Providentia

What is Hikikomori?

At the age of fifteen,  an Japanese adolescent identified only as Takeshi withdrew into his bedroom and failed to emerge for more than four years.   Not only did he refuse to attend school or get a job, Takeshi spent 23 hours a day in his tiny bedroom eating food prepared by his mother, watching television, and listening to Radiohead and Nirvana.   As he would later admit in a New York Times interview,  his music choices were shaped by his somber mood.   "Anything that was dark and sounded desperate,"  he said.    

Finally leaving his bedroom and rejoining the world, Takeshi credited the music he listened to for the decision to leave his parents' house and enrolling in a job-training program.   "Don't laugh, but musicians really helped me, especially Radiohead," he said through an interpreter.  "That's what encouraged me to leave my room."

In Japan, it is known as hikikomori which means "pulling inward" or "being confined."    Long a part of Japanese culture (with an odd scattering of cases in South Korea and Taiwan), adolescents and young adults such as Takeshi would completely withdraw from the world with no external contact but their parents.   At least 40 percent of all hikikimori are under 21.   While the actual incidence  is still hard to estimate since not all cases come to the attention of government agencies, there seems little doubt that the number has soared in the past two decades.   According to one report from Japan's Minister of Internal Affairs, there can be as many as 3,600,000 hikikomori in Japan though this number is controversial given the lack of a clear definition.   Though often regarded as a culture-specific disorder, cases of extreme social withdrawal are found in all societies.    The number of hikikomori cases reported may include older adults who have voluntarily withdrawn from the world or who suffer from a broader mental disorder that can mimic the symptoms.

The term hikikimori is believed to have been coined by Japanese psychiatrist Tamaki Saito.   He described it as "A state that has become a problem by the late twenties, that involves cooping oneself up in one’s own home and not participating in society for six months or longer, but that does not seem to have another psychological problem as its principal source."    More recently, researchers have proposed the following criteria for diagnosis:

• spending most of the day and nearly every day confined to home
• marked and persistent avoidance of social situations
• symptoms interfering significantly with the person’s normal routine, occupational (or academic) functioning, or social activities or relationships
• perceiving the withdrawal as ego-syntonic
• duration at least six months
• no other mental disorder that accounts for the social withdrawal and avoidance

Though largely associated with Japan and other Far Eastern countries, cases resembling hikikomori have been seen in Western countries as well.   Communications pioneer Oliver Heaviside withdrew into his bedroom at the age of twenty-four and lived largely isolated for many years with virtually no outside contact except for his parents.   When such cases are referred to mental health professionals, there are usually regarded as being due to broader psychiatric conditions. 

Whether or not hikikomori can be regarded as a cultural-specific condition, it seems to have become a part of Japan's popular culture along with otaku, which is the Japanese equivalent of "geek" or "nerd".   Both terms have been heavily associated with Japanese manga culture and are often linked together  in the media to describe young people so obsessed with manga that they shut out the  world completely.    Other derogatory terms that are often linked to the hikikomori phenomenon are freeter or furita (equivalent to "slackers" in Western countries) and parasaito shinguru or parasite singles who live off their parents to avoid facing adult responsibilities.  Whatever the term used, the stigma surrounding hikikomori is severe enough to reinforce the social anxiety drivining young people to shut out the world and parents from seeking help for their children (and parents themselves are often blamed for "enabling" their children's behaviour).

So what drives young people to become hikikomori?   There have been numerous theories put forward ranging from autism spectrum and pervasive developmental disorders to more sociological explanations suggesting that Japanese society as a whole may be responsible for the surge in new cases.    Along with the demands faced by young people to conform to the ideal of Japanese adulthood, young people who fail to fit in  find themselves increasingly isolated and may resort to becoming hikikomori as a result.   Dealing with bullying in school is also especially hard for young people with social anxiety  or who stand out from the crowd, whether due to perceived physical imperfections such as obesity or sexual orientation issues.   According to Tamaki Saito, part of the problem may be the traditional Japansese attitude regarding solitude as well as the strong relationship between mothers and their eldest sons which causes them to be more accepting of a child adopting a hikikomori lifestyle.  

