross motor skills e.g. in throwing, catching, kicking, locomotor skills etc. Mother is subnormal, and a prostitute. Most of J's life was spent in children's homes. Has an average I.Q. Brain damage as a small child - due to maltreatment? But no concrete evidence for this found. Suffers from 'Deprivation Dwarfism'. Used to be left for hours in a cot on his own. 'Neurologically intact except for a left internal strabismus'. Erratically fed and physically uncared for. Seen at a children's hospital - investigated for neurological damage but no firm conclusions ever reached. Mum B. met and married A. J. - he is her manager, (pimp?). B. accused husband of beating J. and persistently hitting him on the head.
Contact. 26.6.84
"The older ones are a load of bullies, they pick on you, the 16 year olds. (He has a funny left eye, poor control of it, poor coordination. There's a slight speech problem e.g. vacuum cleaner : --->"backuum cleaner". He says he doesn't go to the childrens home any more in the holidays, he will go to P. (another school in the same group). He's seen it from the outside, hasn't tried it yet. He says he used to see his mum a lot in 1981 to 1982, but not now. "She gives me a tin of baked beans every year". B., (the children's home) is closed now - "it was bandalised", (sic.) "I'm cross about it, when I go home I want to see it. I might be able to visit home, (a children's home) to see the staff, especially Aunt J., also Aunt S. She's great, (Aunt S.). (His attention is drawn by some pictures on the wall) He had foster parents, they were elderly, 75 or 77. There were arguments, he couldn't do buttons - he had a yellow shirt - he couldn't do the buttons up. They didn't do them for me. There one year and then had to go back to mum. Had one foster parent, and was adopted once. Mum can't cope, she had no money to feed me and her. She has cats to feed. Would like foster parents but would run out if parents argued with each other. His foster mum and dad argued a lot. She had three kids, her real kids. I got on O.K. with the kids but not with mum and dad. "The bark was something that made me really dead angry - it came when I was naughty - the bark was a star. I was little -5-when I believed in a thing like that. I sometimes see it now - it was there last night - I had a temper and Mr. M. (a staff member) had a go at me. Muffled me, makes you not breathe, so angry because of the bark. It was making a noise in my ear. When I hear a noise I go really mad. If someone shouts it makes me mad. When there's a lot of noise I hear the bark - I don't hear it when there is no-one there. It's a lot of nonsense - it was when I was 5. It's not a star - it's fading, it's gone - but it still makes a noise - wuh-uh-uh."
Contact 4. 9. 84
Drawings
J.'s first free drawing was a 'still-life' of a
traditional English breakfast. This immediately betrayed the
excessive interest in food which can arise from severe rejection
and emotional deprivation. His next drawing, of a tree, showed an
oak tree leaning markedly to the right. This is said to be due to
a strong wind blowing in this direction - a feature seen in the
testing of 6.9.83 and which reflects a feeling of being under
pressure. The tree is described as "hundreds of years old -
coming a bit dead again - if I keep watering it, it'll get better
- it has just a few leaves on." The first person drawn was a
minute object and clearly reflected feelings of insignificance
and vulnerability. The next one was somewhat larger, but still
small and was given enormous boots. J. said "He's a bit big
for his boots", which is the opposite of what he meant. The
suggestion was that the man was not big or capable or mature
enough to fill some role or other - a more grown up one perhaps?
If that was the correct interpretation the previously mentioned
wind might be viewed as a pressure to grow up and achieve greater
maturity and independence. J. however would have been expected to
find this difficult as his experiences of emotional and other
types of dependence on parental figures, appropriate to the early
childhood years had been so unsatisfactory. The 5th drawing was
'an apple man and a pear lady' - which re-introduced the oral and
dependency theme, especially as they had enormous mouths. J.said
"I'd love to eat them" and asked if one could get
enormous apples.
