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I. P. SOCIETYREPORT

ISAMIKSA

SAMIKSA VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2, 1956, pp 60-110.

"FEELINGS ON DEMAND" AND "FEELINGS ON MY OWN TERMS" A Contribution to the Problem of "Sibling Rivalry"
EDMUND BERGLER
:

Individuality is founded in feeling ; and the recesses of feeling, the darker, blinder strata of character, are the only places in the world in which we catch real fact in the making. William James

One of the most banal of the subjectively unsolvable marital conflicts is the failure of the two partner: .o synchronize their emotional responses. On a specific evening the husband feels amorous and the wife doesn't. A grievance, either expressed or unexpressed, is inevitable. In more or less typicalthat is, not-too-neurotic marriages-rthese irritations are of no great importance. Under neurotic circumstances, the temporary grievance becomes a permanent grudge, fed on masochistic injustice-collecting. Ordinarily, some kind of compromise is mutually reached. If the wife is diplomatic, she will give in more frequently than not. Some wives go so far as to act out a whole comedy of reciprocation. However, there are neurotic women who are incapable of compromise on this point; invariably, they will refuse sex if.they are not "in the mood." Some go to the extreme of refusing casual kisses or caresses. . , Mr. and Mrs. C , a young couple, appeared in my office to present their problem. . . Mr. C. explained: "We are happily married, with one child4 and we even have the reputation of being happy. The reputation is quite accurate except for one thing. Only too often my wife refuses sex, telling me, 'I cannot feel on command.' Now, I'm quite willing to make allowances for her finer texture, for woman's right to dipose of her own body, and what not, but she overdoes it. What she really wants is 'feelings on her own terms,* and she acts the princess,

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Sporadically, to use an understatement, she is in the mood for sex. Our quarrels lead nowhere. Please tell her what the norm is." Mrs. C. replied: "I know I'm wrong, but I can't help myself. I also admit that my moods are, as my husband says, 'sporadic' In the other hand, if these moods come,.we are very happy." Mrs. G. entered treatment. She considered her infantile past ' a closed chapter," and was rather disturbed over the analytic necessity for "going over" the chapter. She disliked her family intensely; at first, even talking about them gave her "indigestion" and "the creeps." The real malefactor in her childhood, she asserted, was a brother two years younger than herself. He was a cripple, and she "had to" take care of him. She was also bitter about her sister, eight years her senior, who had successfully'avoided any involvement with the cripple. This boy was simply the patient's "responsibility." Every time she rebelled, her mother and the "domestic atmosphere" had pushed her in the direction of' further sacrifices." What it practically amounted to was "feeling on demand." The unspoken slogan was, "You have to love your poor brother." Love as a duty became her bogey, especially since strong feelings of guilt were subsequently added. Early in the analysis it seemed as though these guilty feeling* partained o the quite extensive aggression involved in the situation an aggression of which the child had been fully aware. But because it- had been conscious, it could not be the "real (repressed) thing." 'Further analysis disclosed that aggression was but the "lesser intrapsychic crime" for which the patient accepted penance in order to cover up for the "greater intrapsychic crime"her masochistic identification with the cripple. (For elaboration, see my book, The Superego, Grune and Stratton, New York, 1952.) Strong defences against this passive-masochistic tendency were instituted. One of these was the exaggerated aggression against her brother and the rest of her family ; another was the revulsion against feelings forced upon her "on demand." Many years later, her husbands requests for sex activated the old conflict and led to the consequences described above. It is superfluous to mention that the whole life of this woman permeated with constant 'injustices' of the unconscioualy self-created masochistic variety, first acquired with the image of her mother. It

was interesting to observe that what had hit Mrs. C. hardest in her childhood was an apparently narcissistic conflict. Her infantile megalomania was hurt when she was forced into a specific feeling. Her rebellion was externally countered by her mother, to begin with, and then internally by her inner conscience, with the reproach, "You are a cold, insensitive person". Her secondary defence was the protest, "I have feelingsnot when I'm commanded to have them, but on my own terms." Two factors made it clear that a neurotic elaboration was hidden behind these pseudo-normal defenses. These factors were Mrs. C. 's other masochistic propensities, and her complete inability to come to terms with the realistic conflict which arose in her marriage because of disagreements on the frequency and timing of intercourse. Another facet fitted into the identical pattern. Mrs. C. was intolerant of the slightest deviation from the picture of "the ideal man" which she had projected upon her husband. True, he was a 'celebrity' and very succesful, but he was still a person with some human (and even slightly neurotic) failings. Every time these failings came to the fore, Mrs. C. was 'furious'. This fury belonged to the inability to live up to the inner defence : "If my brother 'impossible', I would have loved him".

In a series of other cases I have observed tha granted an individual's love for the other members especially his siblings ("He is your brother, therefore you must love him," etc.), and (as is frequently done) to make a moral dictum of the demand, leads to neurotic consequences. Here is one of the unsolvable conflicts in family life. The ideal picture does not tally with reality. The child's feelings for his siblings include intense jealousy, hatred and competitiveness, as well as libidinous strivings which are at first disguised and later repressed. Coupled with these is an unrealistic demand for the parents' exclusive love. Modern educators know this, and indoctrinate parents to expect the unavoidable. It seems, however, that this indoctrination has access to the intellectual sphere only. Emotionally, parents are still morally indignant when confronted with 'sibling rivalry'. This, in turn, leads to the motal demand that the siblings love one another. This is partially necessary

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to counteract the child's hatred of others and to make him into a social being, but the consequence, too frequently, is a neurotic elaboration on the part of the child. The most favourable solution of the conflict is comradery, partial identification, and acknowlegement of the other as an independent person with rights of his own. The worst solution is masochistic elaboration. Whether or not the latter could be diminished by humanizing the moral dictum is unclarified.

THE PARANOID MURDERER

EDWARD PODOLSKY

In a frank mental illness like schizophrenia murder is often part of the psychic mechanism. Murder in this case serves as a definite defence against the ego disintegrating effects of schizophrenia. One purpose of murder is to discharge overwhelming rage in individuals threatened by mental collapse. There is a great deal of evidence that feelings of rage play an important part in the psychic economy of the schizophrenic. Quite often this rage appears to stem from frustrations encountered during the early years. If, as in the potential schizophrenic, hatred is abundant and not discharged, it accumulates, leading to progressive isolation and alienation of the individual from his fellows and through projection, to an increase in the number of enemies, antagonists and the malivent forces arrayed against him. If the ego is not destroyed, the hatred must somehow be discharged. The schizophrenic paranoid individual is one more than ordinarily isolated from people. He feels insecure in the world of every-day reality and he protects himself from this insecurity by increasing the distancephysically or emotionally, or bothbetween himself and others. The paranoid overcompensates for his actual insecurity and paucity of experience or achievement by ideas of grandeur and omnipotence of varying degrees of distoration. The paranoid potential murderer lives in a world of unrealistic self-importance. When his isolation is threatened by other's attempts to come close to him or by circumstances which interfere with his system for maintaining self-esteem, the paranoid's tensions mount to the breaking point. Strangely enough, it is rare for this isolation to be entirely successful. The paranoid's repressed and suppressed wishes for affection and proximity to others unconsciously carries him again and again into situations where he might find satisfying relationships if he could only accept them. The paranoid may be driven to the protection by means of violence of another person. He projects the feeling of persecution

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to this other person to whose aid he must. go. For example, a man may complain that his wife's reputation is being ruined by malicious persons ; he then decides that he must do something about this. He seeks revenge upon the persons he fancies are ruining his wife's reputation. In schizophrenia of acute onset the murder is usually proceeded by a period of unbearable tension and extreme anxiety associated with depression or agitation, in which case presumably unassuable anger plays a leading and dominant role. In cases where the onset is gradual and insidious, the individuals may be passive types who offer little resistance to the disease and their ego undergoes a slow disintegration. The more active types struggle with the disease and resist its onset as long as their ego strength will permit. When the breaking point is finally reached, they may either give up the struggle or make a desperate last minute attempt to ward off the psychosis. Quite a few commit murder when this occurs. This is so because only an aggressive act of great magnitude will suffice, the choice depending on the relative strength of inhibition?, social sense, etc. of the individual. Quite often the paranoid may be regarded as a person whose overgrown ego has led him to attempt what is for him an impossible achievement, and who has disowned his failure and preserved his selfesteem by building up a system of delusions. He welcomes punishment because it serves to strengthen his delusions. For the paranoid the ideal crime is one which brings him notrity and martydom. This is in harmony with his delusions and is justifiable if his beliefs ere true. The schizophrenic process is a regressive adaptation in which the individual attempts to cope with overwhelming anxiety, arising when abhorrent cravings erupt into awareness. This eruption may precipitate a state in which cultural accretion are lost, primitive patterns gain away, and the individual is concerned only with survival. Delusions, hallucinatory phenomena and ideas of reference may be used to create a state of omnipotence and thus cope with these feelings. When these fail, the only primitive pattern will ameliorate the terror is intense motor activity culminating in direction aggression, such as murder, towards a representative of a past significant figure. This figure may be a law officer, a judge, an employer, etc., or some

one who bears a physical or symbolic resemblance to them. By this method the barrier to omnipotence is eliminated, and the signi&cant figure symbolically destroyed. The commission of a murder that lacks an adequate or comprehensible motive is a species of behaviour that has intrigued students of mental phenomena for many years. The motiveless homicide is motiveless on the surface only. There are reasons for every human action, though these rea'sons may not be quite apparent at first glance. The motiveless murder has as its basis an attempt to regain homeostasis in the internal milieu. There are several reasons for this disruption. One prominent reason for the motiveless murder is a defence against the ego disintegrating effects of schizophrenia. Thus, one purpose of the motivless murder is to discharge intolerable and overwhelming rage in non-psychotic ambulatory schizophrenia threatened by a psychotic decompensation. It has definitely been established that feelings of rage play an important part in the psychic constitution of schizophrenics. Schizophrenics may do violence to themselves or to others while in the grip of an acute psychotic decompensation. These destructive outbursts of rage are usually precipitated or accompanied by delusions and/or hallucinations appropriate to the individual's destructive and assaultive conduct. Thus murders which lack an adequate motive may represent an attempted defence against the outbreak of a schizophrenic psychosis, in which the ego seeks to protect itself from disintegrating by discharging intolerable anger through an act of extreme violence. In this way the physical act of murder may decrease the danger o psychic injury represented by the schizophrenic process. The urgently immediate problem of the acutely disturbed individual seeking an adequate defence against the outbreak of schizophrenia is to discharge an undearble and overwhelming amount of aggression and only an aggressive act of tremendous magnitude can suffice for this purpose. When there is insufficient inhibition or when the sense of social responsibility is dwarfted the individual seeks release from this terrible inner drive by committing murder. Thus, the primary purpose of motiveless murders is an attempt to obtain release from unbearable internal tension.

