by Pei-hua (Stuart) Chuang During our interview Dr. Ju-chin Lee noticed a baby babbling loudly nearby. “I think children are so interesting,” she said, “even the ones that seem ugly. In my eyes there are no ugly children—all of them are angelic.” Dr. Lee is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who is interested in scrutinizing her young patients’ relations with the outside world. Ever since she was young, pondering has provided great relish for her, and it is this habit that has led her to become a psychiatrist. Nevertheless, when it comes to issues concerning the developing process of human life— “where we come from, how we came, where we are going”—psychoanalysis has to be ushered in as well. “Since it is in concrete experiences rather than in vacant fancies that human lives originate,” she remarked, “the ‘where’ where we came from cannot be reached simply through scientific reasoning. Psychoanalysis provides us longer, deeper, and wider molds of thought than those provided by cognitive behavioral studies; it leads us to where experiences reside.” For her, psychoanalysis is different from other medical methodologies in that it has more affinity to humanity.
Dr. Lee’s interest in child and adolescent psychiatry began with an interest in autism. “The autistic are like people from another universe,” she remarked. Traditional treatments for autism are behavior oriented, aiming to correct behavior patterns that are considered inappropriate from a general social perspective. When nonconformist behavior is made more “proper” the treatment is thought to be complete. Yet, for Dr. Lee there are still many questions: what causes these children to deviate from the “normal” path and is their “inappropriate” behavior truly inappropriate or only according to accepted social norms? The treatment of the autistic coincides with an examination of the human developmental process: how this inappropriate behavior develops and why it should be regarded as pathological. But Dr. Lee also finds herself in a dilemma over correcting this so-called inappropriate behavior. As a person who respects variations in human development, she would like to allow the deviations to develop by themselves, yet as a psychiatrist she is supposed to make her patients well, and those with autistic symptoms can never fit easily into a society so paranoid about those who live outside the given rules. This made her wonder how patients with deviant behavior could find room for happiness, which would allow them to start feeling better. Through her training as well as her experiences with treatment, Dr. Lee has discovered that this room for happiness truly exists. Dr. Lee also suggests that cooperation with autistic patients is necessary to help them fulfill their narcissistic wishes. This is another way out of autism since it rebuilds patients’ connection to the outside world and allows them to develop relationships with others. Dr. Lee once had a patient who made piles of toy cars during his visit to the clinic, and she knew on the spot that it was a sign of the child’s contentment. Dr. Lee responded immediately: “Oh! Look how many cars! So interesting!” The child’s mother had bidden him to ask the doctor whether he could borrow her toys. Dr. Lee asked the mother why she had done this, and she answered that as soon as the child entered he had noticed the box of toys, and that he knew that this doctor was different from the scary ones who gave medicine and made injections. Dr. Lee added that she had also observed the child looking at her yearningly, then looking back to his mother, which seem to be a request for her assistance to help him express his desire for the toys. The mother helped him to fulfill his narcissistic wish, which showed that his mother loved him and understood him, thus giving rise to his feelings of contentment. Dr. Lee’s response to the piles of cars also reaffirmed to the child that such narcissistic happiness really exists. The child’s eyes became bright and he began to have contact with those interacting with him—at this moment he was not autistic at all. Dr. Lee contends that to reach this kind of relation time is needed—for both the children and their parents. The children need time to conceive the feelings existent within them, either the happy ones or the anxious ones. The parents need time to perceive the yearning in their children to express their as yet inexpressible feelings, and time to decipher the contents. While society requires each individual quickly to fit into his role in the social context, there is at the same time a certain vitality hidden in each individual, bringing forth various countenances in the here and now, countenances that are angelic thanks to the abundance in the essence of life itself. a
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May 2024
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