Interview
J. complained that his class was too big and that his classmates were bullies. He expressed a desire to move down a class to a 'babier' class. (This again reinforced the evidence that J. felt under pressure to grow up in opposition to his basic desire to remain at a safer, more infantile level. The topic of J.'s holiday period was broached and a very confused story emerged about his four days 'at home', (i.e. at his children's home) and his subsequent return to 'P'., another school in the group which hosted J. in school holidays, when necessary. J. said he 'did a bunk' from home to the City Centre, because he didn't want to go to 'P'. He was picked up in the centre and his social worker was contacted who took him back home and from there to 'P.'. There he said he enjoyed himself. J. then said that he had an argument with one of the staff members at his 'home' on the last of the four days about returning to 'P.' She wanted him to go the next day and he said he wanted to go immediately. (This of course contradicts what he said earlier about not wanting to go to 'P.' ) The O.I.C. of the home said she'd take him to 'P' that night. J fails to explain the contradiction, possibly he meant he didn't really want to return to 'P', was told he had to do so the next day, and in a temper said something like "All right I'll go now then." However the next day he ran off.
Asked about an incident involving chickens at 'P', J. gave this version:- He was chasing chickens about the yard and one knocked itself against the wall. It got a cut on the leg, there was blood everywhere, he picked it up and climbed over the wall and gave it a few worms and insects. He left it and when he returned it was stone dead. Then he says it wasn't quite dead, but he put it "in the goo" (discarded cooking oil) until it drowned "to put it out of its misery". It was a white one and "I hate white chickens". He says he gave it to the pigs. Jason says he chased the cockerel - he hates them too. According to J. he owned up to one of the staff that he killed the chicken and was sent to bed early. This was of course a serious incident and reflected much disturbance. J.'s version of events is almost certainly inaccurate in that there seems definitely to have been an original intent to kill the creature.
According to a report on behaviour shewn about a year earlier, in a different place, J. was a " very disturbed boy - extreme cruelty to school pets leading to the death of several jerbils by squeezing them hard". According to the teacher making this report as time passed this cruelty passed. In fact it seemed to have returned. We may view both the hostility or cruelty and the callousness as reactions to rejection and early emotional deprivation. J. was highly immature and unable to give love, but very needful of it for himself. He was egocentric and his immaturity included a low level of conscience development. He had little idea of the wrongness of his actions and little appreciation of the animals as living feeling creatures. To him they were simply objects for him to do as he wished with. This is the sort of behaviour indicative of the sociopath, and future major offender. The conclusion of the report had this:- "J. feels under pressure to grow up yet his unsatisfactory early development and lack of love in the highly dependent stages of his life make it very difficult for him to achieve greater independence or maturity. This is the sort of case where one perhaps thinks in terms of a regression to very infantile stages where he can be provided with an abundance of surrogate parental care and affection. Only later, when a solid foundation of a sense of security and self-worth has been built up, would demands to achieve greater independence be made.
Contact 2 29.01.85
J. complains about getting bullied by the usual boys. He says they hit him and call him names. "They want to make out they're hard - showing off their strength". He says his mum doesn't bother with his letters to her about bullying - she says 'you'll be all right- I'll pray for you'. He says "I like her - I've got the Lord's Prayer in my room - I have a Bible she gave me - someone took it. Asked about where he lives J. reminds the psychologist where this is, ('B' children's home), and says "they say ('B') is burning, they get me mad - mum says kids are rubbish except me". He asks "Shall I tell you something about my sister - all I've seen of her is a photo - haven't seen her since she was a baby. I was five when she was born at mum's house. She's 10 now - her birthday is on---. Asked about his holiday J. says he had a great time. Asked if anything peculiar happened to him he says "you mean the bark - it's still in the sky - it's been in that sky for ages and ages. It's still that star that keeps getting me mad - the twinkle one - it twinkles very very bright. J. says "I bunk it when I'm mad. It howls - I can't get to sleep at night - I hear it in my ears - can you hear it? It's got to be over some other country. I can hear it a bit now - it's not getting me mad - because I can't hear it very good" Asked again what he does when he gets mad J. says "throw things around the room". Asked more pointedly whether he was with a man J. says he ran off from the children's home, met a man in the city shopping centre who bought him cigarettes and took him back to his flat where they spent the night, and where sex acts took place, after which J. was paid a small amount of money. The incident was followed up by the police. J. admits to "messing about" with one of the more vulnerable and immature boys when he slept in the same bedroom as the boy last term and says this had also happened this term now that J. is in a different bedroom. The bizarre 'bark' phenomenon is still present.