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There are several quite distinct factors in cases of motiveless murders. These are : personality changes which include shyness, withdrawal and attacks of melancholia. This is invariably followed by a state of extreme tension ; then either an "inner voice" or a feeliag of extreme compulsion urges the individual to commit the act. The act itself is followed by lack of remorse and a state of calm. That the primary purpose of the motiveless murder is to discharge pent-up hostility is indicated by the fact that the majority of them are characterized by unnecessary ferocity, which goes far beyond what would be required merely to kill a person. The bloodiness of the murders, involving innumerable blows or stab wounds, is quite characteristic. Another feature is the senselessness of the murder. The victim has done the murderer no harm ; he is entirely unknown to him. He has become the victim as a result of the mechanism of displacement of hostility from the real object, who for various reasons may not be consciously known and recognized as such by the murderer. Most often the murderer is strikingly calm after the act, and there is no expression of remorse. The fact that the murderer is calm is a good indication that the murder afforded him a release from intolerable tension. Quite often the act of murder represents symbolic suicide. The killing instinct instead of turning inward is turned outward and autoaggressivity is channelled into aggression against another person. Generally speaking, it seems that aggressive behaviour will ensue when ego strength is insufficient to combat the destructive forces derived from early oral aggression. An estimate of the relative strength of early oral tendencies as compared with ego strength would perhaps furnish material for prognosticating violent crime. Child murder by parents is generally a suicidal act as a result of identification processes. In most of the' cases examined psychiatrically it was not primarily an expression of conscious or unconscious hatred against the child. In both schizophrenic and manic-depressive psychotics there is a tendency for mothers, especially to project their symptoms on to their children so that the child may become the hypochondriacal organ. What may first be a suicidal drive may gradually be converted into a tendency to kill both herself and the child. After this the mother may actually feel relieved of the,

symptoms which she believes she has destroyed in the child. In processes where there is less dissociation the tendency may be merely to seek peace for the whole family. Such cases may represent an attempt to escape from the turmoil of life, either real or fancied, and the child becomes an integral part of the escaping personality. The suicidal urge may be incompletely successful and therefore lead to murder. Some aggressive tendencies against the child may also be present as in the case of the unhappily married mother who has lost her first child through possible neglect, her second through seduction by her lover and attempted suicide with the third. These are the psychological mechanisms that lead to the act of child murder. There are two types of reactions to the murder on the part of the parent who has committed the deed. Usually each individual may show some, combination of the two reactions. First there is usually some accentuation of the symptoms which the individual already has which led him to perform the deed in such a way as to denote a depression, such as stupor, or a frank depression. This reaction is in some way a punishment for the deed. It is often initiated with a twilight state which expresses bewilderment, ideas of punishment and death, and a denial of the identity . of the individual and also of the deed. There is usually a conscious amnesia for the deed, associated, however, with evidence of unconscious knowledge of it. Following this reaction, there is a tendency in some cases to recover from the symptoms that led to the murder.

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IS PERCEPTION AN ILLUSION ?#
GIRINDRASEKHAR BOSE

PerceptionThe mechanism of illusions forms an interesting problem in Experimental Psychology. Illusions are really false perceptions. To understand the mechanism of any illusion therefore the peculiarities of an ordinary perception must be analysed. Perception has been described as a selected group of sensations intermixed with images and the whole process having a definite meaning. I see a tiger ; the visual impression produced by the tiger and the smell form the sensation portion of the perception. These sensations bring into the mind, it may be in an unconscious manner, certain images about the tiger from the storehouse of my memory. I might have seen a tiger previously or I might have read about such an animal. These groups of images get mixed up with the sensations and produce a change in my mental attitude. I might think of flesing from the tiger or I might think of shooting him if I happen to be a shikari. The action attitude constitutes the essential portion of the perception and is its meaning part. No perception is possible without an action attitude. Sensations and images are really products of analysis of perception. What we are familiar with in real life if perception and not sensation. A sensation apart from a perception cannot exist as a psychic entity. Sensation is of course an element of the mind but this element never exists in the free state. All objects which we see and everything that we perceive have got some sort of meaning attached to them. Veiy often this meaning on analysis is found to be a group of kinaesthetic sensations. It may be that the meaning is not discernible consciously but exists as a definite potential attitude with reference to the object perceived. The meaning here can only be described in terms of physiology or in terms of uuconscious mental process. It is matter of common experience that young children, when asked to describe an object, give its decription in terms of its use. Here the meaning element is very prominent. In the adult the description takes the shape of
Reprinted from Indian Journal of Psychology, Vol. III. 1928

definition of its characteristics and the meaning element can only be discerned after analysis. A very interesting fact in connection with this is that philosophy teaches us that all nouns have their origin in certain roots which are verbs. A verb always signifies an action and the roots of nouns imply that the action attitude underlies the perception of the objects. I would go so far as to assert that without an action attitude perception ceases to exist. If we are able to remove this action attitude with regard to an object, perception disappears from consciousness and conversely in certain cases the action attitude alone may be responsible for certain perceptions without any corresponding external object being present. Let us take the case of what in psychology is called an adaptation. It is a wellknown fact that a person wearing spectacles becomes completely oblivious of its presence. The pressure on the nose, the glasses before the eyes all cease to exert their presence. We do not also feel the pressure of our clothing unless we move. This failure to notice certain sensations must be carefully distinguished from the disappearance of perception as a result of fatigue. Perception disappears from consciousness in adaptation because the action attitude loses its significance. There is no necessity for the organism to react to be particular group of sensations concerned in an adaptation. Illusion.Hallucinations and illusions are common in certain types of insanity. In all such cases careful analysis would show the presence of a definite action attitude. An insane person of the paranoiac type for instance who may be suffering under the delusion of being poisoned, perceives taste and smell in food, which do not really exist. Such false perceptions are the direct result of his mental attitude. Students of psychology would often misread 'physiology' as 'Psychology' and conversely students of Physiology misread 'Psychology' as 'physiology'. Such false perceptions are only possible because of a fixed mental attitude in the person concerned. The greater the mental domination of such an attitude the greater is the possibility of a hallucination or an illusion. In connection with this a very simple and interesting experiment may be performed.
EXPERIMENT I

Line up a number of persons and place a prize at some distance. Give clear instructions that any one who reaches the prize first would

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get it, but he is to run only when he hears the signal 'one, two, three' and not on any other signal. Now say 'readyone, two, three', you will find the whole lot running for the prize and the winner at least is sure to attest that he heard the signal 'one, two, three', correctly. Now repeat the experiment with another set of persons and instead of saying 'one, two, three', say 'one, two, seven', you will find a certain number running for the prize, and the greater the value the prize and the greater the desire to get it the greater is the chance of competitors hearing 'seven' as 'three'. In reaction time experiment the subject, particularly if he is prone to the muscular type of reactions, would.assert that he apprehended the signal even when none was given. The above experiments serve to indicate the genesis of illusions. I would assert that in all cases of imaginary or wrong perceptions an unnoticed action attitude is the responsible factor. The visual illusions described in text books of psychology may all be explained satisfactorily on this supposition. It must be remembered however that the action attitude is very often unconscious and requires special analytical efforts to bring it out. Correction of IllusionI have tried to explain above the importance of an action attitude in perception. A very important question arises here as to whether any illusion may be corrected by adjusting the action attitude. I would assert that such correction is possible. A person who is free to control or inhibit his action attitude does not experience any illusion. Now inasmuch as the action attitude is at the base of all real perceptions also it stands to reason that with the inhibition of an action attitude a perception is also bound to disappear from consciousness. I shall try to show that this is really so by describing actual experiments. The question whether the action attitude can be inhibited in every case need not be discussed here. It would be quite sufficient for my purpose to show the possibility of the inhibition of the action attitude and the consequent disappearance of the perception from consciousness in a few cases only. Before we discuss this problem I should like to elucidate certain other characteristics of a perception. Subjective and objective reference in perceptionEvery perception has got a dual aspecta subjective and an objective phase, perceive an object, say a lamp, I see the lamp as something

distinct from ma, that is, as an object outside my ego. This is the objective phase of perception. The lamp produces certain sensations in me. Its shape, its size, the intensity of the light, etc., are my subjective experiences, that is the ego feels these sensations as its own. The presence of an object outside the ego can only be appreciated by changes in the ego. These changes are accounted for by the ego as due to the presence of something concrete existing outside. It should be clearly understood that the presence of an outside object cannot be judged except by the psychic changes that such objects produce in us. In other words a portion of our mental experience is projected outside and is responsible for the apprehension of an outer world. This process in perception I have termed objectification. Unless this objectification takes place no external object is perceived. Direction of attention in perceptionThe direction of attention in perception may be either towards the external object or towards the subjective changes produced by the object. When I see a tiger I do not pause to consider what changes the tiger produces in me. My whole attention is engrossed with the tiger before me and I react to it without feeling the changes that take place in me. In a visual perception the attention is mostly directed to wards the object. In tactual, gustatory and olfactory sensations the attention is usually towards the subjective experience. Kinaesthetic perceptions generally elude our observations but when these are noticed the attention is generally focussed upon the subjective side. Auditory perceptions stand in a position midway between the visual and tactual. This direction of attention is discernible in our speech. We say "I see an object", but "I am cold". In the latter case a subjective feeling only is described. It will be noticed that the different sense organs are not all equally adapted for objectification. The apprehension of an object usually comes through the instrumentality of vision. The other sense organs play a more or less secondary part at least in the normal individual. In the case of the blind of course this is quite different. I have said above that the attention is usually directed towards the object and not towards the subjective experience produced by the object. One can easily understand why this should be so. Biologically the organism has to react to external 'object'. In

