Pathology of Lying, Accusation, and Swindling: A Study in Forensic PsychologyHealy, William
Science
Pathology of Lying, Accusation, and Swindling: A Study in Forensic Psychology
Healy, William
Criminal psychology; Swindlers and swindling
Annie has grown somewhat more stable as the years have gone on.
Following our first acquaintance with her we have known this girl
to make serious false accusations against others (vide infra) and
to again damage her own reputation by alleging herself to be
pregnant when she was not. Her word in other matters all along
has been found somewhat unreliable, but there has been no
extensive weaving of romances such as those indulged in by
typical pathological liars. Our original diagnosis of this as a
case of pathological accusation upon the basis of mild hysteria
we have seen no reason to change. Both Annie and other members
of her family are representatives of a most important type for
court officials and all other social workers to understand. A
great deal of trouble has been caused in several religious
congregations by the unusual character of the behavior of these
people. Also the number of times they have been in courts for
various reasons is astonishing.
The history of physical and mental development merges closely
with the story of evolution in the moral sphere, and all can be
given together. On account of the mother having long been dead
and the father being the peculiar man that he is there is some
question about the truth of some of the details which have been
given us, but we have reason to believe that the main facts are
true because they have been held to be the truth in the family
circle generally and were not merely given to us. Verification
of details would be very difficult because the family are
distributed between Europe and America, and no relatives outside
the immediate family are at hand. The mother was in excessively
poor condition at the birth of Annie. She had miscarriages
preceding and following. It is stated that the diagnosis of
malaria was made and that the mother had convulsions both before
and after confinement. At the birth the prolonged labor and
instrumentation were not known to have done any damage. As an
infant Annie is said to have been frail, but not to have had any
definite sickness or any convulsions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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