A case of obsessive-compulsive neurosis who was listening to the order of his "God"
Inagaki, T.
Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi 84(6): 391-411
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0033-2658 PMID: 7146178 Document Number: 195206
A case of a 47 yr old male teacher hospitalized for severe compulsive behavior was reported. Through psychotherapy it was revealed that he had had obsessive-compulsive symptoms since he was 10 yr old and had been listening to and obeying the orders of his God since age 14. When he was 47 yr of age, he burned the mortuary tablet of his dead wife, who had committed suicide, in fear that his present wife would find it. One to 2 wk after the incident, he began to be obsessed with the idea that he would suffer from cancer if he drank from the cup in which some ash had fallen. Shortly after, he suffered from severe obsessive-compulsive symptoms and was hospitalized. This patient was treated through a total of 122 sessions of face-to-face psychotherapy over a period of 7 yr. The aim of this psychotherapy was to allow the patient to gain insight. The method was not based on a specified theory, but consisted mostly of conversations in which the patient spoke freely and the therapist asked him about some points that he could not understand. The patient was reappointed as a teacher to his school 2 yr after the beginning of the therapy. But his obsessive-compulsive symptoms did not disappear and the orders of his God continued to exist until the 102nd session, 3 yr after the beginning of therapy. When he gained clear insight as to the causes of the orders of his God, the phenomenae disappeared. Then gradually his obsessive-compulsive symptoms faded away. Six yr have passed since the conclusion of this psychotherapy and he is now working as a teacher without having any relapse. The orders of his God were obsessive ideas with strong superstitious tendencies. The patient's affection and hostility to this father and the guilty feelings arising from this hostility were closely related with the origin and the existence of the orders of his God. The aggravation of his obsessive-compulsive symptoms at age 47 was provoked by guilty feelings about the suicide of his former wife, fear of her revenge and anxiety that he would be divorced by his present wife.