200
ZOMBIE
by JOSHUA BIERER M.D., F.R.C.PSYCH., D.ECON. & SOC.SC. (VIENNA), DIP.INDIV.PSYCH. described a special male type, whom I call &dquo;Golem&dquo;. This is a man, child has neither experienced nor been trained in the three ingredients of emotional life: Attention, Love and Affection. The word &dquo;Golem&dquo;, in mediaeval Jewish legend, describes a sort of machine man, a robot. Some 50 years ago it was the subject of a famous novel, by Gustav Meysink, made into a film. A man who has lived such a life as a child has not developed the &dquo;emotional antenna&dquo; or the &dquo;love-receiving apparatus&dquo;, to be able to receive or to acknowledge emotional signals. Such men go from woman to woman and are often considered to be excellent lovers. These women do not realise that they receive not love but hate, not compassion but revenge, not commitment but a desire to escape, that it is not a mutual emotional experience of beauty but a one-sided desire to hurt, and even to kill. The female with a similar childhood experience I call a &dquo;Zombie&dquo; (a term
Iwho HAVE
as a
Downloaded from isp.sagepub.com at FUDAN UNIV LIB on May 13, 2015
201 borrowed from Caribbean voodoo and describing an automaton-like creature, actually a person resurrected from death, but completely lacking in volition). How does she relate to the &dquo;male mother&dquo;, to the so-called &dquo;nymphomaniac&dquo; and to the &dquo;E.I.M.P.S.&dquo; type? I have described the E.I.M.P. Syndrome in the International Journal ofSocial Psychiatry. Re. Male-Mother see this journal, page 202. The nymphomaniac female is well known and well documented. Their complete frigidity by various factors, more often than not of traumatic nature makes them run from man to man, trying to find the solution to their problem instead of looking into themselves and trying to change themselves and their whole outlook on LIFE. The &dquo;Zombie&dquo; is brought up, from early childhood, in an emotional and social desert. Such women never learnt to develop the ability innate in most humans, the ability to accept and reciprocate the emotional signs given out by other people. This makes them unable to communicate with other people-and no wonder they land in the mental hospital, with a label of &dquo;schizophrenia&dquo; pinned on them. In the past the label &dquo;catatonic&dquo; was not unusual-sometimes it was &dquo;deep depression&dquo;. These labels mean very little, as they have no relationship to the usual orthodox drugs or to shock treatment. The case history which I published many years ago and which is represented below is of a woman with two schizoid parents who were completely unable to show any emotion, or to give any love or effection. On top of that, the daughter -their only child-was not allowed to mix with other children, before she attended school, nor to ask any to her home or to accept any invitations. Before I met the parents, she had not uttered one word during the nine months she was in hospital. I do not treat patients of this kind without first having formed a hypothesis. I try, by working with the parents, to understand why the patient behaves as she does. This is essential for my approach to psychiatric and borderline cases, as the establishment of an immediate rapport is essential. To be able to do this I must understand what is &dquo;behind the curtain&dquo;. I trained this patient like a little child, helping her to have a relationship with me, then with small children and then with other patients. In the end she was able to hold down a job as matron of a mental hospital for over 20 years. When she retired she looked after her mother. Zombies have, on the whole, a poor prognosis, unless one is able to establish a strong transference and able to help the patient to train very slowly the &dquo;Emotional Antenna&dquo; or the &dquo;Love Receiving Apparatus&dquo;, without which no-one can accept, register and acknowledge the emotional signals. (This brief comparison will be followed at a later date by a more detailed
paper.)
. _
Downloaded from isp.sagepub.com at FUDAN UNIV LIB on May 13, 2015
ZOMBIE
by JOSHUA BIERER M.D., F.R.C.PSYCH., D.ECON. & SOC.SC. (VIENNA), DIP.INDIV.PSYCH. described a special male type, whom I call &dquo;Golem&dquo;. This is a man, child has neither experienced nor been trained in the three ingredients of emotional life: Attention, Love and Affection. The word &dquo;Golem&dquo;, in mediaeval Jewish legend, describes a sort of machine man, a robot. Some 50 years ago it was the subject of a famous novel, by Gustav Meysink, made into a film. A man who has lived such a life as a child has not developed the &dquo;emotional antenna&dquo; or the &dquo;love-receiving apparatus&dquo;, to be able to receive or to acknowledge emotional signals. Such men go from woman to woman and are often considered to be excellent lovers. These women do not realise that they receive not love but hate, not compassion but revenge, not commitment but a desire to escape, that it is not a mutual emotional experience of beauty but a one-sided desire to hurt, and even to kill. The female with a similar childhood experience I call a &dquo;Zombie&dquo; (a term
Iwho HAVE
as a
Downloaded from isp.sagepub.com at FUDAN UNIV LIB on May 13, 2015
201 borrowed from Caribbean voodoo and describing an automaton-like creature, actually a person resurrected from death, but completely lacking in volition). How does she relate to the &dquo;male mother&dquo;, to the so-called &dquo;nymphomaniac&dquo; and to the &dquo;E.I.M.P.S.&dquo; type? I have described the E.I.M.P. Syndrome in the International Journal ofSocial Psychiatry. Re. Male-Mother see this journal, page 202. The nymphomaniac female is well known and well documented. Their complete frigidity by various factors, more often than not of traumatic nature makes them run from man to man, trying to find the solution to their problem instead of looking into themselves and trying to change themselves and their whole outlook on LIFE. The &dquo;Zombie&dquo; is brought up, from early childhood, in an emotional and social desert. Such women never learnt to develop the ability innate in most humans, the ability to accept and reciprocate the emotional signs given out by other people. This makes them unable to communicate with other people-and no wonder they land in the mental hospital, with a label of &dquo;schizophrenia&dquo; pinned on them. In the past the label &dquo;catatonic&dquo; was not unusual-sometimes it was &dquo;deep depression&dquo;. These labels mean very little, as they have no relationship to the usual orthodox drugs or to shock treatment. The case history which I published many years ago and which is represented below is of a woman with two schizoid parents who were completely unable to show any emotion, or to give any love or effection. On top of that, the daughter -their only child-was not allowed to mix with other children, before she attended school, nor to ask any to her home or to accept any invitations. Before I met the parents, she had not uttered one word during the nine months she was in hospital. I do not treat patients of this kind without first having formed a hypothesis. I try, by working with the parents, to understand why the patient behaves as she does. This is essential for my approach to psychiatric and borderline cases, as the establishment of an immediate rapport is essential. To be able to do this I must understand what is &dquo;behind the curtain&dquo;. I trained this patient like a little child, helping her to have a relationship with me, then with small children and then with other patients. In the end she was able to hold down a job as matron of a mental hospital for over 20 years. When she retired she looked after her mother. Zombies have, on the whole, a poor prognosis, unless one is able to establish a strong transference and able to help the patient to train very slowly the &dquo;Emotional Antenna&dquo; or the &dquo;Love Receiving Apparatus&dquo;, without which no-one can accept, register and acknowledge the emotional signals. (This brief comparison will be followed at a later date by a more detailed
paper.)
. _
Downloaded from isp.sagepub.com at FUDAN UNIV LIB on May 13, 2015
