The Three Christs of Ypsilanti

by Milton Rokeach

  But the confrontations were obviously upsetting and the three men certainly did not ignore them. Clearly, all of them felt threatened. The profound contradiction posed by the others’ claims had somehow penetrated deeply, to become transformed into an inner conflict between two primitive beliefs: each man’s delusional belief in his own identity and his realistic belief that only one person can have any given identity. Many times Joseph said: “There is only one God”; and Clyde said: “I’m the only one”; and Leon said: “I won’t deny that you gentlemen are instrumental gods—small ‘g.’ But I’m the one who was created before time began.”

  To defend themselves against this inner conflict, the three men had to muster up the whole battery of defense mechanisms described by psychoanalysis, including the most infantile mechanism of all—denial. As Anna Freud writes:

  This mechanism belongs to a normal phase in the development of the infantile ego, but, if it recurs in later life, it indicates an advanced stage of psychic disease…. Under the influence of shock … it denies the facts and substitutes for the unbearable reality some agreeable delusion.[14]

  Denial was clearly the mechanism most favored by Clyde, the oldest of the three—and also by Joseph. Recall how Clyde tried to make the whole problem of confrontation disappear by simply denying that the other two were alive; they were corpses, he said, with machines inside them that did the talking. There was now nothing left to explain or reconcile. When Clyde could not meet the threat of confrontation through this form of denial, as happened when he saw the first news article, he manifested another extreme form of denial. He fell into a stupor.

  Joseph, too, defended his delusional system of belief mainly by denial. Recall how he “laughed off” the early confrontations. Recall his saying about truth: “If it hurts too much man is wise to turn away from it.” Recall how he reacted to the first newspaper clipping about the three delusional Christs. He found it interesting: the three men were clearly insane; they belonged in a mental hospital; they should be treated for their craziness. But he did not know the three men described in the story!

  Clyde was, however, generally more “successful” than Joseph in his use of the denial mechanism. This may be because he was perhaps further along in his psychosis—that is, he was more regressed. Clyde could for the most part sit back on the sidelines and let the two “dead men” fight it out; at the same time he could and did enjoy their companionship when things were more peaceful. But Joseph’s denial mechanism was a bit more faulty. With repeated confrontation it seemed to break down. Recall, for example, his saying: “I’m not laughing it off any more,” and his admission, when shown the second news clipping, that he, himself, was one of the “Three Men Named Jesus.”

  These differences between Clyde and Joseph notwithstanding, the two men were essentially alike in their use of denial as their main defense against the identity confrontations. And herein lies a major difference between Clyde and Joseph on the one hand and Leon on the other. As I have already pointed out, Leon’s defenses were more intellectualized and systematized in character. He did not typically deny the facts; rather, in order to account for them, he tried to explain them in terms of his systematized delusions. In this way he was able to preserve his self-image as a rational, logical, consistent person, something Clyde and Joseph never tried to do. Whereas Joseph denied the purpose of our research by reversing it (we were his allies, come to convince the others that they were not Christ), Leon perceived it more realistically. “I love truth even though it hurts,” Leon said. He did not deny that the others were Christ, but explained what kinds of Christs they were. And he did not deny, as did Joseph and Clyde, that there were three persons at Ypsilanti claiming to be Christ, as was set forth in the news clipping. Instead, he angrily attacked the motives and competence of those responsible for the story.

  Both Leon and Joseph were capable of describing an object as white one moment and black the next. But there was an important difference between them. Joseph would handle the contradiction by denial. “Did I say that?” he would ask. But Leon, when asked to explain, would reconcile the contradiction, saying that the object had merely changed from a white phase to a black phase. His ego was still sufficiently intact that he would at least try to maintain contact with reality and strive for cognitive consistency. Joseph and Clyde, on the other hand, had lost or given up their striving for consistency. Leon, but not Joseph or Clyde, took pride in understanding, explaining, and reconciling in terms which seemed reasonable enough to him, however unreasonable they might seem from an objective standpoint.

  If we employ the striving for consistency as a yardstick, Leon is less psychotic than either Joseph or Clyde. The reason may be that he is twenty to thirty years younger than they. Perhaps as Leon “deteriorates” with age, he too will resort to denial and give up his attempt to explain the world in systematic terms.

  But, whether or not this happens, it is reasonably clear that a good part of the reason the identity confrontations produced changes in Leon’s delusional system, but not in either Joseph’s or Clyde’s, is precisely that the latter two resorted so heavily to the denial mechanism—itself the result of the loss of ego functioning and of the need for consistency.

  The slow tempo of Leon’s changes is undoubtedly also related to his need to appear consistent. He changed gradually in order not to appear capricious either to himself or to us. We had the strong impression that he was busy with his thoughts all the time, compulsively trying to fit the pieces together in an internally consistent manner.

  Let us turn now to the content of the many changes that Leon’s beliefs underwent as a result of the confrontations, changes which culminated in his public transformation into Dr. R. I. Dung. What can be said of the psychological meaning of these changes to make them more understandable?

