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
After considering her own career with us for a time, she asserted
that it now was clear to her just how and when she began lying.
As a child of about 12 years it seems she was wont to meet with a
certain group of girls on a hillside and they indulged in many
conversations about sex matters. Evidently the circumstances
surrounding this important introduction into affairs of sex life
were indelibly impressed upon her mind. She was there instructed
not only in the general facts, but also in methods of
self-gratification. It is clear to her, she states, that it was
exactly at this time that she first began deceiving her mother
and telling lies. She explains these tendencies as the result of
a guilty conscience. It comes out that the mother did not know
this group of girls to be undesirable companions for Janet, but
the latter's consciousness of their frailties always led her to
state that she had been with other children when in reality she
had been in this bad companionship. Through dwelling on their
teachings she began sex practices by herself, and in order to
carry this out she had to indulge in other deceptions. She
remembers distinctly her willful repression of the facts, and
states that the nervousness which she displayed for two or three
years in her school work was undoubtedly due to this cause. In
fact, she thought so at the time, but persisted in deceiving her
mother and her physician in regard to the matter.
Her mental repressions and conflicts did not begin, however, at
this period. By digging further into her memory Janet tells us
about a girl in another town where they used to live, a girl who,
when Janet was about 7 years old, wanted to show her about sex
practices. Janet knew this girl to be bad by general reputation,
and ran away when this offer was made, but it was too late--the
mental impress had been formed. She thinks her mother would
remember this girl. The things which this bad girl started to
tell came frequently up in Janet's mind and she wondered much
about them. No practices, however, were indulged in and even the
thoughts were fought against until the time mentioned above when
other sex ideas were implanted. Janet's mother had neither given
nor received confidences on this subject, and indeed never
throughout the daughter's life has there been anything except
vague warnings on the part of the mother about the general
dangers of sex immorality.
We gradually came to learn that Janet had been subject to much
sex temptation from her own physical feelings. She never was a
good sleeper, she thinks, and she often lies awake, or will wake
up for a time in the middle of the night and think of sex
affairs. She feels sure there has been considerable stress upon
her on account of this temptation which she has felt should be
combated. The occasional giving way to sex habits also resulted
in mental stress and, as she expresses it, worry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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