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certain cases of Psycho-neurosis the usual direction of attention is altered and the person becomes a subject of an introspective nature He is more concerned with his own sensations and feelings than with the outside world. Biologically speaking this is not a desirable state of affairs. When this condition reaches its extreme limit as in dementia praecox the individual becomes completely oblivious of the external world. This state of affairs can be produced in a small measure at least experimentally, as I shall presently show. When this happens the objectificatum phase of the pereption disappears from consciousness altogether. Localization-I shall now discuss another important characteritic of perception, viz, the element of localization. This element of localization is not present in all types of perception. In the aesthetic perception of a musical harmony for mstance localization is absent. In most types of perception however we can distinguish localization in both' its subjective and objective aspects An object is localised in a certain region of the body. The localization capacity of the different sense organs varies. In vision the localization is very perfect so far as the external object is concerned but it cannot be distinguished in its subjective phase. In hearing the objective localization is less perfect than in vision and subjective localization is also extremely vague. In fact one may be tempted to deny it at first. In smell and taste the subjective localization is more developed whilst the objective remains rudimentary. In kinaesthesis the subjective localization is fairly well-marked and in tactual sensations it is almost perfect. The objective localization is more developed in touch than in smell and taste. The localiz ng capacity runs pari passu with the direction of attention in most cases. In internal sensations the subjective localization is indefinite. I would like to point out here that both the subjective and the objective phases of a perception are invested with distinct action attitudes so that each phase may be considered as complete in itself. Owing to the presence of this action attitude illusions and hallucinations are possible both in subjective and objective perceptions and if such action attitude is neutralized the disappearance of the perception from consciousness may be expected. The objective phase is more or less a projection from the subjective one hence if the subjective phase vanishes completely, the objective also follows suit

or in other words an object which produces no psychic change in us is an impossibility. I shall now describe a well-known classical experiment to illustrate my points :
EXPERIMENT II.

Hold firmly with the forefinger and thumb a pencil and touch an object therewith ; the sensation is referred to the extremity of the pencil touching the object. Obviously this is an illusion. The objective localization remain more or less unimpaired in this case but the subjective one experiences an illusion. It seems as if the pencil tip is sentient. The illusion is capable of being corrected with practice. On repeatedly doing this experiment and trying to localize the sensation produced by the touch of the pencil with the object it will be noticed that the sensation lies not on the pencil tip but on the fingers holding the pencil and in the joints of the fingers, palm and wrist. With the correction of the illusion the localization has changed. The mystery in localizationThe experiment is much more instructive than would appear at first sight. Obviously the pencil cannot feel and so there is no difficulty in describing the effect as an illusion ; but this raises a very important question. Which is the organ that really feels ? Innumerable experiments have definitely proved that the brain is the physiological centre for a perception. How is it then that the finger feels ? It is usually urged that the finger has a sentient surface, but it should be notice that it is sentient only so long as its connection with the brain remains unimpaired. If there is any lesion either in the brain centre or in the connecting nerves the finger fails to notice the touch. The brain therefore is the essential physiologic centre for perception. On the other hand in cases of amputation, sensation is very often referred to a portion of a limb which does not exist. In dreams and hallucinations perceptions occur, which have no real objective counterpart. The mystery therefore deepens. The finger, it would seem, is no better off than the pencil so far as its capacity for perception is concerned; One can feel a sensation in the finger eyen without the finger. Is

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the normal sensation of touch then illusory like the sensation at the pencil tip and can such illusions be corrected f I would assert that it is so. All our perceptions are illusory in the sence that the perception on the pencil tip is illusory. That this is not a mere theoretical assertion would be presently proved by experiment. The Mystery in localization will be better understood by an example. Let us take the analogy of a telegraph operator listening, to the ticking of his receiver. Suppose the measage is coming from a station 'X'. The operator understands the meaning of the ticks and knows that message is coming from 'X'. He never feels it to be originating from 'X'. In the case of a sensation, such as touch, the ego which represents the operator in the analogy not only knows that the sensation comes from such and such a part of the body but actually feels it to be there. EmpathyUnder ordinary conditions subjective localization is limited to the body of the ego but it may be projected outside under special circumstances as in the case of the pencil experiment mentioned above. What psychologists describe empathy is a case in point. It has been said of Saint Ramkrishna that on one occasion he saw a person giving a hard slap to another on the back. Ramkrishna immediately cried out in pain and complained that he felt the. blow on his own back. On examination the back showed a red wheal. This is an extreme case, but such instances are sometimes seen in psycho-neurotics also. In all these cases the personality extends beyond the limit of the body and perceptions experienced by others are felt to be the subject's own. This is something different from sympathy. In our language instances of such projection may be easily discerned. When we say that "Sugar is sweet", we have unconsciously projected the sweet taste which we ourselves feel on to the sugar; so instead of saying that sugar produces sweet taste in the mouth we simply say that sugar is sweet. All adjectives therefore denote projection. ObjectificationWhen localization is projected outside the ego and at the same time the ego is not extended to consider the perception as its own, the process becomes identical with objectification. Here the bond of union between the perception and the ego is incomplete and the group of perceptions is felt as an external object. This forms the objective reference of perception. I have.

said that the bond between the ego and the perception is only incomplete in objectification ; it is not completely severed and the portion that remains goes to form the subjective reference of perception. An objection might be raised that according to the view propounded here external objects are nothing but an outward projection of perception and as such they must be illusory ; how do then perceptions arise ? I do not propose- to discuss this question here. Of course it might be said in answer to the above that perceptions are but creations of the ego but as this would lead me into the domain of philosophy and as I have no experimental data to answer to point, I drop the question for the present. Perception-an-IIlusion My standpoint is experimental, and I shall produce evidence here to show the illusory nature of perception in both its subjective and objective aspect.
EXPERIMENT III.

Weight a large-sized cork with a piece of sheetlead and put the cork on the bare arm of your subject who must be a careful introspector. Ask your subject to keep his eyes closed from the beginning of the experiment. The subject will cease to feel the pressure of the cork after a time. It would appear from introspection that localization disappears first, the sensation getting more and more diffused over a progressively larger area. The intensity of the pressure sensation diminishes gradually and finally the quality ceases to be felt. This simple experiment is familiar to every student of psychology and is intended to demonstrate the phenomenon of adaptation. The question arises why should there be a failure of perception in adaptation ? We might venture a biological explanation for this. Wherever there is adaptation the organism has adjusted itself to its environment and there is no further necessity for a reaction. The action attitude with reference to the particular stimulus has either ceased to exist or has been inhibited and I would say that this is the reason for the disappearance of the perception from consciousness. Of course the inhibition of the action attitude goes on in the unconscious plane and is not appreciated by the subject easily.

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VoJ. 1U, M o . Z J

EXPERIMENT VII.

Touch the back of the wrist of the left hand lightly with the tip of the forefinger of the right hand and try to localise the sensation produced. It would appear to be located on the back of the wrist and not on the finger tip. This experiment as well as the subsequent ones require a trained introspector. The subject must^be able to dispense touch sensation. Very few people will be ready to admit that the finger may touch a surface and yet not feel it. Now we know that both the finger tip and the back of the wrist are sentient surfaces. How is it then that the sensation from the finger tip is not appreciated in this case f The result certainly is not due to adaptation as in the previous experiment. Before I attempt an explanation I shall describe a few other experiments. It must be noted here that the failure to appreciate the sensation at the finger tip may be overcome after careful practice and the subject will then be able to perceive the sensation at both the opposed surfaces. Untrained observers might sometimes assert that the sensation was located at the finger instead of at the wrist or at both. This however is not correct as numerous careful observations on different individuals have shown. The. localisation will be easier i the finger be gently moved over the surface of the wrist. Why this should be so I shall point out later on.
EXPERIMENT V.

Touch with the forefinger the tip of the tongue. persons the sensation is located on the tongue.
EXPERIMENT VIII.

In most

Appose different of sensation.

portions of the skin and note localization

EXPERIMENT IX.

Touch the forehead with the knuckle of the bent forefinger and move the forehead from one side to the other. The finger appears to move and not the forehead.
EXPERIMENT X.