If explanations for hikikomori are hard to find, developing actual solutions are even harder.    The stigma attached to hikikomori and their parents complicates the problem of reintegrating them into society after a lengthy absence.    The problem of sekentei, or "reputation in the community" can reinforce the hikikomori's reluctance to emerge from isolation.   From the perspective of Western mental health professionals, part of the problem dealing with hikikomori is the greater cultural acceptance that makes it easier for young people to withdraw.  School counselors and the courts often treat it as a family problem and rarely get involved except in extreme cases involving life-threatening behaviours such as self-starvation or violence.    

As hikikomori becomes more visible, new therapy approaches are being developed to address the problem.    Clinics and half-way houses designed to help hikikomori re-enter society are found in many of Japan's urban centres.    Support groups are also available for former hikikomori and their parents but the psychological and social problems they face can be hard to overcome.  While some centres also provide job training programs such as "New Start", explaining lengthy gaps in their employment history to prospective employers is not an easy task.  

In a country struggling with economic recession, the rise in hikikomori has led to greater publicity and greater pressure being placed on parents to stop "coddling" their wayward children.   Until recently, a company in Nagoya, Japan could be hired by parents to "correct" hikikomori children by bursting into their bedroom, shaming them for their actions, and dragging them to a dormitory to learn proper adult behaviour.    Though mental health professionals warn against sudden confrontations, the frustration that many parents feel at seeing their children so isolated can lead to violent confrontations.

According to Kazuhiko Saito, director of the psychiatry department in Chiba's Kohnodai Hospital, a better strategy is to "reorganize" the relationship between hikikomori children and their parents.   Training parents in better communication strategies to communicate with their withdrawn children,  hikikomori are then encouraged to attend Saito's clinic in person.  There, they can receive treatment which includes self-help groups run by former hikikomoro who encourage them to return to society.   While group therapy is a relatively new phenomenon in Japan, the self-help groups have become a key component in the hikikomori treatment process. 

As for the other hikikomori, the ones who spent decades isolating themselves from society,  the question of what is going to happen when their aging parents are no longer able to support them has become a vexing one for the Japanese government.   Developing practical solutions to deal with people who have basically shut out the world will be desperately needed in the decades to come.

 

 

 

 

Understanding Greed

Greed is an important motive: it is seen as both productive (a source of ambition; the motor of the economy) and destructive (undermining social relationships; the cause of the late 2000s financial crisis). However, relatively little is known about what greed is and does. A new article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reports on 5 studies that develop and test the 7-item Dispositional Greed Scale (DGS). Study 1 (including 4 separate samples from 2 different countries, total N = 6092) provides evidence for the construct and discriminant validity of the DGS in terms of positive correlations with maximization, self-interest, envy, materialism, and impulsiveness, and negative correlations with self-control and life satisfaction. Study 2 (N = 290) presents further evidence for discriminant validity, finding that the DGS predicts greedy behavioral tendencies over and above materialism. Furthermore, the DGS predicts economic behavior: greedy people allocate more money to themselves in dictator games (Study 3, N = 300) and ultimatum games (Study 4, N = 603), and take more in a resource dilemma (Study 5, N = 305). These findings shed light on what greed is and does, how people differ in greed, and how greed can be measured. In addition, they show the importance of greed in economic behavior and provide directions for future studies.

For the abstract

Carbon Monoxide Identified as Cause of Bizarre Kazakhstan Sleeping Sickness

After years of investigation, government researchers have finally announced what they believe to be the cause of a bizarre epidemic of sleeping sickness striking the residents of two villages on the border between Russian and Kazakhstan: high levels of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons in the atmosphere.  

Since 2013, over two hundred villagers, most of whom are ethnic Russians and Germans, have been falling asleep unexpectedly, in some cases while they were at work, and lapsing into comas that would last for days.  Even after waking up, they often reported memory loss, grogginess, general weakness, and headache pain.   Some villagers have fallen asleep up to half a dozen times though medical experts ruled out any lasting physical problems.   The sleeping epidemic is believed to occur in waves which often occur every few weeks and affected people of all ages.   Even animals have been affected by the epidemic, including pets and livestock.

Doctors examining sleeping sickness victims initially believed it was due to vodka poisoning but later changed their diagnosis to "encephalopathy of an unknown nature", a catch-all term for brain disease.   While an abandoned uranium mine near the two villages is the presumed cause of the epidemic, epidemiologists conducted thousands of tests and ruled out radon gas leakage, infection, and contamination of the local water supply.   Some authorities even suggested that the epidemic was a form of psychogenic disease (i.e., mass hysteria).   The mystery has been deepened by the lack of any real pattern to the cases with some people being affected while others living in the same house being symptom-free. 

