Borderline feature number two is, obviously,
of special concern to us. Such preoccupations are
alarming, and suggest an unusual capacity for violent
thought. Later in the report, Dr. Quinlan states:
Impulse control is marginally
adequate. This point, coupled with borderline
features number one and two, suggest Michael may just
be pathological enough to sidestep his intellectual
functioning. In other words, his rationale could be
superseded by the temporary madness of a psychotic
episode. If Michael was, as suspected, under the
influence of alcohol and drugs on the night of October
30, 1975, the possibility of such a psychotic episode
is increased, while Michael's wherewithal to resist it,
is decreased.
Remember, Dr. Quinlan states: The depression
is possibly of psychotic proportions but the protocol
was too guarded to be certain. At first, I
took this to mean that Michael himself was too
guarded, that he used a certain protocol and/or
polite behavior to distance himself from the doctor
in a protective manner. Consider the sentence again.
Dr. Quinlan says "the" protocol, not Michael's
protocol, or Michael's manner. Is it possible that
Dr. Quinlan was prevented from conducting a thorough
examination of Michael by other individuals--perhaps
through some imposed and limiting guidelines or
circumstances? Could this be the "protocol" of which
she speaks?
The core of the depression is the feeling of
being helpless, of being buffeted and brutalized by
external forces. He sees himself as the helpless
victim. There is also great fury inside him focused
primarily in hatred for his father. This anger is
very frightening and he has inadequate defenses to
deal with it except for avoidance and inhibition of
behavior. There is some trend toward a more paranoid
stance in which projected anger and fear that other
people see him as crazy combine to produce
interpersonal distancing and disparate resistance to
manipulation by external forces.
Part of what Dr. Quinlan seems to be establishing
here, is the notion that Michael lacks a sense of
self-control in his life, and very much resents this
fact. He hates his father, because his father is the
one who most controls Michael's life. His father also
represents a legacy and a family standard which, as
much as anything else, places both great expectations
and limitations on Michael's conduct and identity.
There also seems to be evidence of family pressure
which Michael felt from his brothers.
From Thomas Sheridan's digest of Anna Goodman's Elan
report: Thereafter, commencing in the last
paragraph of the 1st page she reports that Michael
has "started to talk about a lot of things that
bother him which be blocks out most of the time." In
a distraught state, i.e. crying off and on, he talked
about feeling that "he always had to be a certain way
because of who he is." Anna Goodman, then, interprets
this to mean that because he is a Skakel he had to do
things (many of which were dangerous, i.e. drinking
and fast driving) so people would accept
him.
Dr. Quinlan talks about a protocol keeping her from
getting adequately close to Michael. Conversely,
then, this protocol--basically enacted and sustained
by his father--must keep Michael
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