GW Psychiatric Assessment: Double Bind Situations

In September 1992 I underwent a psychiatric assessment at the George Washington University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry, in Washington, D.C. The initial assessment written by Napoleon Cuenco, M.D. reports a statement I made concerning double-bind situations: "He feels that people tend to be paranoid about him, to take advantage of him, and to trap him in double-bind situations."

On October 6, 1986 my friend Craig W. Dye started his employment at the D.C. law firm of Hogan & Hartson. I found Craig to be a difficult individual to interact with. If I ignored Craig he reacted as if I was attacking him. If I approached him and tried to engage with him he reacted as if I was hitting on him sexually. Craig's behavior seemed distinctly pathological and disturbing to me. I spoke with several mental health professionals about Craig's behavior. No one I spoke with seemed able to explain why Craig related to me the way he did. My psychiatrist Stanley R. Palombo, M.D. (202 362 6004) said on one occasion in 1990: "Craig has his own agenda. I don't know what that is." A coworker at Hogan, Cindy Rodda, once said about Craig: "He can be so arrogant at times."

I believe that an answer to the question of Craig's puzzling behavior can be found first by looking at Craig's most prominent character traits. Craig seemed to show the typical qualities of the phallic narcissist:

"In its least pathological form, narcissism is the term applied to behavior of men whose egos are invested in the seduction of women. It is these personalities who have been described as phallic-narcissistic in the psychoanalytic literature. Their narcissism consists of an inflation of and preoccupation with their sexual image. Wilhelm Reich introduced this term in 1926 to describe a character type that was somewhere between the compulsion neurosis and hysteria. 'The typical phallic-narcissistic character,' he writes, 'is self-confident, often arrogant, elastic, vigorous and often impressive.'

The importance of the concept of phallic-narcissism is twofold. First, it underlies the intimate connection between narcissism and sexuality -- specifically, sexuality in terms of erective potency, the symbol of which is the phallus. Second, it describes a relatively healthy character type, in whom the narcissistic element is at a minimum. As Reich explains, even though phallic narcissist's relationship to a loved person is more narcissistic than object-libidinal, 'they often show strong attachments to people and things.' Their narcissism is manifested in an 'exaggerated display of self-confidence, dignity and superiority.' But 'in relatively unneurotic representatives of this type, social achievement, thanks to the free aggression, is strong, impulsive, energetic and usually productive.'" A. Lowen, Narcissism: Denial of the True Self at 15-16 (New York: Collier Books, 1985) quoting W. Reich, Character Analysis.

Of course, that description explains nothing about why Craig would place me in double-bind situations. The following observation appears to solve that riddle:

Lowen states: "The female counterpart to the phallic-narcissistic male is the hysterical character type." Id. 16.

According to one author the hysteric tends to rely on a double-bind communication pattern; the author goes on to describe how the hysteric draws others into a complex interpersonal net:

"The hysteric dangles before another person symbolic sexuality which can be readily taken as a real invitation or the beginning of a seduction. We may suppose that in normal relations where sexuality is initiated the same thing happens, i.e., sexual symbolism is proffered, which if the response is favorable leads to what is symbolized, to intercourse. But the hysteric must confine himself to the domain of symbolism, and the dangling of the symbol initiating a seduction is in fact all there is of it. Hence the person before whom the carrot is dangled . . . feels enticed but held off, and becomes baffled and irritated. . . . the dangled symbol can [also] serve as a promise of a reward if only the other party will do all sorts of things to please him. Further, the victim who declines is regarded as rejecting or mean . . . while the victim who goes forward to meet the advances made is regarded as guilty of rape--whatever is done is wrong. Andrews, J.D.W. "Psychotherapy with the Hysterical Personality: An Interpersonal Approach." Psychiatry, 47: 211-232 at 215 August 1984 (quoting Wisdom). Ironically, Dr. Palombo serves as an editorial adviser to the journal Psychiatry. Read your own journal, Dr. Palombo!

But why would Craig relate to me as if I were the male and he was the hysterical female? Perhaps, the answer to that lies in the observation of my former psychiatrist Dr. Abraha who said that Craig was probably a latent homosexual.

WARNING: I have been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, a psychotic mental illness. The factual representations of the paranoid schizophrenic have no objective validity. Cf. Freedman v. D.C. Dept. Human Rights, D.C.C.A. 96-CV-961 (Sept. 1, 1998).