As for the villagers themselves, the bizarre sleeping epidemic is only the latest episode in the long saga affecting the region.   The uranium mine was once the industrial heart of both villages and its closure has led to thousands of residents moving away to find work elsewhere.   The uncertainty over the cause of the sleeping sickness has left many villagers uncertain about their future and some even keep emergency bags packed in case they need to go to the hospital.

It was only recently that researchers concluded that the cases of sleeping sickness were being caused by elevated levels of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons in the air.  According to Kazakhstan Deputy Prime Minister, Berdibek Saparbaev, the uranium mines have proven to be the culprit after all.   “The uranium mines were closed at some point, and at times a concentration of carbon monoxide occurs there,” Saparbaev said. “The oxygen in the air is reduced accordingly, which is the real reason for the sleeping sickness in these villages.”    

Given the health hazard posed by the gas emissions from the mines, both villages are being evacuated with all families to be relocated elsewhere.  So far, sixty-eight of the two hundred and twenty three families affected have already been located.   At this time, it remains unclear whether the evacuated villagers will ever be able to return to the homes where they have lived for decades.

For more information

Does Sex and Violence Really Sell Products?

Ninety-eight percent of American homes have TV sets, which means the people in the other 2% have to generate their own sex and violence.  George Baylos

Why is there so much sex and violence in movies and television?   While American television and movies are far less likely to allow actual nudity than other countries, jokes and innuendos about human sexuality are a common feature despite attempts at censoring sexually explicit content.   Media studies report that well over half of all television shows contain sexual references that are meant to titillate and attract viewers.   Despite this flood of sexual content, there are still curious inconsistencies surrounding the sexual messages that we often see.  While advertisers have no problem using sex to sell everything from shampoo to hotel rooms, we are far more likely to see commercials about Viagra than birth control.   This seems like a sad state of affairs considering the popularity of "abstinence-only" programs in many parts of the country and the total refusal of many parents to provide their children with sex education information.

And then there is the violence that seems to be a major feature in most movies and television programs.  On average, children from two to eleven will spend twenty to thirty hours a week in front of a television set and this still doesn't allow for the time spent playing video games or watching movies.    Media research suggests that children will seen an average of 200,000 violent crimes and 16,000 murders by the age of eighteen.   In fact, shows aimed at children are often more violent than adult oriented television though the question of whether violent content in the media leads to violence in children is still controversial.

Whatever your views on sex and violence on television and movies, the widespread belief that sex and violence will sell products helps explain why this kind of media programming is so popular.  As former CBS and NBC programming president Jeff Sagansky once pointed out, “The number one priority in television is not to transmit quality programming to viewers, but to deliver consumers to advertisers. We aren’t going to get rid of violence until we get rid of advertisers”     Among the twenty-five most expensive television programs for advertisers in the 2014-2015 season, forty-four were rated TV-14 or TV-MA for violence and forty percent were rated TV-14 or TV-MA for sex.    

To read more, check out my new Psychology Today blog post.

Revisiting the Wainuiomata Exorcism Case

In October 2007, Janet Moses, a 22-year-old mother of two children, died of drowning after a three-day "cleansing ceremony" conducted by family members trying to free her from the effects of a curse.   The family became concerned after Moses began "acting strangely" and a visiting Maori elder, Timi Rahi, told the Wellington, New Zealand family that she was the victim of a "makutu" or a traditional Maori curse.  According to the elder, the curse was due to Moses' sister who had stolen a stone lion from a local pub and which needed to be returned.    Despite the lion being returned and apparent restitution being made, Janet Moses continued acting strangely and the family decided to take stronger action.  Timi Rahi had left by this time and was apparently not asked for his help in lifting the curse.

Belief in "makutu" or witchcraft remains strong in parts of New Zealand, especially in Maori communities, and "cleansing rituals" intended to help victims of witchcraft continue to be practiced.  In Moses' case, the ceremony involved forcibly restraining her on the floor of the family's Wellington house while family members stood in a circle chanting incantations known as "karakia" to drive out evil spirits.   According to later testimony, family members then began shouting at Janet and looking into her eyes while "saying things like 'Get out', 'Leave her alone' and 'You're not going to have her."   She was then held down on the floor while her eyelids were forced open and water was poured down her face and in her eyes in an attempt to get rid of the makutu.