Contact 12. 3. 85
Drawings
Tree Drawing and Story
He describes the tree as an apple tree, it has a trunk, apples
and branches, (only then does he actually draw the branches). The
tree is nice, and juicy. He says he likes the tree, it's good for
climbing. He says the best part of the tree are the apples and
the worst part of the tree are the branches, because they break
away. He says the tree is alive and very healthy, because it gets
water from the ground by its roots. He says no part of it is
dead. According to J. it is 10 years old and nice looking. It is
20 ft tall, which he describes as 'quite big' cities, and
'medium' in strength, the strongest part being the trunk and the
weakest part the branches. What the tree needs most is sun,
because the sun evaporates------(could not properly hear this)
The tree is in the back garden, "because we've got an apple
tree". This is a good place, "because it's in
soil". The tree is getting what it needs - water, it's with
other trees and this is good because they share the water between
them - they get their fair share and grow. to the weather in the
picture is nice and sunny and there is a gentle warm breeze
blowing to the left and the right, (he demonstrates with a
gesture). The tree is just standing in the garden and is growing
very well. Nothing and no one ever hurt the tree. The worst thing
that ever happened to the tree were cold winds in winter when the
tree was 8 years old, whils the best thing that ever happened to
the tree was "the warmth". Asked how old the tree was
then, J. replies "Now." Jason says the weather will
change, "the sun goes away and the rain comes and it'll suck
all the water up again. Asked what will happen to the tree J.
says the tree is going to survive. If the tree were changed to a
person it would be facing towards Jason. Asked what person he
knows the tree reminds him of he says "My mum, she likes
apples, she likes the green and brown of leaves and bark. He says
the tree is not like him in any way but he would like to be like
the tree in that he would like to "stand with my mum, next
to her". The sun would be one of J.s school mates, from the
school before this one - who was the same age as J. - "I
haven't seen him for nearly 3 years." (There is a hole in
the tree but unfortunately I seem to have forgotten to follow
this up.)
Comments
What are we to make of this very positive sort of story, when we
compare it with the highly negative story of only two weeks
after, described below?
Man Drawing
J. "He's me"
E. "What's he like?"
J. "Pathetic, because I play up - people annoy me"
Girl
J. "It's a girl, my sister Ju. - I haven't seen her since she was 18 months old.
E. "What is she like?"
J. "A nice girl"
Animal Drawing
J. "It's a pig, a man pig. it's fat - smells nice - of pork. It's nice - the best part is the middle - the worst part is the bum"<
E. "Why?"
J. "It's horrible - it may have you-know-what in it. It's 10 or 5 years old. It's a fully sized pig, healthy, very strong, and not clever.
E. "Where does it live?"
J. "P.". It's a good place because there's a pig-pen. It lives with another pig, the same as him. It's a friend - they get on with each other. It's getting what it needs - pig food.
E. "What is it doing?"
J. "Standing, looking at me - that's what they do - gurn at you - stare like that horse did at me yesterday - when I ran off"
E. "If it were a person who would it remind you of?"
J. " No one really - a hog"
E. "Is it like you?"
J. "No, he's bad mannered"
Discussion
Has a very bad black eye - D.C.threw a boot at him, last Wednesday. He had been saying Y.M.P (=your mum's a prozzy). He says D.C. hasn't been punished, "some kids get away with blind murder. He sleeps in the same room as D.C. This boy punched him in the back today, because D.C. pulled the quilt off J.'s bed to get him up, J.said Y.M.P. to him and so D.C. punched him. Asked why did J.C. throw the boot J. replies he was crying because a boy had had a go at him in a lesson. He had pulled out some of his hair, ("it was loose actually"), he stormed out of the room, went upstairs and D.C. asked him what was wrong, and then J.J. said "Your mum is dead!", burst out crying worse than before, went to a female staff member and said that D.C. had thrown a 'Doc. Martin' at him. Asked why he's pulling out his hair - says he just started 4 weeks ago - he says that he does it - "because I'm bored - people say I do it to get attention - I don't - its my body."
25.3.85 at 2.30 p.m. (in his time at C)
J. playing around the incinerator and at one point, despite a major fire blazing away in it, he leaned right into the fire to put the back legs of a chair into the incinerator. He was right in the fire and reportedly his hair was singed.
25.3.85 at 12.36 (ditto)
screaming and yelling because, he says, everyone was kicking him. Was removed to the office, needed his hands held but refused to use his feet. Eventually walked on his knees to the office. ( compare this with Catholic penitents, in various countries, e.g. the Phillipines)
Contact 3 26. 3. 85
Observations
J is pulling out his hair which is becoming very sparse, especially on the right-hand side of his head.