Touch tip of the left forefinger with the tip of the right and try to localize the sensation. There is very great difficulty in localizing the touch. The same difficulty is also experienced when two similar surfaces touch, e. g. palm and palm, wrist and wrist, etc. When two forefingers touch, the left usually feels in right-handed individuals and the right in left-handed individuals.
EXPERIMENT XI.

Touch with the palm of the right hand the back of the left forearm ; the sensation is located on the left forearm. Here also the failure of perception in the right palm may be overcome after careful and repeated introspection.
EXPERIMENT VI.

Touch with the tip of the tongue the back of the left wrist. The wrist only feels. Touch with the forefinger and with the tip of the tongue different portions of the skin. The forefinger and the tip of tongue 4o not fee!. The skin touched only feels.

Appose the tips of the corresponding fingers of the two hands and maintain a steady pressure. Close your eyes and flex and extend the fingers of both the hands simultaneously in a rhythmic manner. It would appear that a solid plate has been interposed between the fingers of the two hands. The law of LocalizationThe failure of perception in a sentient surface in Experiments III, IV, V, VI, VII, and X and the illusory perceptions in Experiments I, II, IX and XI are very instructive. We cannot ascribe the result to adaptation, nor can it be ascribed to inattention. The illusions are not removed even when we deliberately direct our . attention to them. They can only be corrected after repeated trials. That the imperception and illusions are due to the influence of action attitude will now be

80

v oi. iu, n o .

f,K.(-;Jii'llUJN AM ILLUSION

81

evident. Biologically the action attitude is the potential tendency for reaction to a stimulus. The hand is the prehensile organ in man and the fingers are the chief agents in prehension. The general body surface has more or less a protective function. The greater the sensitiveness of the prehensile organ the greater is the advantage to the organism. No wonder therefore that the finger tips show the greatest sensitivity. Aesthesiometric investigations clearly prove this. Next to the finger tips the tip g the tongue shows the greatest sensitiveness. This also is explainable on the basis of t h e tongue acting as a prehensile organ so far as food is concerned. When we are suspicious about the quality of a food we touch it gingerly with the tip of the tongue. Biologically it is advantageous for the prehensile organ to be sensitive so that the organism immediately perceives that an object is presented before it but at the same time it is desirable that the organism directs its attention to the object and not to the sensations produced by the object or in other words an objective reference of the perception is desirable in a prehensile organ, that is, objective localization is preferable to a subjective one. We therefore find that sensitiveness and objective localization develop at the expense of subjective localization. In the department of visual perception also these characteristics are well marked. On the otherhand with protective organs such as the general body surface the objective reference is at a discount and subjective localization is more prominent. W e can therefore formulate a general law that the localizing copacity of any part of the skin varies inversely as its aesthesiometric index. This law I have been able to prove experimentally also. Action attitudeWe can now understand that when the forefinger or the tip of the tongue touches a less sensitive portion of the skin it is the latter that feels because of a definite action attitude in the prehensile organs. The prehensile organs are also concerned in all aggressive movements so that when the forefinger moves the illusion of imperception is easier to notice and the illusion of movement in the forehead experiment becomes easy to understand. In righthanded persons the left forefinger feels when it is apposed to the right as in Expt. X because the right hand is better adapted for prehensile purpose. Expt. XI, in which the illusion of a solid intervening plate is felt between the fingers is very interesting. As

the apposing surfaces have similar sensitivity, localization becomes almost impossible and the objectification tendency manifests itself by creating an illusory imaginary object by both the apposing surfaces. The pressure sensation gives rise to the imaginary hardness and solidity of the plate. The above experiments will have served to prove the importance of action attitude in all illusory perceptions. If we analyse cases of imperception in inattention the same motive will also be apparent. When we attend to a particular thing we generally inhibit our action attitude, unconsciously of course, with reference to other objects so that these latter are not noticed. Normal PerceptionHitherto I have been dealing with illusory perceptions. I shall now take up the case of normal perception.
EXPERIMENT XII.

Hold a coin between the forefinger and thumb of the right hand. Close your eyes and try to locate the sensation. The knowledge of the coin being there aids the objective reference to the perception at first. Concentrate your attention on the sensation. The objective reference will gradually disappear and it would be realized that the idea of the coin being held between the fingers was the result of images which had nothing to do with the present perception. At this stage the "object" has vanished and the subjective portion of the perception remains only. Now move your hand round and round. Does the sensation move in space ? At first it seems it does. Try to elimenate the kinaesthetic perceptions in connection with the motion of the hand and also the visual imagery of movement. Concentrate your attention on the original perception only. The illusion of movement of sensation (which must not be confounded with the sensation of movement) is now overcome and the perception stands out as something unique. Continue your introspection and try to elimenate the visual imagery of the hand, etc., and the kinaesthetic sensations arising from different parts of the body. The subjective localization of the original perception is now lost and as the introspection becomes more intense and deeper the original sensation loses its attributes of intensity, clearness, duration and quality. The perception has practically vanished and in its place is left a peculiar something which for want of a better name may be called "pure consciousness".

82

V Ul.

XV;

O. i J

It is not the consciousness of this or that but it may be called a consciousness without an object. The feeling is something queer and indefinable. Pure ConcsiousnessThe above experiment will not be successful in a person untrained in careful introspection and even with a careful observer it may require repeated experiments for days together before success is achieved. In most persons there is a sort of innate resistance and unwillingness for introspective work of this nature and there are individuals in whom the experiment will never be a success, their personality being a bar to it. The results obtained in a successful experiment of this type deserve our close attention. The original perception has at first^n objective spatial localization. On moving the hand round and round this objective spatial attribute is made prominent and is felt at first as an illusion of actual movement of the sensation itself. The illusion is afterwards corrected and later the subjective localization also vanishes. Now this result, although it seems very peculiar at first sight, is fully borne out by theoretical considerations also. A sensation is a psychic affair and as such it is obviously absurd to attribute to it any physical characteristic such as that of motion. On the same ground it cannot occupy or be located in physical space. All objective and subjective localization must therefore be of the nature of an illusion. A sensation therefore cannot in reality be located in any portion of the body such as the skin or the brain. In the experiment of the pencil the sensation is at first located on the pencil tip, then it is felt in the fingers and if the introspection be pushed deeper the localization at the fingers will also disappear as in the present experiment. We are thus forced to admit that a perception has no real localization. Not only has a sensation no localization but its attributes of intensity, clearness, duration and quality are all illusory as has been shown in the experiment mentioned above. Theorectical ccnsideration would also support this. Intensity, clearness, duration and quality can only be appreciated by comparison with other sensations. Had there been only a single sensation in this world there would have been no question of all these attributes. If we could forget the past every sensation would be a unique occurrence without any attribute as is felt in the experiment cited. It would cease to be a

sensation and would be a "pure consciousness". The tendency to relate and experience with the past is responsible for the origin of attributes in a sensation. This tendency again may be described as an action attitude. When this tendency is neutralized the perception loses its link with all other perceptions and merges into "pure consciousness". The above generalization may seem too rash on the basis of a single experiment. Can all our perceptions be made to merge into "pure consciousness ?" I can only cite results of my own introspection to answer this question. So far as the perceptions of touch are concerned in the different portions of the body I am able to overcome both the objective and the subjective reference and to realize the state of "pure consciousness". The success has come only after months of practice and. even now it is not always assured. Under certain moods the experiment would not succeed try however I might. With painful sensations of moderate intensity the experiment succeeds but not when the pain is intense. When success comes pain ceases to be felt. I have also been successful in the case of kinsesthetic, gustatory and olfactory perceptions. The auditory perceptions resisted all my efforts for more than a year and the success here is only partial as yet; it comes and goes. The greatest difficulty has been experieneed in the case of vision. It is so very difficult to distinguish between say a pencil as an object and the visual sensation produced by the pencil subjectively. The objective reference is ever so much stronger than the subjective one. I might mention here that I have got a very poor visual imagery. I have reasons to believe that the visual subjective reference is more marked in artists and painters so that the experiment might be easier in their case. The feeling of "pure consciousness" is identical in all types of perceptions. Psychological speculationSupposing for a moment that it were possible for any one to completely realize at will the state of "pure consciousness" with reference to all perceptions it would be a fascinating psychological speculation to consider his position in life. The external world has different meaning in his case and although under ordinary conditions he sees and feels everything just like a normal individual he knows his perceptions to be illusory. It is like the case of a person experiencing an illusion (e.g., the illusion

GIRINDRASEKHAR BOSE

[ SAMIKSA

of a sentient pencil tip) knowing it to be an illusion. If he so chooses he can make the external world drop away from him. He can thus rise above pain and pleasure at will. The state will not be one of absolute blank as in unconsciousness but the queer something which I have described as "pure consciousness" would remain. Whether the ego would choose to get back into the normal state from such a condition, and if so, how, are problems which cannot be answered at present. The philosophical implications of such a situation need not be described here, being beyond the scope of this paper. Further investigationsApart from all theoretical and remote possibilities the experiments cited above deserve our earnest consideration. Psychologists have found it difficult to analyse the ever elusive ego. In my opinion the problem would be nearer solution by this method of investigation than by any other. The action attitude, about which I have spoken so much, would, on ultimate analysis be recognized to be an element of the wish type so far as its psychological aspect- is concerned. The kinaesthetic and other types of perception in action attitude are not the ultimate elements of it. Under these conditions the will becomes the most fundamental attribute of the ego. The true nature of will however has yet to be found out. Our previous experiments have shown that perceptions are illusory and may be overcome by introspection. The return of the illusion requires careful investigation and is likely to yeild the clue to the mystery of the will. I shall close this paper with a quotation from Kathoponisat. Paranchi Kh^ni byatrinat swayambhu Stasmat parang pasyati_ nantaratman Kaschiddhirah pratyagatmanamaikhshad Abritya chakshur amritatwamichhan. Ordained by the Eternal's grace The sense-doors only outward face ; Hence outer view : the inner soul Lies beyond our vision's goal. The tranquil and discerning wise In quest of bliss a course devise : With averted eye within them hoi' A vigil, and the soul unfold !