Several people also "leant over Janet, put their mouths over her eyeballs, and tried to suck at her eyes in an attempt, again, to remove the curse."  They poured so much water down her face and eyes that the house itself was flooded.  As the prosecutor in the case later stated, "At the time, Janet was restrained while the water was poured over her. If she called out or tried to push those pouring the water away, the restraining simply increased,"   She eventually died of drowning on October 12 after a full night of this kind of water torture.   Her father and grandfather, who had opposed the exorcism, were not present and only learned what was happening after her death.

When family members realized that she ha died, they attempted to revive her but did not call emergency services.    Several members of the family then turned their attention to a fourteen-year-old girl who had been present at the scene because they believed the evil spirit had moved into her after Janet Moses died.   The girl's eyes were reportedly gouged though she was not blinded.   Police were finally called nine hours later.   Eight family members were charged with manslaughter and assault.

The trial lasted for twenty-nine days with over a hundred witnesses being called, many of them being family members and neighbours.   According to testimony, Janet Moses had developed psychiatric problems that apparently led to her "acting like a lion" and experiencing relationship problems with her common-law husband and their two children.   Despite suggestions that she was suffering from psychiatric problems , the exorcism carried out at the local flat once owned by her deceased grandmother, apparently with Janet's full consent.   Virtually all family members who participated in the ritual came from the maternal side of her family.  Several of the accused, including aunts and cousins of Janet Moses, testified that the maternal side of the family was deeply spiritual and that cleansing houses of makutu influences was part of family tradition dating back for generations.  

Despite their beliefs, all of the family members who participated in the exorcism admitted that their actions were largely improvised since none of them really knew how to lift a makutu from a possessed person.   While the ritual is supposed to be carried out by a Maori tohunga trained in lifting makutu, the practice became illegal with the passing of the Tohunga Suppression Act of 1907 which was only repealed in 1962.   Though Maori tribal elders also testified during the trial about the rituals associated with lifting makutu curses as well as the spiritual practices associated with Maori cultural beliefs, none of them had been consulted on how to remove the makutu from the deceased.

After the lengthy trial, it took twenty hours for jurors to convict five of the eight family members guilty.    None of the convicted were given prison sentences but were instead received community sentences.    The judge also ordered that all of the convicted take part in  programs to become more educated in Maori cultural matters.    Janet's paternal grandfather, Charlie Moses, who had been one of the family members to oppose the exorcism, expressed satisfaction with the sentences.  "We've made our peace with them," he said.  "They didn't know what they were doing, even though I told them not to go down that road. They chose to do it anyway. For that mistake ... they're going to pay for the rest of their lives. I wish them well all the same." 

The trial and its outcome also meant major publicity over Maori spiritual rituals, especially  concerning the lifting of curses.   Many New Zealanders had never heard of makutu before the trial began but  the conviction of the "Wainuiomata five" sparked a renewed interest in Maori traditions.   A coroner's inquest was eventually held  in 2010 which recommended that families considering exorcism rituals for the lifting of makutu consult tribal elders before doing anything potentially dangerous.   While makutu lifting continues to be part of Maori cultural practices,  the legacy of the Janet Moses' death still remains.

Postscript:  This year, a new feature film titled, Belief:  The Possession of Janet Moses, has been scheduled for release at the New Zealand International Film Festival.   Intended as a feature-length documentary, the new film is intended to shed light on the circumstances that led to Janet's death and includes witness interviews an re-enactments to show viewers how such a tragedy could occur.  The film's director, Emmy-award winning director David Stubbs, describes the film as an "extraordinary true story of how both love and fear could drive a kiwi family to unwittingly kill one of their own.”    Janet Moses' extended family did not participate in the making of the film.

 

 

Reining in the Prodigy

There seems no question that William James Sidis was a genius.

Born in New York City in 1898, his parents, Boris and Sarah, were Russian immigrants and intellectuals who had fled to the U.S. to escape persecution.  Boris earned his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard University and taught psychology there. He was a close friend of William James who was his son's godfather (William was also named for him).   Sarah was an M.D. whose family fled the Russian pogroms ten years before William's birth though she gave up her medical career to be a full-time mother to her son (and later daughter).  Boris and Sarah both held radical notions concerning early child education (radical for the time anyway) and encouraged William to learn without using the discipline that characterized education in that era.