Tests Used and Results
Projective Drawing and Story
Tree drawing: Story
Asked what kind of tree it is J. says "Oak, - no a poke-a pine". Asked to describe the tree he says "It's rough - its all crinkled" and points to the top. The tree is not a nice tree, and he doesn't like the tree "because its rough there, leaves are coming off and nobody likes it". Asked for the best part of the tree J. replies "Nowhere". As for the worst part he says "the branches". (While drawing the tree J. had spontaneously commented "This is going to be a dead tree") "It's one year old because it got bitten by the frost". It isn't nice looking, it's a little bit higher (taller) than J. and isn't strong - "it's falling to bits". The strongest part is the trunk, the weakest the branches and the roots and the leaves". What the tree needs most is "sunlight, because it could grow again." The tree is on Cannock Chase, which is "yucky", a bad place, it's not very fertilised -the soil. The tree isn't getting what it needs. It's with other trees, "with dead trees". The weather is frosty and there is a weak, cold wind blowing to the left. The tree is swaying and the leaves are falling off, it is not growing well. What killed the tree is "the frost". "This was in 1975 when I was three - that (the tree) was in the L.'s (a previous children's home) - I can remember". The weather will "change, the sun will come along and burn it (the tree) up - "I'm being horrid aren't I?" When the psychologist tries to reassure J. about this he counters "no it's a horrid story". J. says the tree will come alive again - "little buds will come off and sink in the ground and grow again". He asks rather plaintively "You can get little buds on dead trees can't you?" Asked when this might happen he says "When it's Spring". If the tree were changed into a person it would look more like a woman, facing "my way". The tree reminds him of "my sister". Asked why, he says "because they're schoolmates, if that changed into a person it would be a schoolgirl and Ju. would play with another girl". He says the tree isn't like him in any way, because it's dull - my sister's dull - she doesn't see me, she hasn't written in 5, or 8 years. I haven't seen her face". He says he'd like to see her again but doesn't know where she is. He says she's with a foster family. The sun is again identified as Justine. interpretation of the drawings The tree drawn is clearly a most fragile object and appears to be falling to pieces. This type of tree drawing, in which the two 'sides' form in effect two unconnected trees is supposedly pathognomonic of extreme mental abnormality; however one is obviously not justified in jumping to any such far-reaching conclusion on the basis of a single feature. The sun is also noteworthy. It looks less naturalistic than ornamental, artificial heraldic and geometric. The numbers of the various constituent forms invite a Jungian interpretation. We have 4 straight lines, 4 small triangular forms and there were presumably meant to be 4 long triangles, all around a central circular figure. For Jung the number 4, (and 5), has great significance. This pattern of five is probably to be regarded as identical with Jung's "circle divided into four with the centre, or the divinity extended in 4 directions. or the 4 functions of consciousness with their unitary substrate, the self. Jung observed that the quaternity often has a three + one structure e.g. Ezekial's vision of the beings with three animal faces and one human face, the 4 beasts of Revelation of which one has a human face, the 4 persons of Christian metaphysics: the Trinity and the Devil etc. "The number 4 as the natural division of the circle is a symbol of wholeness in alchemical philosophy and it should not be forgotten that the central Christian symbol is a quaternity too, which, in the form of the long cross even has the 3 + 1 structure". We observe that J. in fact produces such a structure (fortuitiously) in his drawing of the horizontal and vertical rays where one of the rays assumes a rectilinear form. The general effect of the drawing is that of a cross around a central circle and we may recall that many versions of the Christian cross do contain a central circle. The impression conveyed by the sun is one of strength and power, in contrast to up the weakness and disintegration of the tree. A combination of masculinity and aggressiveness is also seen in this astronomical body, in it's sharp triangular forms (note the number three), and in the circularity of it's centre. Whether this aggressiveness is to be employed for good or for ill is not clear in the drawing; this will appear in the story interpretation, given below. Interpretation of the Stories J. has an extremely negative self-concept and sees himself as suffering from a severe lack of love and care both in the past and in the present. As for the future J. can still be 'cautiously optimistic'. He appears to believe however that he will have to undergo some kind of therapeutic but traumatic painful ordeal, (a 'purification by fire') before a finer, cleaner and healthier self can emerge. The ordeal is perhaps to be viewed as a punishment by a parental figure (particularly a paternal figure), which is deserved and well-intentioned, (the parental figure has to be cruel to be kind). God/the sun/a parental figure grows hot/rightfully angry and burns/punishes it's erring child, which treatment, however drastic, is short, well-intentioned and therapeutic in effect - from the ashes of the unclean, sinful and unhealthy self, like the Phoenix, rises a new, healthy, purified J. Guilt is purged, sins are atoned for, crimes are expiated. J. wants confirmation from someone who he perhaps regards as a benevolent authority figure, that the above events might, in fact, happen, particularly the joyful rebirth. The severity of the punishment envisaged attests to the harshness of J.'s superego. In the book of Revelation we read that the sinner "shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God----", "---he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone-----"; "And one of the four beasts gave into the 7 angels, 7 golden vials full of the wrath of God----"; And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire"; "And men were scorched with great heat" And again "as many as I love I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore and repent". In John, and Corinthians, we read "Jesus answered and said-----except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God". "But some men will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die". J. appears to idealise his long-lost sister Ju.. He sees her as a possible source of the love and warmth he has been deprived of for so long.