  We have assumed elsewhere that all systems of belief, delusional as well as non-delusional, serve a twofold purpose:

  To understand the world insofar as possible, and to defend against it insofar as necessary. We do not agree with those who hold that people selectively distort their cognitive functioning so that they will see, remember, and think only what they want to. Instead, we hold to the view that people will do so only to the extent that they have to, and no more.[15]

  We have already commented on Leon’s need to understand his world in rational terms. This need predisposed him to change his beliefs whenever change enabled him to cope better with his perception of reality. But he had other needs as well, complex conflicting needs which required also that he defend himself against knowing the truth about himself and the outside world. He needed to remain in the group not only because it afforded him companionship, but also because it relieved the relentless boredom of hospital life. He needed to find a way to minimize the conflict with Clyde and Joseph and with us over the identity issue. He needed to remain mentally ill—the reasons for his becoming sick originally continued to exist. He needed to remain isolated from his fellow men. He needed to defend himself against his powerful sexual and aggressive impulses and at the same time satisfy them as best he could. He needed to defend himself against the anxiety and guilt arising from these sexual and aggressive impulses. And he needed to degrade himself in order to atone for these feelings and thereby make himself more worthy. And this list does not necessarily exhaust the whole range of needs that may have been operating within him, side by side with his pervasive need to understand better all the things, internal and external, that were happening to him. But perhaps our list is now long enough to suggest the simultaneous and ambivalent needs toward and away from the truth that were driving Leon to seek a quieting solution.

  The Power of Positive Authority

  It is clear from our description of Leon’s delusional system that he was obsessed by the need for a loving and protecting mother. He had, after all, been raised by a psychotic, fanatically devout woman whose husband left her while Leon was still an infant. We have seen what Leon thought of this woman. When she came
to visit him in the hospital, he refused to see her. She was not his mother; she was the Old Witch.

  In Leon’s delusional system, the good Blessed Virgin Mary of Nazareth replaced the bad figure of the Old Witch as mother, and after Leon’s reincarnation, he married her. Here we see the classical drama of Oedipus Rex re-enacted in fantasy, but with Christ instead of Oedipus playing Rex—in terms so plain that we hardly need a psychoanalyst to interpret it for us.

  When Leon could no longer claim the Virgin Mary as his wife, as he proceeded to transform himself publicly from Christ to Dung, he retained her as his mother but replaced her as his wife with Madame Yeti Woman—who played the dual role of wife and mother. Although there are enormous differences in the images evoked by Leon’s description of the two women—descriptions themselves rich in psychodynamic meaning—it is clear that both women represent Leon’s desperate search for the loving, protecting mother.

  We know far less about Joseph’s relationship with his father and mother. These are topics about which Joseph was not capable of enlightening us, and when he did talk about them, at our instigation, he spoke in the vaguest, most non-informative terms. But one thing we did learn. Joseph claimed to have two fathers: there was his real father—who at first he said was dead, but to whom he occasionally wrote—and there was the second person he called father—the superintendent of Ypsilanti State Hospital. The latter appeared to be a more protecting substitute for the former.

  It is impossible to overlook the similar roles played by these delusional mother and father figures in the lives of Leon and Joseph. Both are idealized authority figures, designed to replace the real and far-from-ideal parental figures. Both are endowed with omnipotence and omnipresence. They each watch over the son so that no harm will befall him. Long before Joseph and Leon began to receive letters from them, both men had communicated with their parent surrogates through letters and, possibly, had anticipated communications in return. Thus, even before we began to send them messages, we had several indications that Joseph and Leon actually believed in the reality of their delusional referents.

  The question may be raised as to whether Dr. Yoder was also a positive referent for Leon and for Clyde. Evidently he was not. Letters in which money was enclosed had also been sent to these two on several occasions, allegedly from Dr. Yoder, but neither Leon nor Clyde had made the slightest effort to maintain or perpetuate the relationship.

  As we study closely Leon’s many reactions to the communications he received from his wife, we have to conclude that he actually believed in her existence. The comparable data which are available for Joseph would seem to warrant a similar interpretation. Joseph had referred to Dr. Yoder as Dad from the very beginning. He replied immediately with the salutation “Dear Dad” when Dr. Yoder wrote him that he loved him “like a father loves a son.” Moreover, Joseph’s need for a good father became evident immediately after he backed off from “writing literature” at Dr. Yoder’s behest; then he wrote to President Kennedy claiming to be his son. The possibilty that Joseph was merely pretending is dispelled when we read the letter he sent his wife thereafter, in which he assured her that he would send for her as soon as he moved to Washington. All of this suggests that Joseph, like Leon, believed in the reality of his delusions.

  Let us now discuss the ways in which Leon and Joseph were affected by the communications they received. The same mechanism of denial that enabled Joseph to maintain his delusional system intact following the confrontations also enabled him to protect it following the communications. Denying the facts made it possible for him to remain calm in the face of unexplained or puzzling matters; such things as the fact that he claimed two fathers, or the fact that Dr. Yoder never came to see him or invited Joseph to visit him.