The results were nothing less than spectacular: William could read the New York Times by the age of 18 months and taught himself eight languages by the time he was eight (he also invented a new language and a new logarithm table). At the age of 11, he entered Harvard as part of an experimental program along with other promising prodigies including Norbert Wiener and Buckminster Fuller.   William excelled in higher mathematics and language and a brilliant future was predicted for him.  Intelligence testing was still in its infancy (and Boris dismissed IQ tests as "pedantic and misleading") but later estimates would put William's IQ in the 250 to 300 range. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree with full honours at the age of 16.

And then things went downhill from there...

William's lifelong feud with the press began with an interview before graduation in which he stated that he planned to remain celibate and that women "did not appeal to him". Publicity over the interview may have been the cause of his being threatened by a gang of Harvard students and which led to his leaving Harvard to go to Rice University in Texas.   After some time, he abandoned mathematics and enrolled in Harvard Law School in 1916.  Willliam withdrew three years later without finishing and became involved in political causes including being a conscientious objector to the World War I draft.

His arrest in 1919 for participating in a socialist rally that turned violent caused him to be sentenced to 18 months in prison for rioting and assault (there is some question concerning the legitimacy of the charges).  His father made a special arrangement with the District Attorney to keep William out of prison by having him sent to his private sanatorium instead.  This seemed to be an especially dark time in William's life and he never forgave his parents for "kidnapping" him and holding him against his will for more than a year.   He accused them of subjecting him to various forms of "mental torture" including scolding and nagging for hours at a time.  He was also frequently threatened with transfer to a regular mental hospital where his prospects for an eventual release would be slim.

William eventually managed to escape in 1921 but he never reconciled with his parents.  His experience in the sanatorium had left him "scared of his own shadow" and his parents' efforts to have him returned to their care made him extremely paranoid about his privacy and any intrusions into his life. He spent the rest of his life apparently drifting between menial jobs although he continued to publish a range of eclectic works (mostly under pseudonyms) that still attract a cult following. He especially resented intrusions into his life by the press (who regularly presented him as being an unhappy and burned-out product of his forced acceleration) and even sued one paper for what he considered to be a libelous article about him that caused "grievous mental anguish and humiliation."   The stress from the lawsuit may have contributed to his death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1944.

So, what do we make of William Sidis? Despite his early death and failure to live up to his early potential, his case is still followed in educational circles. Would things have turned out differently had his parents not intervened in his jail sentence as they did?   Some questions can't be answered.

On Health and Wealth

Relative socioeconomic status (SES) may be an important social determinant of health. A new study published in the journal Heath Psychology aimed to examine how relative SES, as measured by subjective SES, income inequality, and individual SES relative to others in the community, is associated with a wide range of adolescent health outcomes, after controlling for objective family SES. Method: Adolescents (13–16 years; N = 2,199) from the Quebec Child and Adolescent Health and Social Survey were included. Socioeconomic measures included adolescents’ subjective SES; parental education and household income; community education/employment, income, and poverty rate; and community income inequality. Health outcomes included self-rated health, mental health problems, dietary and exercise health behaviors, substance-related health behaviors, reported physical health, and biomarkers of health. Best-fitting multilevel regression models (participants nested within schools) were used to test associations. Findings indicated that lower subjective SES was associated with poorer health outcomes. After accounting for family SES, lower community education/employment had an additional negative effect on health, while lower community income had a protective effect for certain health outcomes. There was less evidence for an independent effect of income inequality. Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of measures of relative SES that span across a number of levels and contexts, and provide further understanding into the socioeconomic gradient in adolescence.

For the abstract

Nigerian Man "Possessed by a Homosexual Demon" Exorcised on Television

A Nigerian businessman who was reportedly "possessed by a homosexual demon" after swimming in a hotel pool in Kenya recently underwent a televised exorcism to restore his heterosexuality.    In a  video shown on a Nigerian Christian television network, the smartly-dressed man identified only as "Tegus" was first interviewed by an unnamed priest, Tegus tells how the demon inside of him made him "love men instead of women" and led him to download gay porn.    This demon is one of many inside of Tejus and are responsible for his breakup with his girlfriend and his developing a "homosexual lifestyle:.

