This youngster Michael-Joe is a six-year-old who presents a fairly characteristic picture of the symbiotic psychotic
His father is a professional man described as detached and obsessional, the mother is a borderline psychotic with little ability to relate to the youngster
Michael-Joe represents a more advanced stage of development than Julie. He uses language meaningfully but in a rather bizarre fashion
He illustrates the typical ambivalence and negativism of the symbiotic child and is constantly testing
He is frightened of his own instincts as well as those of everyone else
He is on the one hand omnipotent and orally sadistic and fearful of destroying everything, but also equally fearful of being destroyed
You're afraid your hands and mouth are gonna do bad things all the time, Mike
Hmm?
You can touch it
I wanna play on the monkey bars
We can later
Want monkey bars! To the monkey bars!
You heard what I said about it
To the monkey bars...To the monkey bars. To the monkey bars!
we can later
To the monkey bars!
You and I, and maybe Archie too
I'm gonna take a book
The first thing you think about is tearing it
You can touch
Don't pull on it?
Don't pull, but you can touch
Don't pull...
Hey? What did I say about not pulling?
You said better not pull
Right. Okay, you touched it, come on
Wanna touch it!
This whole room looks a little different doesn't it? There are many funny special things here... you can touch it you already have
I wanna touch it
You can touch it, you already have
I wanna touch the camera...
No, Mike
Touch it!
Mike, remember what happens when i say no. I always mean no. I always mean no when i say no
Come on out here, I know this room is all strange and kind of scary today
I wanna touch it. Touch it...Touch it...
What did I say the rules were about touching?
Hmm?
Touch it...
This room is all different and scary and there's that man with that big camera there, huh?
I wanna touch the camera
You already have
Touch the camera!
No, and just saying it lots of times and just yelling it won't make me let you
Come on Mike
I wanna touch it
You already have
Touch it...
You already have, silly
I wanna touch it
Yeah, you already did
Wanna touch it
Come on. What should we do?
Touch it
We already did that
Touch it!
No more
Touch it!
No more, now
Touch it...
Remember? Just saying things loud and just yelling things doesn't...
[whispers] Don't pull the plug out
Who told you that?
Better not pull the plug out
Someone said better not pull the plug out?
Plug out...
Let's put it down, Mike
Put the plug down...No, no, no!
Mike, let's put it down
Not...not
Okay
I wanna touch it
You got scared?
Wanna touch it...
The treatment of the symbiotic psychotic child is concerned primarily with helping the youngster increase his already present ego skills, and develop new ones
He continues to need gratification in sizeable doses, but the frustration aspect shown earlier with Julie is somewhat more evident at this stage
Here we see Michael-Joe with an occupational therapist; he shows his need to use her in a symbiotic fashion by demanding that she hold the hammer with him
She provides this help, but also makes demands upon him
He will need long-term patient assistance to accomplish individuation, and would not have much tendency to do so if the therapist provided only gratification