IMPORTANCE OF EXCITING FACTORS IN THE ETIOLOGY OF PSYCHOSES

D. N. NANDI

Indroduction : The aetiology of a diseases is usually considered from two different aspectsviz. (i) predisposing factors and (ii) exciting factors. The predisposing causes are those which create the medium suitably fertile for the seed of disease to grow. To be more precise, it may be said that the aim of these predisposing factors is so directed that the person or the personality becomes vulnerable for some suitable factors i. e. the particular types of exciting factors to act on these predisposing factors in a manner so as to set up the disease. The exciting factors are those which act on the predisposing factors in such a way so that the disease may manifest itself in the shape of symptoms. These factors are traceable in the immediate antecedents of an illness. The relative importance of these two groups of causative agents is variable from disease to disease. That is to say, there are diseases where one of the factors may be of so much importance that others proportionally fall into insignificance. However, a minute analysis of the causative factors will always reveal both these groups of factors operating in every disease process. The above consideration is true for both physical and mental illnesses. By nature, the predisposing factors are not different from exciting ones ; the same factor which acts as predisposing in one case may act as exciting in another or even the same factor which is acting as predisposing in a particular state may act as an exciting factor in the same individual case. Kala-Azar is itself a disease and it predisposes the patient to many infective illness like Pneumonia, Tuberculosis, etc. A clear differentiation of these factors may not be evident in all cases but the existence of both can always be recognised. It is therefore, better to classify these factors by their mode of occurrence and not simply by their nature.

A mental disease results from a maladjustment of the ego-reality relationship. Throughout life the ego, the executor of the mental apparatus, is being constantly stressed by the demand of the ever changing situations. It is the adaptability of the ego, on which the soundness of mental life depends. The . adaptibiliry or the strength of the ego depends on some genetically determined factors on the one hand, and on the environment in the early formative period of life on the other. But, however strong the ego may be, there are limits to its power of adaptation. An ideal ego will be that which can adjust itself to any situation in life, however adverse it may be , but that type of ego is rare in this world. Persons who are carrying on with their healthy mental life are adjusted within a limited sphere of reality situation. If an increassed demand is made on the ego over its limit of adjustibility, the mental life faces the danger of being maladapted. Speaking psychologically, the root of every mental illness is in this maladjustment of the ego reality-relationship. Now, the question arises how this disharmony is brought about, in this ego-reality relation. It has already been said that the power of adaptation of the ego is limited and this limit varies from person to person depending on the heredity as well as on the early environment of the person concerned. It is very likely that this ability of the ego is attributable not only to the psyche but also to the physical structure of the organism i. e. the whole psychophysical organism takes part in this adaptation mechanism. The concept of the ego is a psychological one and it (ego) is the sole agent to control the activity of the whole psychophysical organism. So ifc may be said that this maladjustment may be brought abcut by either of the two ways viz. (i) by decreasing the power of adaptation of the ego ; or (ii) by placing the ego in such environments or situations which may overpower the limit of its (ego's! adaptability. Now, let us consider some of the well-known facts of everyday observation. Under the influence of certain toxic drugs like alchohol, cocaine, etc., normal persons behave in such manners that their behaviours may, with proper justice, be taken to be definitely mental symptoms. Similar is the case of delirium during severe toxic phase of acute infectious fevers, where the delirum as such is nothing but mental symptom. But these states are only temporary, the speech and behaviour of

person return to normality as soon as the toxic influences pass away. There are conditions where environment remaining unchanged, these toxins temporarily depress the capacity of .-the ego to maintain a harmonious relationship with reality. Similar phenomena are observed in dreams. Dream-behaviours are such that if we place them in actual reality rehtion, they cannot be differentiated from mental symptoms. So ateo in idle moments when we indulge ourselves in phantasies, our thoughts do not keep their usual ties with reality. These abnormal thoughts and; behaviours may be explained to be due to temporary inhibition of the adjusting power of the ego to reality. It may so happen that when a toxic influence repeatedly occurs its influence may persist o\ a longer time. Occasionally, it is found that the behaviour disorder of such a person may continue for sometime even after the toxic process has ceased to act ; and at times even a permanent hehaviour disorder may result. These conditions may be attributable to be due to damage of some physical or mental structure of the organism and thereby decreasing the power of adaptation of the ego. -; We often see cases where the onset of a psychosis is immediately preceded by a psychical trauma e, g. bentvement, loss in the business, failure in an examination, frustration in love, etc,. The question is, do these incidences in any way precipitate any mental illness ? If so, how do they influence ? Statistical evidence as well as the symptomatic relation to those factors suggest that, these are in some way related to the etiology of these mental disorders. It is hkely that a person carrying on with his usual mental life, adjusted within a certin limit, when faced with some fresh demand super inposud by reality, on the ego, for a further adjustment, its power having already been exhausted, the overburdened ego may fail, resulting in mal-adjustment* To find the truth in the above statement one should analyse properly the implications of different types of these exciting factors and note the relationship between the nature of symptoms produed and that of the precipitating factors. In this paper an attempt will be made to show this relationship. Next question is, how do those mental illnesses arise, where apparantly no such precipitating factors ( either psychological or

physical) are present ? A careful observe-r may note that these are cases where the disease starts incidiously in course of several months. A close study of the history of a few preceding months of the case, before the disease has taken its shape, it may be found that there has been an internal struggle within the mind of the patient. To begin with, it may be seen that the problems arising out of environmental demands (stress) are not too severe to be far beyond the limit of ego's power of adaptibility but just a bit overpowering. Being pressed by such circumstances, the ego tries with all its reserve power and mechanisms to overcome the situation and in some circumstances successfully does so, but in other cases, it takes the help of some pathological defensive mochanism and thereby a slight disharmony in the reality relation occurs. But once this ego-reality relation is broken, further problems are solved by the similar defensive mechanism through the same broken channel gradually resulting in more and more disintegration of the previous co-ordinated relationship. The mental symptoms begin to appear one after the other ultimately incapacitating the subject to continue his social life. Here we see the disease is precipitated by the accumuleted influence of a number of factors acting in succesion over a longer period. The first few years the human organism lives a dependant life but as the child grows the reality brings such problems which require the use of adjusting powerof ego. Even from the very beginning of human life the organism has got to face frustrations, as its needs are not instanttaneosly met with by fulfilment. But during these early days the effort of the ego is either completely or partly helped to succeed by the parents or their substitutes. As reported in a previous paper .(Nandi, etal 1953) that the maximum incidence of mental disorder was between 20-30 years of age and it was emphasised that the various psychological stresses that may fall on the ego during these years of life resulting in the mental maladies. Considering in general, this is the period of life (20-30) when the psyche has got to face the maximum amount of stress in the form of disappointments or frustrations. This paper is an attempt to show the importance of the exciting factors in the causation of Psychoses. Methods and Materials* 1022 psychotic cases have been

studied ; amongst other details a thorough enquiry has been made regarding exciting factors if any which preceded the attack of mental illness. The study has been conducted in the Lumbini Park Mental Hospital. The diagnosis of all these cases have been varified by other psychiatrists. The cases were all schizophrenics. Out of these 1022 cases 680 were male and 342 were female. In 499 cases (M + F) some sort of exciting factors were found ; and in 402 cases ( M + F ) out of 499 the onset of the illness ( M + F ) was sudden and in the rest 57 cases ( M + F ) the onset of the attack was incidious. In 523 cases ( M + F ) where no exciting factor could be detected sudden onset was found only in 75 cases (M + F). Exciting factors were found in 499 cases (male 305 and female 194), of which physical factors were responsible for 172 cases (male 90 and female 82) and psychological factors were responsible for 327 cases (male 215 and female 112) Percentage of occurance of exciting factors :No. of cases with exciting factors 1. Total No. of cases 1022 2. Total No. of male cases 680 3. Totai No. of female 342 cases
Nature of Exciting Factors;

Percentage

499 305 194

_ ~_
Total No. of cases No. of Male

4fi 8

44.4 56.6
~
No. of Female

AA A

A. Physical Factors I. Common to both sexes (a) Infectious fevers (Typhoid, Malaria, Maningitis small Pox etc.) (b) Head-injury (c) Injury other than that of the head (d) Burn (e) Other illnesses u ) Surgical Operation

63

50

13

1 3 2 5 3

1 3 1 5 3

Nature of Exciting Factors.

Total No. of cases

No. of Male

No of Female Nature of Exciting Factors.

