Page:1954 Juvenile Delinquency Testimony.pdf/164

152 Mr. . Doctor, we are inquiring here into the possible effects of crime and herror eamies on children, both normal and some who- are emotionally disturbed,

Could you give us your opinion of the possible effects of this kind of reading material, erime and horrey cones books, on say, the emotion- ally disturbed children, or normal child ?

Dr. . In the held of the emotionally disturbed child, E have long been considered a professional expert. I consider uryself such. My experience you have to realize is with children under the aye of ee

However, it is true that I have been working 20 years with these children. Many of them have now reached adolescence and adulthood.

In my early years in working at Bellevue Hospital when we were hard put to find techniques for exploring the child's emotional Ife, his ini, his ways of reacting, when the child was separated from the home and brought te us in the wards at Bellevue, J found the comics early one of the most. valuable means of carrymg on such examina- tions, and that was the becinning of iny interest in the eamice books.

So that my first scientific paper on the comics appeaved—T believe T gave it in 1910 before the National American Neuropsychiatric As- sociation and tt was published jin 1941, before I had any connection whatever with the comic people.

Now, when you ask me as broad a question as to what is the pos- sible effect of sneh horror comic books—and the gesture makes it also broader—upen the emotionally disturbed and the normul child, it is almost overwhelininely a broad statement.

However, LE have spent a great deal of time; I have written many articles. 1 too, have a book im press which hag at leasi a chapter on this subject, otherwise deals with it, and in general iis my opmion that the comics, as T have known them and werked with them through these years and the kind of emotionally diturbed children that I have known and worked with, and my own three normal children show a remarkable capacity to select from the comies material they uced and ean use, a capacity which sheuld not be underrated and it is one of the specific eharacleristies of ihe comics that this kind of a selection can be used ou the comies where it cannot be used, for example, in a movie. Tt ean be used in television and it can be used in radio, by the television so they can turn it off.

Mr. . What do yaoi mean by selection. Selections of comics theweselves, or selections out of the eomics?

Dr. . Both. Children love to collect comics. I will also say that the less intelligent children and those who have the less reading capacity collect the most comics, Jt is the story that we used to tell in school that if we could sleep on that enormous tome conceivably we could get something oul of it and pass our exams the next chy.

In fact, I have frequently said T can make a diagnosis on a non- reading child whe is brought into my presence for the first time with comic books stored away in his blouseboys don't like the word "blouse," excuse me, shirtlike the squirrel has nuts stored away in their cheeksnow, as to these, Mr. Clendenen brought them in to me the other day. I told him I hadn't seen any of these.