Support for the interpretation
Signs of excessive guilt and the need for punishment are seen in J's pulling out of his hair and in his annoying, teasing provocative behaviour with his peers which produces attacks on him such as the one resulting in the scratch above his eye discussed below.
Conversation
J. says his mother came to see him at the children's homes on ---. He says he hasn't seen her since. Hee says his real dad and mum divorced because of arguments - his real dad was beating him up - he didn't want my mum to have a baby - they were too poor to get food and clothes for me. He says the way to stop him pulling out his hair is to keep me occupied - when I'm bored I do it. J. says "I'll have to stop it because I'll have a row with my aunt and people at the children's home and at P. He says I'm hoping to get fostered - to give me the chance to live with a normal family. He explains the scratch over his eyes as being caused by another boy's fingernail. This happened at a cinema in Burton. J. was going "nip, nip, nip" and making finger movements as if to pinch people. Obviously this annoyed the other boy who then scratched J. Very evidently what J. needs is a secure, stable family; he says as much himself. It has been proposed to accommodate him in a secure adolescent unit where his absconsions may be prevented. This would only seem to be a solution for part of the problem, the lack of normal, individual parental care and concern would not be remedied. There is no real evidence in J.'s behaviour for the existence of any serious, specifically treatable psychiatric illness; his thought processes, affect, general degree of psychological integration etc. seem to be within acceptable or normal limits. This level of integration and relative normality is attested to by his graphic productions, his verbalisations and so on. However the presence of worrying signs of potential breakdown do seem to exist; consider the above comments on the present tree drawing, the disregard of reality displayed by the statement that there is a wind blowing in two opposite directions in a tree drawing and story of 12.3.85 and the 'bark' phenomenon which could be construed as an auditory hallucination. The question of a diagnosis of schizophrenia or perhaps temporal lobe epilepsy might then be raised. Consider the first possibility. As well as the fairly high level of emotional and intellectual integration referred to above other contradictions for this diagnosis are to be seen in J.'s age (he is only 13 now and was, according to him, only five when the 'bark' began, and the fact that this is a rather simple noise instead of the usual schizophrenic voice. As for the second possible diagnosis the 'bark' could be regarded as a sensory hallucination and as a part of a temporal lobe seizure. In support of this we have Jason's, at times, vicious and cruel attacks on animals, and the known history of physical insult and abuse, (sometimes involving his head), which was earlier mentioned by myself as a possible cause of a degree of minor cerebral impairment. Against this idea is the possibility that we have, not merely a simple auditory sensory hallucination, but a simple visual one as well, the 'star'. This makes it necessary to assume that the attack starts in two distinct cortical foci, well removed from each other, the first in the neighbourhood of Heschl's gyrus, or the first temporal convolution; the second around Brodmann area 18. This seems unlikely. Moreover a point militating against both hypotheses (of schizophrenia and temporal lobe epilepsy) is J.'s statement that when there is a lot of noise about him he hears 'the bark' but that he doesn't hear it when there's no one there. This makes the phenomenon less of a hallucination than a perceptual distortion or illusion. As well as the above interpretation of, and suggested motives for, the behaviour of hair pulling, (highly negative self-concept, hostility to the self and desires for punishment to assuage his feelings of guilt) there are two other possibilities. One is that hair may be equated with femininity. This would be linked with the guilt over the homosexual incident in which he would be playing a feminine, submissive role. The presence of a large degree of femininity or at least of a lack of development of masculine qualities, may also be indicated by the characterisation of the tree as female. In fact this interpretation is not an alternative or contradictory one to the first; it is supplemental. The hostility to the self and the negativity of self concept of the first is made more specific in the second - it might be J.'s femininity which is especially hated. This would answer a question which might be raised by the use of the first explanation terms of general hostility to the self - why does he direct his attentions and self-aggression to