Talking to the demon supposedly inside Tegus, the priest calls him an "unclean spirit" as he began his exorcism.   Tegus becomes visibly frightened and attempts to escape when the priests shouts the words, "Turn for Jesus Christ!"   At this point, the priest  has two attendants in matching red jumpers hold Tejus down as the priest continues with the exorcism.  

After the priest tells the attendants to let Tejus go, he appears visibly disoriented while the audience begins to applaud.  Tejus then says that he remembers nothing of what occurred before.   In a crudely edited interview following the exorcism, Tejus described how the demon had first possessed him. 

"After swimming, I went back to my room in the night to sleep and I had a dream. I dreamt where I saw myself swimming in the same pool and when I woke up, I felt something had entered me. I started having passion for men and going closer to my closer men. Before my journey, I had a fiancee.  I had to ask her to quit the relationship because I had no passion for anymore - no more affections for her."

F0llowing the exorcism, Tegus insisted that he had "total deliverance" and now feels a 'passion for the opposite sex.'   No word is given on whether he reunited with his fiancee.

 With a population of more than 170 million people, Nigeria is one of the largest countries in Africa.  Surveys indicate that over 97 percent of all Nigerians object to homosexuality and all homosexual acts are illegal there under the Criminal Code.   In the southern Nigerian states, this can mean a maximum sentence of fourteen years.   In the northern states however, where Sharia law applies to all Muslims, people convicted of homosexuality can be stoned to death.  

While some church groups attempt to aid LGBT persons, this is often dangerous since their activities remain illegal despite international pressure.    In the meantime, religious programming continues to broadcast their anti-gay message and "exorcisms" remain  common.

 

Finding a New Job After 40

Losing your job can be hard at any age, but it is especially brutal for older workers.

According to employment figures released by the United States Government Accountability Office, the length of time spent being unemployed has tripled for workers over the age of fifty-five, even though younger workers are able to find new jobs more quickly.    Whether due to outdated job skills or age-related bias, older job seekers often find themselves being forced to drop out of the work force completely or taking jobs paying far less than what they once earned.  Even when the overall unemployment rate is taken into account, older job seekers typically spend more time being unemployed than younger workers.  This is despite the fact that older workers are the single largest segment of the labour force in most industrialized countries. 

Are older job seekers really the "new unemployables" as one recent research study has suggested?   While there have been numerous studies looking at the link between aging and unemployment, research focusing on the various reasons older workers have difficulty finding new jobs have tended to focus on the psychological effects of unemployment.   Other potential explanations for the longer time older job seekers spend unemployed, including whether differences in job search activities between older and younger workers may be playing a role have been largely overlooked.

To deal with these concerns and provide a comprehensive look at the reemployment prospects of older workers, a new review article published in Psychological Bulletin examines ninety-four research studies conducted over the past two decades.  A research team led by Connie Wanberg of the University of Minnesota and Ruth Kanfer of the Georgia Institute of Technology conducted this meta-analysis to look at  the relationship between age and the time needed to find a new job as well as whether age is really a barrier in filling new jobs that become available.   The researchers also looks at whether there were differences between older and young workers in terms of the different methods used to find a new job (including using online resources that young workers might find easier to access).   As well, the researchers examined employment trends involving older workers across different decades to see if the problem with older workers and unemployment has become worse with time.

To read more, check out my new Psychology Today blog post.

The Man Who Was Bourne Again (Part Two of Two)

Continued from Part One

After Brown/Bourne returned home, publicity over his case was enough to attract the attention of the American Society for Psychical Research and the eminent psychologist, William James.  

A founding member of the Society and one of its first vice-presidents, James became fascinated with spiritualism and unusual psychological experiences following the death of his young son in  1885.  Along with attending numerous seances, he became an active supporter of paranormal research and helped launch the career of spirit medium, Leonora Piper, among others.   Though later skeptics questioned how easily James was fooled, his reputation as a scientist provided a major boost for the spiritualist cause.  

Due to his fascination with spiritualism, James also devoted himself to researching what he called "anomalistic phenomena", including cases like Ansel Bourne's.  After learning about Bourne through the Society, James arranged for Bourne to come to Boston for five days so that he could examine him in person.   James hoped that Bourne's lost memories of his time as Albert Brown could be recovered through hypnosis and Bourne agreed to give it a try.  

