Page:Jung - The psychology of dementia praecox.djvu/125

Rh mouth "the little tiny D., the son of the Emperor Barbarossa."

In 1899 she was tormented nightly by many hundred thousands of snakes, etc.

From the extracts taken from patient's history one can easily recognize the nature of the case. At present the patient is as ever a diligent worker. She now and then gesticulates and whispers during her work. During the physicians' visits she puts her questions in a stereotyped and unemotional manner, such as "Have you heard nothing from the notes? I have so long ago established the monopoly, I am a triple world proprietress," etc. When she does not talk about her delusions her manner of expression and behavior show nothing abnormal, though there is a certain unmistakable prinking, not rarely seen in elderly unmarried women who strive to acquire an equivalent for unsatisfied sexuality by the greatest possible perfection. She naturally has no insight as to her disease, yet to a certain extent she finds it conceivable that her delusions are not understood. There is no imbecility. Her speech is changed only in the spheres of her delusions, otherwise she speaks in a normal manner. She repeats what she reads and defines ideas in a clear manner, insofar as they do not touch her complex. During the experiments and analyses the patient readily collaborated with the examiner, apparently taking the greatest pains to explain herself as well as possible. This behavior is especially due to the fact that the examination as such is also a complex-incitor, as the patient always demands interviews, hoping thereby to finally convince everybody, and thus reach the goal of her desires. The patient is always quiet and shows nothing striking in her general behavior. While at work she whispers to herself "power-words." These are stereotyped sentences or sentence-fragments of a quite strange content, such as: "Last evening I sat in the night train to Nice, I had to pass there through a triumphal arch—we have established all this as a threefold world proprietress—we are also the lilac-new-red-sea wonder," etc. Such fragments appear in great numbers, but are altogether stereotyped and can always be reproduced in the same form. Motor stereotypies but rarely occur. One stereotypy, for example, is a sudden extension of the arms, as though patient would wish to embrace some one.