his hair rather than to the other parts of his body? Yet a third interpretation would be that baldness followed by growth of new hair could represent for him the rejection of his old, unclean self and his spiritual rebirth. This sort of idea in involved in the shaving of the head, or at least an extremely short haircut, done to new recruits into the the army and to prisoners beginning their prison sentence, an old way of life is to be dispensed with and a new one is to begin, hopefully, in the second case, a life spent on the right side of the law. (It is possible that the association of baldess with being a baby is of relevance here). How may further evidence to decide between these hypotheses be obtained? We may attempt in later sessions to get J.'s free associations to the words 'hair'. 'bald', etc as part of a list of words used for a word association test or we may get a chain of such associations, beginning with 'hair', 'bald' etc or we may simply ask J. what "pulling your hair out makes you think of." We must also note the precise words J. uses to describe his hair pulling and note his precise actions when so doing. He appears to begin by twisting his hair around his finger. This might be regarded as an anxiety or tension reducer, the anxiety being associated with guilt feelings. It is possible that what begins as an auto-erotic type of response evokes a violent auto-aggressive one. A superficial way of approaching the problems of e.g. hair pulling, annoying behaviour etc, would be to use behaviour modification techniques such as token economy methods. In this case however these behaviours are just surface phenomena in a generally very disturbed personality and behaviour modification approaches are not perhaps to be recommended. More comments on appropriate treatment based on these interpretations may be offered. J. might have been given, in token degree, the punishment which one part of him needs; now we must try to get him to see that he does not merit excessive punishment, that there is good in him. We must try to find some way of dramatically raising the level of his self-esteem and self respect. Only by giving him an abundant supply of approval and attention can this be done and even then it may be much too late to reach the deepest recesses of his self-hatred. The phenomenon of the 'bark' etc. Recall J.'s statements:- "the bark came when I was naughty - it used to make me angry and lose my temper and then I used to break things". "It's still in the sky", "It's still that star that keeps getting me mad - the twinkle one - it twinkles very, very bright". "It howls - I can't get to sleep at night - I hear it in my ears - can you hear it? It's got to be over some other country". J. says "I was little - five -when I believed in a thing like that" and "its a lot of nonsense - it was when I was 5". He also says, about Ju., his sister "all I've seen of her is a photo - haven't seen her since she was a baby. I was five when she was born - at mum's home in ---- Road. In St. Matthew we read: "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the East". And "when they had heard the king they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was." A reasonable hypothesis therefore is that the bark and the star symbolise J.'s baby sister Ju., especially her attention-getting aspects which directed maternal attention away from his own person. The bark might be the baby's insistent wailing or howling. This would provoke J.'s anger and jealousy and make him misbehave to try to recapture the mother's attention and love. Recall also J.'s statement that he hears 'the bark' when this is a lot of noise about him but not when there's no one there. The "lot of noise" around J. would presumably be that caused by a lot of people, all seen as diverting attention away from him. He then hears 'the bark', that prototype of the theft of attention from J., the crying of his sister. With no-one around J. there is no competition for attention. We may also remark that the link between the "bark" and attention-getting is pointed up by the fact that recently J. has been himself making a noise which he describes as a bark. The use of the idea of a star to represent Ju. also clearly conveys the view that this newcomer was someone very special in the mother's eyes; someone much loved and adored. The original drawing of the star is not to hand. J. might be got to redraw this and the product inspected to reveal similarities to the star portrayed in Nativity paintings. We may note that the sun drawn in the tree drawing discussed above looks like such a star and in fact is personified as Ju.. As another effort after support for this interpretation we may secure J.'s associations to words such as 'star', 'bark', 'howl', 'twinkle', etc. These might be made part of the word association list proposed above.