  The case was somewhat different for Leon. Like Joseph, he too showed a readiness to follow his referent’s suggestions. But, in doing so, he came face to face with issues with which Joseph did not have to contend. Leon had to account for all the puzzling facts surrounding the communications he had received. Was his wife on the premises, disguised as a female patient? If that was the case, which one was she? Why didn’t she show up as she had promised to? How could she send him money when he didn’t deserve it? How account for the sudden appearance of a young attractive female psychiatrist? Why is this woman trying to commit adultery with him? In the thought processes of the paranoid schizophrenic, who must compulsively systematize his delusions, there is no room for coincidence. Everything that happens happens for good reason and requires explanation.

  Thus, as Leon went along with the suggestions made by Madame Yeti Woman, he formulated new hypotheses, new delusions designed to explain the unexplained (“I know who my wife is, she is God Almighty”) and at the same time to account for his ambivalences and resistances toward her (“I am receiving letters from the insanity of God”). Changes in behavior and changes in delusions proceeded hand-in-hand until the delusional changes had reached a point where he could account not only for the messages and their contents but also for his resistances to these messages, at which point he absolutely refused to accept any more letters.

  We come now to consider another finding of considerable theoretical interest. We have already seen that when positive authority suggests a change in behavior, the recipient will accept it provided he is capable of doing so and provided it does not require drastic modification of belief or frustrate important needs. By carrying out the suggestion, one can simultaneously reduce dissonance and preserve intact one’s relation to positive authority. But what can reasonably be expected when the suggestion to change is beyond the recipient’s capability or frustrates his deep needs or predispositions? In such a situation, a conflict arises between his desire to comply with authority and the abilities or needs which make compliance impossible.

  One way to resolve such a conflict situation (or to reduce the dissonance) is to change one’s conception of authority. If a suggestion emanating from positive authority is unacceptable, the conflict may be removed by becoming disaffected with the authority and transforming it either into a negative authority or into a nonexistent one. This is exactly what Leon and Joseph did. Leon gave up his wife, Madame Yeti Woman, and his uncle, George Bernard Brown; Joseph gave up his delusional Dad, Dr. Yoder, and found himself a new Dad, President Kennedy.

  Consider next the changes which took place in Leon when, shortly after his refusal to accept any more letters, we replaced the male research assistant with a female. By this time Leon had formed the delusion that God was an hermaphrodite, that the female resident psychiatrist in particular and females in general were G. M.’s—God Morphies. It was at this point that Miss Anderson arrived on the scene. We had had frequent occasion to observe Leon’s behavior with respect to women, prior to Miss Anderson’s arrival—the nurses on the ward, the women research assistants working on other projects, the women visitors during the daily meetings. With none of these women did Leon behave as he did toward Miss Anderson. He did not attempt to approach them, he did not accuse them of trying to commit adultery with him, he did not call them God, or hermaphrodites, or kneel before them. It is clear that Leon’s acting out with respect to Miss Anderson in particular and to other women in general subsequent to her appearence, and the delusions he developed thereafter, were a direct outgrowth of the letters.

  It is only natural that with the materialization of a positive referent for Leon in the person of Miss Anderson we should begin to hope that his mental condition might improve. She was, at last, a real positive reference person—not a ghost, as were the others he had previously consorted with. From the beginning, Miss Anderson’s role was primarily oriented toward therapy rather than toward research. To this end, she met with Leon alone for many extra hours after the daily group meetings. When Leon made his exclamation: “So much imposition has been shaken off, I feel like dancing,” we had high hopes for the future.

  But Leon was frightened as he reached out to the world beyond.

  There! The
re is no cave.

  It is gone.

  But where did I go?

  I cannot find me.

  Where am I?

  Lost.

  He wavered back and forth as he carried on his lonely duel, and finally his decision was clear.

  Yes, I want the cave,

  There, I know where I am.

  I can grope, in the dark,

  and feel the cave walls.

  And the people, there, know I’m there,

  and they step on me, by mistake,—

  I think, I hope.

  But, outside—

  Where am I?[16]

  We were unsuccessful in our efforts to rebuild trust in a person who, in Erikson’s terms, showed a determination to “trust nothing but mistrust.”[17] Or, as Leon might have put it: If your mother will betray you, who won’t?

  As Leon withdrew from Miss Anderson, additional changes developed in his system of beliefs, culminating in the delusion that he, being a G. M., P. M., was married only to himself. He thus did not need anyone else.

  Paranoid States, Homosexuality, and Bisexual Confusion

  While it was our main purpose to study the effects of certain experimental procedures on changes in delusional systems of belief and in behavior, we cannot conclude this study without asking ourselves how it came about that Clyde and Joseph and Leon lost—or, to be more precise, actively discarded—their identities in the first place and felt it necessary to take on more grandiose ones. The classic theory is the one originally advanced by Freud in his analysis of the famous Schreber case,[18] In essence, Freud says that paranoid delusions of grandeur are primarily a defense against homosexuality. More recent psychiatric views, such as those put forward by Norman Cameron, Sylvano Arieti, and Edith Weigert,[19] suggest that the basic problem is not homosexuality but a confusion about sexual identity. Our data support the more recent view. All three of the delusional Christs seemed to suffer from uncertainty about their roles as men.