91 Total No. of cases No. of "Male No. of Female

(g) Toxic Drug (Mepacrine 20 cases) (h) Tuberculosis (i) Leprosy (j) Veneral diseases (k) Exhaustion (1) Hepatitis II. Peculiar to Female only (a) First menstruation (b) Pregnancy (c) Child Birth (d) Menopouse B. Psychological Factors I. Peculior to Conjugal life (a) Marriage (b) Divorce (c) Being left by husband II. Jerlousy against husband III. Circumstances (other than above1 arising out of relationship with other members of the family (a^ Death of relatives (b) Neglected (illtreated) or assulted by relatives (c) Quarrel with relatives (d) Serious illness of relatives (e) Circumstances threatning the life of relatives. IV. Horrible Experiences : (a) Communal riot (b) War and bombing (not army personnel) (c) Earthquake (d) Railway accident

26 4 1 1 2 1 4 8 47 1

18 4 1 1 2 1

(e) Street accident (f) Being assulted (by persons other than relatives) (g) Being prisioner of war (h) Gandhijee's murder V. Certain States arising out of general problems of life : (a) Problems associated with the accademic achievement: (i) Examination strain (ii) Failure in an examination (iii) Failure to get admissin in an Institution for the study of particular subjects (iv) Being unable to continue study for want of money (b) Problems arising out of occupational states : (i) Failure to get an appointment after an interview (ii) Failure to get promotion in the service (iii) Being discharged from service (iv) Loss in Business (c) Problems associated with financial states : (i) Loss of property or money (ii) Theft or dacoity (iii.) Failure in a law suit (d) In connection with maintenance of social position : (i) Being insulted (ii) Arrest of imprisonment (iii) Election defeat

1 5 1 1

1 5 1
1

4 8 4/ 1

12 20

11 18
5

1 2

70 3 1 14

20 1

50 2 1 14

5 2

1 1 8 7

1 1 8 7

52 4 6 8 3 14 6 2

32 2

20 2 1 2

5 6 3
14

13 6 2

13 6 2

6 2 2

1 3

1 3

92 Nature of Exciting Factors.

D. N. NANDI
Total No. of cases

[SAMJ.K.SA No. of Male No. of Female

(iv) Failure of marriage negotiation (v) Beef eating by Hindu (e) Sudden change of circumstances arousing a great emotional outbrust: (i) Becoming sundenly rich (ii) Celebration of a festival (f) In connection with Love affair : (i) Frustration in love Discussion

1 2
30

1 2 18 12

From the above results it appears that there is some significant influence of the exciting factors on the causation of schizophrenia. It is also seen that whenever the exciting factors are found, the mode of onset of the illness is usually sudden. This may be explained, as stated in the introduction, by the fact that here they affect the personality with such an intensity that the disease immediately follows, where as in other cases where the mode of onset is incidious, the exciting factors though present, being not very pronounced evade our attention although they produce their effect by their cumulative action during a longer period of time acting each time with a comperatively smaller intensity. It now remains to be explained as to how these factors act to precipitate the illness. Regarding the psychological factors one common element becomes obvious that, in some way or other they involve frustration. By frustration it is meant here some obstructions or difficulties resulting in the failure of fulfilment of an ambition and thereby producing a state of tension. The psychological factors operate in either of the two following ways : (i) By bringing about frustration in the attainment of an expected goa, or (ii) by creating an apprehension of danger threatening a serious frustration. The frustration here is not simply an objective phenomenon of failure in the attainment but it is difinitely an emotional reaction. The intensity (of frustration) is not always an essential factor but its quality (nature) is of utmost importance. . person served in the army for several years quite efficiently.

During his service period he had to face the enemy action on several occasions, but he showed not the least sign of mental abnormality. One year after his return from the army his old mother died and he was so much shocked that he developed a severe psychosis. This shows, that susceptibility to an exciting factor is more often individualistic in nature. On analysis of the psychological exciting factors, the following catagories may be obtained : 1. Situations arising out of failures in achieving an expected goal. 2. Situations arising out of the deaths of relatives. "3. Situations arising out of a threat to one's own life, or the ego, 4. Miscellaneous situations other than above. The first includes disappointment in love or marriage, failure in examination, failure in getting a job, etc. Had it been a casual failure it would not have disturbed the emotion to the extent of precipitating an illness. In thesa cases the following implications can be foundthat the expectation was not made by proper judgement of the reality-situation, that it was directed to cover up some other feeling of inferiority (weakness) i. e. it was associated with a defence against some weakness. The situation was like this, that the unpleasant feeling could have been avoided if the particalar goal could be reached. Having failed in its defence the ego feels itself to be lowered in the eyes of other. The fundamental trouble arises from submission to the passive role. This feeling of lowering of value not only breaks down the defence against the passivity but also wounds the narcissim of the ego. Now the question may arise why does the ego tries for the defence to hide its passivity without attempting to realise the pleasure of it (passivity). This tendency of treating passivity as undignified is such a generalised one that it may be taken as an adverse variation in the evolution. This tendency sometimes brings some social welfare but is always trouble some (unpleasant) for the individual (ego). The fundamental character of the libido is such that the passivity is repressed and as a result there occurs an eternal struggle between the activity and passivity. Much of the mental energy being utilised for repressing the passive wish, the remaining libido becomes insufficient for the ego to adapt 5

properly to reality. Another cause of repression of passive wish is that, that, the society treats passivity to be bad and stimulates the defence against passive wishes (passive homosexuality or femininity). Because of its generalised repression and stimulation of its defence it has become a character trait. In cases of deaths of relativesearly infantile situation are revived, a sense of helplessnesses in the absence of parent, a sense of lack of sufficient strength to lead an independent life upsets the ego. The sense of weakness so carefully hidden so long is now apprehended to be exposed. The reality situation may be such that in the absence of the particular person (.dead) the whole burden of responsibility may fall on him and he may not be sufficiently equipped at the present moment to stand the situation. The much feared complexes passive homosexuality and femininity make attempts to come out causing fuither anxiety. The state of anxiety is also created by way of identification with others. At the death of one's children : 1. One's unfulfilled wishes which were vested in the children to be fulfilled do not become materialised, the fundamental narcissism is wounded thereby. 2. When the children are dependant, the chance of having control over them is lost. The defensive active homosexuality or masculinity is threatened.3. When one is dependant (.irrespective of age), situation is just like the death of the father to a dependant son. 4. A disturbance in the flow of libido is being created. Situations threatening one's own life : The reasons for one being afraid of death may be sought in one or all of these apprehensions that ones ambitions remain unfulfilled ; ones dependents, with whom the mar.cissistic identity is attached, will suffer in his absence leading to an injury to narcissism ; that one's enemies may find an opportunity to take revenge on the family or the beloved objects, which means a sense cf forced submission to a passive situation;. that the objects which bring pleasure to one would fall at the hands of others, thereby initiating a strong sense of jealousy, or that anticipated pains at the time of death frightens one, thus again involving huit to one's narcissism. In other types of psychological exciting factors too, excepting

those dealt with above, some sort of frustration can be observed, which threatens the ago defence deviating its (ego?s) mechanism toward maladaptation. When the physical exciting factors are concerned, as was already been stated in the introduction, they are found to lower down the adaptive capacity of the ego so the stresses inflicted by reality, which the ego could have easily tolerated beforehand, become difficult problems to cope with now. Under all the above instances the situations arising out of reality overpower the ego and the ego being unable to adjust itself to the demands of reality becomes anxiety stricken. The' next problem for the ego is to get rid of this unpleasant anxiety situation. In this attempt the mode of reaction of the ego depends on the following considerations : (i) the strength of the ego comprising the nature of the personality construction i. e. the id-ego-superego relation as well as the amount of available libido at various steps of its (libido's) evolutions, (ii) the strength of the stress involving the amount and the extent to which the limit of the adjustability of the ego has been surpassed by reality situation, (iii) the available facilities in the environment which the ego may utilise to modify the reality situations if it cannot modify itself. Since everywhere the adjustment is carried on in either of the two waysby modifying itself or by modifying the reality e. g. some protective mechanism is at hand which may be sufficient to combat the present situation, (iv) the previous mode of reaction of the ego under qualitatively similier reality situation i.e. the experiences of similar nature; immunisation may be effected by successively bringing up before the ego situations of lesser intensity but of similar nature. The question arises as to how do these two factors (predisposing and exciting) influence on the pathogenesis of the disease concerned. The influence they exert is probably like this that the type of disease is determined by internal construction of the personality on which the strength of the ego depends. The time of onset as well as the external nature of the symptoms are influenced by the exciting factors. As regards the streangth of the ego, it is to a great extent flexible. An anatomical organ like heart under some stressing situation undergoes a great amount of hypertrophy (increase in structural

bulk to increase in functional capacity), so also does the ego construction (a psychical conception). But for the the hypertrophy of an anatomical organ there are certain essential conditions which must be fulfilled. In the case of heart there are following requisites : (i) The previous condition of heart must be healthy i.e. the tissue to be hypertrophied must be healthy, (ii) The stressing condition must exert pressure graduallyso that the hypertrophying tissue may be gradually be accustomed to the increasing demand. Here it means that the intensity of the force is to be increased gradually as well as sufficient time is to be allowed in between the two successive stimulie. (iii) The nutrition of the organ must remain unimpaired. (iv) There is a limit to this power of hypertrophy after which if the stressing force continues to act no further hypertrophy is possible and the functional failure of the organ is the rule. Apart from other things the limit depends on the age of the subject. The same rule is followed by the psychical apparatus too, that is to say the environmental situation which is overwhelming -when applied all at once, might be tolerated by the ego if it were applied gradually with increasing intensity spreading over a longer period of time. During these period, while the acclimatisation process is going on, the psyche should remain free from other major disturbing agents and that the ego may have been successfully adjusted to the demands of the reality upto time when this present stressing force is applied. Usually, after the age of 50 the power of adaptibility is greatly diminished. The above discussion holds good for both the sexes. But there are certain specific problems of female life which require a separate Consideration. It can be observed from the results cited above, that marriage and child bearing (pregnancy and puerperium) play an important role in the causation of mental diseases. Their importance as the exciting factors in the aetiology of psychoses in the female sex far exceeds the negligible contribution of the other factors. Marriage demands a difficult adjustment of the female as it involves a settlement of most of the tendencies to set up the subsequent mental equilibrium. Child bearing has also got a great influence on

