David and Lisa / Jordi / Little Ralphie and the Creature: Three remarkable stories of children struggling to find themsleves and their places in this world - Softcover

Rubin, Theodore Isaac

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312870035 ISBN 13: 9780312870034

Publisher: Forge Books, 1998

Synopsis

Drawing on more than thirty years' experience as a practicing psychiatrist, Dr. Rubin shows the reader the heartrending and hope-filled stories of emotionally disturbed children as they struggle to make it through each day.

To his two classic stories in the literature of psychology, Lisa and David and Jordi, Dr.. Rubin has now added Little Ralphie and the Creature. together they demonstrate the power of love and its ability to heal.

Meet these four extraordinary young people as they search for a place and time in the world where is it safe to be themselves.

David: Extremely intelligent, with extraordinary abilities in math, physics, and chess. He is passionately interested in clocks. he cannot bear to be touched, in petrified of germs and human contact. Suffers overwhelming panic attacks and obsessive-compulsive behavior.

Lisa: Schizophrenic who must constantly speak in singsong rhymes to avoid losing herself to Muriel--her moody, brooding, scowling, silent other self.

Jordi: Schizophrenic, with autistic tendencies. He's afraid of garbage cans, all garbage cans, because he believes them to be ears. Ears that will hear him. Only his "jiggler"--a doorknob tied to a long string--can offer him an comfort or protection.

Little Ralphie: Actue schizophrenic reaction--catatonic type. Ralphie hides in alternate realties to escape his unbearable pain.

About this title

About the Author

Theodore Isaac Rubin, M.D., author of David and Lisa and more than twenty-five fiction and nonfiction books, is the former president of the American Institute for Psychoanalysis. He lives in New York City.

From Kirkus Reviews

0-312-86373-X Three case histories open readers' eyes to true psychopathology in children. ``Lisa & David'' is a classic, made memorable in the film about two institutionalized teenagers whose developing relationship helps each begin to heal. ``Jordie'' is a composite portrait of a childhood schizophrenic, also previously published. ``Little Ralphie'' is a new study of a teenager who exhibits symptoms of you-name-it: catatonia, schizophrenia, multiple personalities. Rubin (``my friends call me Izz''), the compiler of these portraits, is a well-regarded psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and author of fiction and nonfiction, including self-help books. The stories of the extremely disturbed children presented here are vivid and compelling, but it's not always entirely clear, especially regarding Ralphie, that drama doesn't overshadow the reality. Little Ralphie arrives at the treatment center as an unidentified young man who doesn't speak or react, offering no information about his past or his feelings. His psychiatrist attaches to him and fights to keep him off electroshock and drugs. But there are long sections in which we enter Ralphie's mindat one with a colony of ants, at sea with a school of whaleswhere his ``Self'' separates from his body and runs to hide. The reconstruction of these inner states is dramatically effective yet dubious. Part of Ralphie's story includes the musings of Izz, who speculates whether love might not be more important than psychoanalytic objectivity in helping this patient. Ralphie eventually has a dramatic breakthough and reveals the tragic cause of his psychosis. Lisa, incidentally, still hopping, skipping, and rhyming, reappears as a minor character in Jordie's story. Each story ends with doctors' notes about the progress and prognosis of the patient, optimistic in all three cases. A curious and mostly redundant collection. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Forge Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0312870035
• ISBN 13: 9780312870034
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224