In the investigation or psychognosis of psychopathic cases I invariably find the psychopathology to be a morbid condition of the fear instinct, rooted in the primordial impulse of self-preservation. The psychognosis of this underlying pathological state and disintegration of the latter are of the utmost consequence in the domain of psychopathology and psychotherapeutics.
FOOTNOTE:
[9] A full account of the cases is published in my volume “The Causation and Treatment of Psychopathic Diseases.”
[CHAPTER XX]
FEAR CONFESSIONS
A few “Confessions” made by psychopathic sufferers will help us best to understand the character, the mechanism, the factors, and principles of neurosis:
I
“As you are desirous of knowing more about my life and environment, I state concerning them as follows:
“You will remember that I told you that my step-father was a liquor dealer. Throughout all the time that he was in business we either lived over the bar-room or else right in the place where the liquor was sold. My step-father was a very heavy drinker, a man of violent nature, and decidedly pugnacious. As a child I have been scared to death by drunken brawls, and many nights have been dragged out of bed by my mother who would flee with me to the house of a neighbor for safety.