depression is possibly of psychotic proportions but
the protocol was too guarded to be certain. Mental
functioning is clearly fragile. Extent of pathology
is evident in borderline features: 1) intrusions or
personal concerns into intellectual functioning, 2)
primitive fantasy content, e.g. mutilated bodies,
masked, distorted figures, concerns about bodily
integrity and deformity, 3) inadequate capacity for
attachment to other people.
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rationale could be superseded by the temporary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, one might take 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
4
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