Contact 23.4.85
A Semantic Differential was tried with J.
Contact precise date unknown but sometime in 1985, around 30.4.85?
E. Why do you call it the bark?
J. Makes a woofing noise, whooooo
E. A dog doesn't make that noise
J. It does--whoo-whoo
E. When does a dog make that kind of noise?
J. In the night - when it's trapped outside - when they're all asleep - nobody lets the dog in
E. What is the dog feeling?
J. Cold, hunger
dog----bark----moon---biscuits----tele----sleep---work ?? moon bark shines on the bark--the moon is it's (the bark's) mummy - it (the bark)'s only 7 years old.
On reading J.'s scrapbook it says that J.'s first move from home to a children's home, was in 1975 - he was 3 years old. This was the L.'s. He was only there for a few days - then went to Lu. Road children's home. Here the bark began. He was at Lu. Road from July 1975 to May 1978. He doesn't say just when, in this period the bark began. He draws the bark as a star of David, (allowing for his difficulties in drawing) Ju. was born in August 1976 - J. would then be 1976.8 - 1972.2 = 4.6 He used to visit mummy when she had the baby.
Written in 30.4.85
From other notes:-
"dressing and parading in girls clothes", "setting fire to materials in the home", killed chickens because they were making too much noise. Headbanging to get attention, numerous attempts at fire-raising, as well as dressing up in girls clothing - by 1983 these behaviours had largely ceased. (This must have been in the B. children's home period, from 24.8.79 to 1983.
30.4.85 Free choice of picture to draw
"Swimming Olympics" U.K. Could be J. A fire bucket full of water and a word on it. It's red, the water is blue.
E. Where do we go when we die?
J. (makes flying movements with his arms) = angels
E. Where do we go?
J. (points upwards)
E. Everyone doesn't go there do they?
J. Some go down there, (points)
E. Who?
J. (points to himself)
E. Why will you go there?
J. I'm a bad boy, ran away, got a criminal record, nicking. Every police station I've been to gives me a snack.
E. What is down there called?
J. Hell
E. What is hell like?
J. Be burnt up
E. How long for?
J. Until they die and be burnt into ashes
E And what then?
J. They're gone
E. What do you have to be for that to happen?
J. Extremely bad
E So it won't be you will it?
J. Might be if I nick again.
Contact 7.5.85
Draws "A picture of a country house".The picture conveys a cheerful mood, with a blue sky and a bright sun and two birds flying. He however calls the house "a bit of a dump". He says there'll be no more pulling out hair. Asked what kind of people are bald, he says Kojack, Bad Manners, (Busta Bloodvessel). He mentions Kodijack - says it's a sick film - its funny, (a video). He says he saw Mad Max, it's violent, he didn't like it. He and another student, who were watching it, turned it off and put on 'Auf Wiedersehen Pet'.
Contact 25.6.85
He was asked to draw anything he liked and he drew three flies. He commented "It's stupid, the wings". He then related this story. One day A. M. and D. C. and me were flycatching and D. C. killed a fly accidentally. I suggested why don't we look at the fly under the microscope, (I'm making up this bit). We seen lots of legs and lots of veins in the wings and then we buried it. We made a little cross out of sticks and tied string in the middle, (to make a cross), and that was the end of D.'s fly, and A. M. and me had flies in jars.
Contact 24. 8.1985?
"I wish it was 1979 - I went to B. "
Some drawings were obtained from J.
Car.
J. It's a Ford. He says there is no one in the car. It's standing still. He draws a parking meter. He says theres an oil leak.
E. "Where are the people?"
J. In a shop
E. Which shop?
J.Rackhams
E.What are they doing?
J. Buying
E. What?
J. Toys
E. Who for?
J. Me
E. Whose is the car?
J.Mum and Dad (real Mum and stepdad)
E What's your stepdad like?
J. OK but talks a bit dirty - he's a bit nutty - he's off his head - he goes in public loos to chat up girls to do you-know-what - feeling his ***. He gives Mum money.
E. What sort of car is it?
J. F reg, quite powerful, goes quite fast - 70mph.
Postscript
A few years ago I was told that the later consequences of this boy's heredity and early life experiences had been played out in a violent and sordid crime.