the origin of mental disorders, but the mode by which it affects the etiology of some of the psychotic disorders which go by the names pregnancy and purperal psychoses, has not yet been properly explained. The controversy as to the exact nature of these psychoses, whether they are physiogenic or psychogenic, is not yet solved. These specific problems of female life will be dealt with in another subsequent paper. It seems from the study of the problem of adaptibility that the reality judging capacity is definitely impaired at the face of exciting factors precipitating the mental illness. This reality sense develops as a result of contact with the external world gradually by way of trial and error. The ego in this way learns to tolerate frustrations inflicted by reality. This frustration-tolerarance to various situations may be taken as an index of adaptibility of the ego. In children it is often observed that their fear in certain situations or with certain objects can be removed by repeatedly placing them in those fearful situations and thereby they are helped to gain confidence and "consequently the reaction of fear disappears. If this principle could be adopted in the training children, then the mental diseases and personality defects could have been minimised to a considerable extent. But unfortunately our school and home education is such that it tends more to falsify the reality to the child than to help it judge the real state of the world. I may now venture to put forward, on the grounds stated above, that a method similar to that of removing undesirable emotive reactions in children may be used in psychotherapy with profit. For this purpose, a case of mental illness must first of all be studied thoroughly with a view to ascertain those difficult life-situations to which the patient succumbed previously or is likely to fall a victim ; then he is to be placed in those situations hypothetically thereby helping him to judge the situations more realistically in the presence of the therapist as his guide. This increases his capacity of frustration-tolerance. In this way we may effect a certain amount of immunisation in cases of mental illness also. Of course in the acute stages of psychotic disorders, this method may not be of much value, but in the milder forms of disorders as well as after some recovery from the acute stage, this method may help radical cure and prevent future recurrences.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author's grateful thanks are due to Dr. S. C. Mitra, M.A. Ph.D., F.N L, Head of the Department of Psychology,. Calcutta University for his valued suggestion in connection with this work and to Dr. T. C. Sinha, D. Sc, Superintendent, Lumbini Park Mental Hospital, Calcutta, for the facilities offered to him to work in the Hospital.

PERSONALITY AND CULTURE CHANGE *

NIRMAL KUMAR BOSE

REFERENCE

Nandi, D. N., Basu Mallik, T. and Bose, S. Indian Journal Psychology. Vol. XXVII, (1952) 131.

The term 'peTsonalitv'is used in Sociology in a more or less special sense. A child is born with certain hereditary mental traits. But soon after it is born, it is subjected to cultural influences. Due to the accidents of personal history, and we may as=ume, also its inborn tendencies, it gra^ully picks up various elements of behaviour from its surroundings. In course of time, the child becomes an embodiment of numerous behaviour-patterns, which altogether unite in it in a unique configuration. Although many of these elements of behaviour may be shared by the child with others who live round him. yet there is something in each which gives him a quality which distinguishes him from the rest; and it is this unique assemblage which is distinguished as the 'personality' of the individual in sociological language. Men and even children are sensitive to what their neighbours think about them. They are more sensitive to the approval of those whom they admire, or whose companionship they value. In an isolated culture like that of the Juangs or Savaras of Orissa, where the total number of men and women in any settlement is small, there is likely to be a greater uniformity in character among individuals then in a culture which is open to many contacts from cultures of varying configurations. About a year ago. the writer happened to be in the midst of a small group of Birhors in the Hazaribagh district. The Birhors are a very poor Mundari-^peaking people who live by the sale of ropes which they manufacture from the fibre of certain jungle creepers or some of the small game which they hunt by means of nets and wooden clubs in the same place. They are on more or less friendly terms with the neighbouring peasants ; but the Birhors like to live in their own separate settlements at some distance away from the peasant villages. In such a culture, where every man,
* Summary of a speech delivered at the Rsmakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Calcutta, on the 28th of July 1956. Reproduced by permission oi the Editor of the Balletin of the Institute.

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NIRMAL KUMAR BOSE

t SAMIKSA

woman and child has to work hard almost all through the day in the quest of food, there is not much room for leisure. They do not allow any foreigner to come and live in their own settlement ; and there is greater conformity and greater agreement between members of such settlement than among the leisured or more prosperous people living in the villages or towns near by. Yet, it is strange and a hopeful sign of the strength of the human soul, that this grinding poverty has not succeeded in destroying the individuality of the Birhors to any very great extent. One Birhor in the settlement was looked upon as a comparatively wise and powerful man to whom the others flocked for advice or help when in trouble. A few young men were fond of. music and played the flute whenever they felt inclined to do so. Another old man was the embodiment of patience, and had gone through much suffering in his life without very much of complaintor indignation ranking in his heart. The individualshas thus been able to retain their individuality in spite of the essentially unfavourable state ot the material conditions of their life. A parallel example might be picked up from among the Dule caste of palanquin-bearers in the district of Midnapore. One young anthropologist has been collecting for the last few months the lifehistory of one hundred members of the Dule caste in a village about twenty-four miles from Tamluk town. The other inhabitants of the village are comparatively rich peasants belonging to the Mahishya or Paundra Kshatriya caste. There is a school in the neighbourhood ; and through a traditional arrangement, Vaishnabas and Chitrakars or painter-cumbards roam about from house to house spreading the legends of Rama and Krishna, Manasa and Kali or the other gods and goddesses dear to the heart of the Hindu villagers. The dule palanquin-bearers have now become converted into landless labourers who find it hard to make a living. Out of the fifty biographies collected so far, it was observed that death of children and adults from snakebite was quite a common accident. There was a dire absence of food in certain years, and cases of men or women who had become insane, or left their homes as religious medicants were a common feature in these family tales. The point is that in the peasant culture and as found among the Hindu inhabitants of lower Bengal, the strain of poverty seems to lead to particular reaction in the personality of individuals while it does not apparently

end in similar results in a Birhor settlement, even though the latter xuayj he more hard pressed than the average Bengali landless labourer. The Birhor does not seem to give up the fight as the Bengali farmer sometimes does. It would indeed be worthwhile to make a comparative statistical servey of the kinds of reaction observable in dissimilar social and cultural environments under similar conditions of economic life. One will readily admit that it would indeed be a difficult task ; yet an attempt in this direction may be worthwhile. From what has been said above, it will perhaps be clear that the type of personality which is encouraged by one community may be substantially different from that encouraged by another. The situation becomes very complicated whenever several cultures come into contact with one another in a common social milieu. Evidently, the personality of every individual thus potentially becomes subject to many forces and the end-results, in so far as the personality of the individuals is concerned, are likely to be of a more varied nature than in a historically less disturbed situation. India to-day is passing through a period of economic transition. The population of India has doubled in course of the last four hundred years, while our production of the material needs of life has failed to keep pace with it for one reason or another. The social organization of our land was built up in response to needs which were not of an exacting nature, as they are to-day. People lived in a stratified society where everybody was conscious of his exact social status. So long as obedience to the rules of one's profession helped to maintain economic stability, there was good reason for conservatism. Conformity to established rules,was looked upon with more favour then the promotion of individuality. Individuals did and could differ ; and the rule was that if a man became a sannyasin and forsook the advantages which came to him from obedience to the rules which pertained to his station in life, he was given the freedom to persue the highest. demands of his inner life and even shown great stet respect for the path which he has taken Barring the case of the sannyasin in which the promotion of individuality was considered to be highest good, Hindu society seems, to have been ruled more by conservatism than the promotion of individuality. But under the stress and strain created by the new economic 6

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NIRMAL KUMAR BOSK

[ SAMJ.K.5A

situation in India, we find that conservatism is more a hindrance than a help. In the economic sphere of our life, we are fast pursuing the footsteps of the West. And is the industrial civilization of the West was built up on the basis of well-developed personalities, on social variability rather than conformity, the new values which are infiltrating into our culture are those associated with the term Individualism. The average Indian child who grows up to manhood today is thus subjected to several sets of values made available through a series of historical accidents in our social and cultural environment. The question is, how does he react to these conflicting forces, and what happens to personalities placed under the strain of logically incompatible values and consequent behaviour-patterns. As we' observe the situation all round us in India, we observe that the minds of men are often torn in their loyalties to logically incompatible philosophies. One may admire the economic success of the West; but when one ponders . over the selfishness promoted by commercial civilization, whether what selfishness-is on a personal scale or even on a national scaleleading eventually to armed conflict between rations, one wishes to hark back to the days when men did not prize their individuality but surrendered personal interests for the sake of their neighbours. An ambivalent attitude is thus created in regard to what has come to us from the West. Dn the other hand, those who close their eyes to the poverty and squalor caused by a primitive mode of production, with its attended stratification of society, look back with a new-found love for all that was ancient, and what they imagine to have been good and the only reality in that which was ancient. In this manner, loyalties of different kinds are set up in various sections of the people today ; while some of the loyalties find a lodgement in the same mind, and are responsible for unresolved conflicts which may lead to socially pathological states of the mind. It is not unlikely that these unresolved conflicts are to a great extent responsible for the inhibitation of the capability of effective action which we observe in India to-day. We feel that things are not going the way they should. Yet, there is hardly any well-planed, or even determined, endeavour to set things right. Many seem to wait and expect things to set right themselves } while spine are eager

for destruction in the hope that the new life would be born after destruction automatically. But we may venture to : suggest that hardly any change in human society in the direction of the good and desirable takes place automatically. If the conflict of loyalties within our souls has led to ineffectiveness in the field of action, it is all the more necessary that we should resolve such conflicts as the first necessary step before our energy can be released for effective action. There is an opinion current in our governmental circles that once a mechanical change is brought about, men will adjust themselves to the changed situation to the best of their ability. But what we find instesd is that the human factor often interrupts with the working of the best plans which are laid out on paper. A useful sociological enquiry might indeed be started on the role played by the human factor in relation to our social and economic plans, and their actual execution.

