When we look at these cases, we tend always to think of malingering; and our own values and ideas of morality lead us to make judgments about this behavior.
Let me give you an example which proved to be what we all might regard as a suitable solution to a difficult problem.
A husband came home and found his wife in bed with another man. Following an angry scene, he developed a paralysis of his right arm. The paralysis was a symptom of hysteria.
Psychotherapy revealed that it served two purposes. The man’s cultural background led him to believe that he should, as a man wronged, kill both his wife and her lover, but his own ethical standards would not accept this.
The paralysed arm prevented him from carrying out this unacceptable act and, at the same time, led his wife to feel guilty for having caused his paralysis.
In treating such a case it is important not to overcome his paralysis without giving him time to accept some other solution, otherwise he could have been forced into a corner where he had to carry out that action.
*451/71/1*
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