DUAL PERSONALITY.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1922, Page 11

DUAL PERSONALITY.

TWO GIRLS IN ONE BODY. The strange dual personality of Bernice Bodick, a 19-year-old Cleveland, (U.-S.A-) girl, brings into medical »n--nals a story which offers a parallel to the fictitious “Dr. Jekyll and Mr,, Hyde,” and is attracting much attention through the country. The girl is reported to have recovered her normality under the care of Dr. Henry Herbert Goddard, alienist, head, of the Ohio Bureau for Juvenile Re- . search. Two conscious and distinct personalities, one the normal mind of the charming and intelligent young lady, Bernice, and the other of a strange four-year-old, Polly, struggled •for supremacy in the single body for months.

“It is one of fewer than 25 such cases in the medical history of the world,” Dr. Goddard explained in talking about it. “For months now we have been trying to ‘kill’ the four-year-old Polly so that Bernice may live a normal life. And we have finally been successful. The girl was brought to Columbus from Cleveland, where a hospital unequipped for psychological research had held her under observation for a short time. Hers is the only authentic case of dual personality I have ever seen.

“Apparently a normal girl, a high school graduate, with a desire to stuay music, she suddenly reverted to a four-year-old, seeming just as normal as the older consciousness which preceded this. In the midst of a conversation she suddenly nodded, fell into a sleep for a moment, then awoke. But in the moment she slipped back 15 years so far as her mind was concerned. “My name is Polly,” she repiled to our question. ‘I am. four years old.’ “She could neither read nor write. She could not distinguish colors byname, but had the childish desire for bright ones. She could not coiint above 10. She wanted to sit on the floor and play with dolls, and she bestowed feminine names, what she called ‘play mates,’ on myself and the attendants. CHANGED ELEVEN TIMES. “During her first day she changed from Bernice to Polly and back 11 times. The reversion was just as sudden one way as the other, and just as inexplainable. There is so little precedent for the case and so few notes of methods used in dealing with similar cases, that we were forced to devise our own treatment. “We began with the education of Polly. We thought by bringing Polly’s mentality up to the age of Bernice the two personalities might automatically become one. At least it was impossible to drive out the four-year-old child.”

Then Dr. Goddard explained that the education of the four-year-old personality was commenced. First she was taken through the kindergarten stage and then on till she was 11 years of age. Now and then Bernice obtruded, but the treatment was continued until she admitted she was 14. Then a party was held celebrating the 15th birthday. A succession of birthdays followed within a few weeks, the girl apparently not realising that she was being tricked. At last she became 19 and admitted that was her age.”

ANOTHER PROBLEM. But now another problem presented itself. Although the sub-conscious girl had attained the same age as her complement the difference between them was still marked. The two had not merged. Bernice gave way more and more to the self-assertive Polly. Au attempt was made to drive Polly out by hypnotism. Polly was placed in a sleep, and told she was going to meet Bernice. On awakening Polly said she remembered Bernice, who lived in Polly was ban fahed by hypnotism and Bernice cstic into control From that time there was a

conscious effort by each personality to drive out the other.

The mental aspect of the ease was closely related to the physical. When the body was fatigued Polly nearly always came into power. After a night’s sleep it was Bernice who awoke. Now, although Bernice was established permanently, it was admitted that Polly might yet gain permanent control. Building up the body and nervous system had apparently helped Bernice.

As to causes for the strange afflic;tion, even the physician who effected the cure of the girl is doubtful. It might have been merely the result of an over-worked- body and a tired brain, called upon to withstand the successive shocks of the <’eath of father, mother, and sister within, a comparatively short period, or again it might not, he asserted. Explanations of more or less probability have been offered by hundreds of amateur psychologists, as well as physicians and alienists, whose attention has been aittracted by the case. ONE OF IDENTICAL TWINS. •'The girl is one of identical twins,” Dr. Oscar Thomas, obstetrician of Cleveland, said. ‘‘The minds of identical twins arc linked together, just as their bodies, and bear a very close resemblance to each other. There may be a closer connection titan we know, and there is some reason to believe that this strange Polly is the real Polly, twin sister of Bernice, who died as a baby.”

Polly gave evidence of knowing things that Bernice did not, remembering fairy tales, such as are told children, of which Bernice had no recollection. But by other experts this is thought to be only a sub-conscious memory of Bernice’s.

There is no inherited insanity or mental disturbance in the family of Bernice, Dr. Goddard says. Her father was an expert accountant, and the family was well-known in the little town of Lisbon, Ohio, where they lived until the death of the girl’s parents. It is evident, from the girl’s story, that she was badly frightened as a child by being compelled to enter a dark room alone by a nurse who was

caring for her. Since being left virtually alone in the world, she also has been* a constant attendant at motion picture shows. These causes may or may not have contributed to the mental disorder, the alienist says. “The girl must be sheltered hereafter,” he said. “Overwork and the lack of persons who have real affection for her might lead to a renewal of the disorder. with even worse consequences.”