CORRESPONDENCE REGARDING
Letter from Dr. G. Bose to Prof. S. Freud 14, Parsi Bagan Amherst Street P. O. Calcutta India Professor Sigmund Freud, L. L., D. Vienna IX Berggasse 19 Vienna Austria Dear Sir, I take the liberty to send you under separate cov^r a book entitled "Concept of Repression" as an insignificant presentation from its author. Along with my friends and relations, I have been a warm admirer of your theories and science ; and it might interest you to learn that your name has been a household word in. our family for the past decade. I shall be delighted to have your opinion and suggestions about my work. Hoping to hear from you in due course. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours very sincerely G. Bose us is rather treated empirically. It is deeply to be regretted that German literature was not accesible to you but I trust the translation work which we are preparing here (The Internal Journal of Psych.) will slowly improve the situation. Believe me to be, dear Sir, yours most respectfully, Freud P. S. I will always be glad to get more of your news.

Letter from Dr. G. Bose to Prof. Dr. Freud Prof. Dr Freud Wien, IX Berggasse 19 Austria Dear Sir, I was extremely gratified to receive your kind note of 29th May last. I shall be very much obliged if you will kindly let me know the details in respect to the publisher, price etc. of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. Has any Association undertaken the publication of the journal ? : I hope you will parden my liberty if I ask yau to send me a photograph of yours. Myself, my relations and friends and a wide circle of admirers have long been eager for it. I have not as yet come across your photograph in any book, or periodical, otherwise I would not have troubled you with this request. Such a gift from your hands would have valuable associants. My agent for my book asks me to write to you whether he could have an expression of opinion from you regarding the book for publication and enquires whether the book which is in English has got any chance of success in Austria and Germany and what periodicals would be most suitable for advertisement. I am sorry to have troubled you but my ignorance about Austria and Germany is my excuse. Yours Sincerely, G. Bose

Letter dated May 29, 1921 from Prof. Dr. Freud to Dr. G. Bose Prof. Dr. Freud May 29th 1921 Wien, IX., Berggasse 19

Dear Sir, I acknowledge the receipt of your book on The Concept of Repression and am glad to testify the correctness of its principal views and the good sense appearing in it. My surprise was great that Psycho-analysis should have met with so much interest and recognition in your far country. It is interesting that theoretical reasoning and deduction does play so great a part in your demonstration of the matter which with

v oi. w,

JN o. d.

CORRESPONDENCE

Letter dated Aug. 3rd, 1921 from Prof. Dr. Freud to Dr. G. Bose Badgastein Aug. 3rd 1921. Dear Sir, I am now out of town far away in the mountains and not likely to return before October 1st. After that term I will attend to both of your requests. I could not do it now, as I have got neither your book nor my photograph with me. The publisher of the Internal zeitsch and the English Journal of PA. will send you the information you want. Yours most respectfully, Freud

107

I take the liberty to send you herewith a question paper for this year on 'Mental Pathology'for the M.A. and M.Sc. students of the Calcutta University. This is the second paper in Experimental Psychologythe other three papers being 'Physiological Psychology', 'Child and Educational Psychology' and 'Animal Psychology1. There are also four practical papers covering the whole subject. The first half of the accompanying paper has been set by me and the second half by Dr. B.C. Ghosh. Psycho-analysis is daily gaining popularity here and even the lay periodicals and dailies in vernacular are discussing the subject now. Hope this will find you in good health and spirits. Yours sincerely Girindrashekhar Bose

Letter dated 24.11.21 from Dr. G. Bose to Dr. Freud 24th Novomber 1921 Dear Dr. Freud, I received your postcard from Badgastein duly and as I did not like to disturb you during your holidays. I refrained from writing to you. I hope you have now returned to Vienna and I venture to approach you again with my two requests-one for myself for a photograph of yours and the other on behalf of my agent for an expression of opinion regarding my book for publication. I have to thank you for the information about the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. I have now been receiving the publicatian regularly and I like it very much. You will be pleased to learn that I am now trying to have an Indian Psychoanalytical Association at Calcutta affiliated to the International Association. A number of medical men and psychologists have interested themselves in the movement and we hope to start the association by January next. I have been in communication with Dr. Jones regarding the Association and he has given me much practical and sound advice. I should very much like to have yout suggestions on the point. I hope to send you in the near future a copy of the draft rules and regulations of the Association.

Letter dated 26.1.22 from Dr. G. Bose to Dr. Freud Dear Dr. Freud, Most likely you have received my last letter to which I am expecting a reply. You will be glad to learn that we have been able to start a Psycho-analytical Society in Calcutta. I am sending you herewith the proceedings of the inaugural meeting and I shall be very glad to have your suggestions regarding our Society. I have applied tor affiliation to the International Association. A friend of mine Mr. J. S e n - a celebrated Indian artist and an arden admirer of yours has drawn from imagination a pencil sketch which he thinks'you ought to look like'. I am sending you the original keeping a copy for myself which I would like to compare with your photo when it arrives. Needless to say he has not the slightest information about your ieatures. Will it be possible for you to come out to India for a few weeks and to deliver a course of lecture in the Calcutta University ? If so I shall be glad to know about your terms so that I might place them before the proper Authorities. Wishing you a happy new year Yours sincerely G. Bose

108

CORRESPONDENCE

[SAMIKSA

Latter dated eh. 20, 1922 from Prof. Dr. Freud to Dr. G. Boss Prof. Dr. Freud February 20th 1922 Wien IX., Berggasse 19 -

Dear Mr. Bose At last l e a n send you the photograph you wished forit will come to you from Hamburgand write the few lines which you ask on behalf of your agent. As my English is very deficient you are invited to change my expressions so as to fit your purpose : "It was a great and pleasant surprise that the first book on a psychoanalytic subject which came to us from that part of the world (India) should display so good a knowledge of psychoanalysis so deep and insight into its difficulties and so much of deepgoing original thought Dr. Bose has singled out the concept of repression for his inquiry and in treating this theoretical matter has provided us with precious suggestions and intense motives for further study. Dr.Bose is aiming at a philosophical evolution and elaboration of our crude, practical concepts and I can only wish, Psychoanalysis should soon reach up to the leval, to which he strives to raise it". Having heard of your success in starting a Psychoanalytic group in your country I heartily congratulate you on it. May we meet one day not too far off, as I am rather old (66 years). Sincerely yours Freud Letter dated March 1st. 1922 from Dr. Freud to Dr. G Bose Wien, March 1st 1922 Dear Dr. Bose, I am glad to acknowledge letter and report of January 25th and hope my letter of February 24th will have safely arrived. The imaginative portrait you sent me is very nice indeed, far too nice for the subject. You will soon have occasion to confront it with the photo and see that artist did not take into account certain racial characters. Yours sincerely Freud P. S. I am too old to come over to India and very busy here. Try it the other way and come to Europe.

Prof. Sigmund Freud, M.D. L.L D. Berggasse 19 Vienna IX Dear Dr. Freud, I was very much pleased with your postcard dated 1-3-22 and the photograph so kindJy sent. Your portrait has been very acceptable to a wide circle of friends. Please accept my thanks for the very kind opinion you have given on my book. You ask me to come over to Europe and I must confess that it would give me the greatest pleasure to see you and travel with that end in view. Probably time will come for such an opportunity. On behalf of our Society I beg to extend my thanks to you for your good wishes. You will be glad to learn that Dr. Ernest Jones has been kind enough to affiliate our Indian Psychoanalytical Society to the International Society. Trusting this will find you in the enjoyment of health and spirits. I remain, Yours very sincerely G. Bose

Letter dated 27.10.22 from Prof Dr. Freud to Dr. G. Bose Prof. Dr. Freud Dear Dr. Bose, Oct 27th 1922 Wien IX., Berggasse 19

I heartily congratulate you on the reception of your Society as one of the groups of the Internal. P. A. Association which occurred at the Berlin Congress a month ago. Now, as I am Editor well as of the English Journal your name may be printed leader and representative of 7 of the German Zeitschrift fur PA. as of P. A. I beg you to consent that on the cover of bo^h Journals as the the Indian group in the same way the

otaer presidents cue uicuuuuw.

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in the first number of the year 1923. I hope to find soon some of your contributions in our Journal. With kindest regards. Yours Freud

Letter dated 23.11. 22 from Dr. G. Bose to Prof. Freud 23rd Nov. 1922 14 Paisi Bagan Dear Prof. Freud, I am extremely grateful to you for your very kind letter dated 27th Oct. 1922. Sometime ago I also received a Communication from Dr. Ernest Jones asking me to act as associate editor for India of the International Journal and the Zeitschrift ftir PA. I shall be very glad to be of any use to you in the editing of the Journals and shall try my best to do whatever portion of the work you may allot to me. I may remind/you however that I do not know Gercaan although I may be able to get the help of German knowing friends here. I hope to send you some contributions for the Journal in the near future. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year and many many returns of the same. Yours very sincerely G. Bose

Letter dated 28.12.23 from Prof. Dr. Freud to Dr. G. Bose Wein, 28, XII. 23 Dear Professor Bose, A. happy New Year to you and as much success in your work as you deserve. Your most sincerely Freud