I remember the moment clearly. Class was on the third floor of the Humanities building, a bright new building containing only nondescript classrooms of only modest size. Such modesty must have been imposed onto the Humanities and violently, in their fashion, opposed by same. I sat in the front row on the far edge of house left. This was my typical seat, facing Douglas, who sat in a chair at a folding table in front of the blackboard. The requestor sat slumped in his chair, his long lacrosse-playing legs sprawling out onto the vomit-patterned carpet.
What is the difference between psychotic and neurotic?
Without missing a beat, Douglas explained:
Psychotic means that you translate everything into purple cow activities. Neurotic means that you have to consult your emotional baggage constantly.
The definition sufficed for me and I imagine that it will continue to support me. Douglas’ ability to translate a technical definition into rich and useful everyday language is astonishing. I have taken his lead and begun work on a dictionary in this vein; a dictionary that requires one to think about the full and complete meaning of a word, without requiring the reader to jot off in search of other murky meanings for clarification.
I know that no psychologist would appreciate Douglas’ rendering, though he himself is no mean analyst. He has tracts of Jung memorized and has sent students trotting off to Zurich in pursuit of a certificate from the International School for Analytical Psychology. New students of his could always expect to have recent dreams analyzed early on in the semester. One girl was upset when he told her that her dream of cuddling a bunny rabbit related a desire to become a mother. She was dogmatically committed to having no children, and did not return for further analysis.
I guess in her case, the diagnosis was neurotic.
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