Working in the clinic, I was very careful with patients-schizophrenics

I recall another patient that has clarified things for me
the value of the psychological causes of psychosis and first of all "meaningless"
hallucinations. At the same time I first began to understand "meaningless" language
schizophrenics. We are talking about Babette 3., the story which I had once
described. In 1908 in Zurich, I did a report about it.
 The patient used to live in the old part of the city, narrow and dirty alley.
She grew up in poverty. Her sister was a prostitute, father an alcoholic. 39
years Babette sick paranoid form of dementia with characteristic leesah
delusions of grandeur. She was in the hospital for 20 years, when I first saw
her. Hundreds of students have studied on the example of the severe consequences mental
disorder, it was a classic case. Babette was
absolutely crazy and, as a rule, carried all nonsense. Any attempt
to understand it initially seemed pointless. I put a lot of effort
clarification of the meaning of crazy builds. For example, she said, "I
- Lorelei", and when the doctor asked her what that means, said
"I don't know." Or she could complain: "I am like Socrates". This is how I
realized that supposed to mean: "I, like Socrates, unjustly accused".
Absolutely absurd statements, like "I double indispensable
Polytechnic school," or "I'm plum cake, made with buckwheat flour and
corn kernels", or "I am Germany and Switzerland exclusively on a tender
oil", "Naples and I must provide all the pasta"
meant her self-esteem, that is, compensation of certain feelings
of inferiority.
 While Babette and other similar cases, I became convinced that much
that told patients and what still was considered meaningless
not so "crazy" as it seems at first glance. More than once I noticed that
even in these patients always kind of hiding in the shadows of their ego
take relatively normal. Ego to some extent watches.
Occasionally - aloud or silently - it makes sensible comments or
reservations, furthermore, sometimes, such as in severe physical damage,
it is again to the fore, then the patient produces
the impression almost normal.
 I had a patient - an old woman, who suffered from schizophrenia,
normal ego which manifested itself quite clearly. She needed not
so much treatment, how much care. Like any doctor, I was hopeless
patients who could only ease the path to death. This woman
heard voices, they sounded throughout her body, and the voice in her breast was "God
voice". "We must rely on that voice," I told her, and surprised himself
her own daring. This voice was relatively reasonable, and with his help I
somehow managed to cope with the patient. One voice suggested: "Let
he'll read you a Bible!" The patient brought an old, read the Bible, I
each time I instructed her to read one Chapter. Next time I
quizzed its given Chapter. These Bible reading lasted almost 7
years, every 2 weeks. At first I felt uncomfortable in this role, but
after some time, realized that meant our lessons. They helped to keep
the attention of the patient is in constant tension, not allowing him to take in
the destructive chaos of the unconscious. As a result, after 6 years of voice,
which was everywhere, was only in the left half of her body,
the right one is completely freed from them. The intensity
phenomena in the left part are not doubled, and has remained the same. Can to say that
the patient's at least half healed. I didn't expect such a success and
even to imagine that our reader might have some
therapeutic effect.
 My practice of work with patients have allowed me to understand that brad and
hallucinations, usually contain some reasonable grain. Behind them
personality, her story, her hopes and desires. And if we do not find this
meaning, I think it's about us - our unwillingness to understand and the inability
explain. For psychosis, I believe, is a General psychology of personality. We
find here all the same eternal human problems. The patient may feel
dull, apathetic, sluggish, or completely feeble-minded, but this is only the appearance.
A detailed study of the basis of mental disorders we find
nothing new and unexpected, and will face the same things that are in
the basis of our own existence. And this discovery had for me
a huge value.
 I've always wondered why psychiatry has it taken this long
to enter the content of the psychoses. With no reason and question
not asked, what do the fantasies of patients, why  fantasy one
quite different from the fantasy of another one, for example, imagines that his
persecuted by the Jesuits, the other is convinced that it wants to poison the Jews, and the third
that he is wanted by the police. The game of a sick imagination were not taken seriously,
all this calling "delusions of persecution". Similarly I am surprised that my
contemporary research is almost forgotten in our days. Already in the beginning of the century I
used psychotherapeutic methods in the treatment of schizophrenia, is not
today's opening. In fact, it took a long time before
than physicians realized the need to apply psychology in the treatment of mental
diseases.
 Working in the clinic, I was very careful with patients-schizophrenics,
otherwise I certainly would have been accused of deliberate falsification. Schizophrenia,
or, as it was then called, leesah dementia was considered untreatable. If
someone achieved success in the treatment of such patients, it was considered that it was not
schizophrenia.
 When Freud in 1908 he visited me in Zurich, I showed him
Babette's case. After he said, "you Know, Jung, what you know about this
the patient, of course, very interesting. But how could you kill so many
time to communicate with such a phenomenally ugly woman?" I was confused,
such a thought never crossed my mind. I thought she was cute
old lady with extraordinarily rich hallucinations, and she said such
interesting stuff. I rejoiced when through the mist grotesque absurdity
looked through a human being. Cure Babette was impossible -
for too long she was sick. But I had other cases where
likewise, going into all the details, able to achieve
substantial improvement.