The hypnosis sessions took place in Boston and at Bourne's home in Greene, R.I.   Not suprisingly, Bourne was an excellent hypnotic subject and James was able to get him to recall being Brown fairly quickly.  This persona known as "Albert Brown" proved to be quite a puzzle though. 

While "Brown" denied any knowledge of Ansel Bourne, the biographical details of his life were very similar to Bourne's.   He claimed that he was born in New Hampshire and provided a birthdate that was the same as Bourne's.    Much like Bourne, Brown claimed to be a widower whose wife died in 1881 (the same year that Bourne's first wife passed away) and that he had three adult children (Bourne only had two).   He was confused about many of the other details of his early life though he claimed to be a retired professor of religion and that he had once operated a store in New Hampshire.  Brown reported settling in Norristown and running his shop there though his memories ended at the point when "Ansel Bourne" regained his old identity.

Though James was able to use hypnosis to have Bourne/Brown switch identities fairly easily,  his attempts at unifying the two personalities failed completely.  As far as Ansel Bourne and Albert Brown were concerned, they were separate individuals with no real awareness of one another.   When "Albert Brown" was introduced to Mrs. Bourne, he denied knowing her.   Though Brown and Bourne shared some memories, including memorable incidents that had happened to both of them,  Bourne was mystified over why he would choose Albert Brown's name.  He also denied ever living in New Hampshire or having any experience with running a trade store.

Bourne also admitted to suffering from chronic depression (he called them "the blues") that had begun in childhood.   These depressive episodes would vary in length from a few hours to more than a week during which he would avoid all contact with people.   There were also frequent "wandering" incidents during these episodes in which he found himself miles away from where he had last recalled being. 

His wife also reported that Bourne was prone to "fainting fits" during which he would remain unconscious for hours.   Based on this information, James suggested that Bourne was suffered from epileptic seizures and that his disappearance in 1887 may have been due to a "post-epileptic partial loss of memory" during which he took on a new personality.   After his sessions with James were done, Bourne apparently returned to his life with no further bizarre episodes (likely to the relief of his family). 

As for William James, he included Ansel Bourne's case in his monumental 1890 work, The Principles of Psychology, and classified it as a "spontaneous hypnotic trance persisting for two months."   Though he linked it to the "secondary personalities" often shown by spirit mediums during seances, he had no further explanation for what had happened to Bourne.

The case of Ansel Bourne is now regarded as an early example of psychogenic fugue (or possibly dissociative identity disorder).   In his 1986 work, The Passion of Ansel Bourne, Michael Kenny suggested that the two strange episodes in Bourne's life, both the one that led to his becoming a preacher and, later, to Albert Brown, may have occurred as a way of escaping problems in his life.   Though there was no indication of deliberate fraud in Bourne's case (everyone who examined him was impressed by his sincerity), he seemed unusually prone to dissociation, or the psychological detachment from reality, which was likely what made him such as good hypnotic subject. 

According to the DSM-5, psychogenic fugue is classified as a dissociative disorder similar to dissociative amnesia.   People suffering from this condition can lose their identity for months, or even years, while taking on a new identity in another place.   In one recent case study involving psychogenic fugue, a woman lost her memories of her old life and had still not regained them even eleven years later though she had been found and identified by family members.  Her dissociative amnesia was believed to be due to the significant trauma she had sustained before her memory loss.  Additional testing showed no neurological damage that could help account for her amnesia and her memories of her old life apparently remained lost.  

Other cases of psychogenic fugue, including that of William Horatio Bates (of Perfect Sight Without Glasses fame), suggest that psychogenic fugue can often become a way of escaping from stressful life problems and some researchers have suggested that this kind of fugue may simply be a form of malingering.   Much like Ansel Bourne however, most people experiencing psychogenic fugue often appear confused and emotionally distraught over losing their identity and malingering seems an unlikely explanation for many of these cases.

Whatever the ultimate explanation for psychogenic fugue, it seems to have become a popular plot device on movies and television programs such as Breaking Bad (in which Walter White fakes a fugue state), One Tree Hill, and The Mentalist, among others.   Whether or not what is shown to audiences actually corresponds with  real psychogenic fugue case reports, it definitely has entertainment value.

One last point about Ansel Bourne.  Though Robert Ludlum has never confirmed that Ansel Bourne's case inspired his 1980 spy thriller, The Bourne Identity, the similarities are hard to ignore.   In the novel (which spawned a series of sequels and numerous films), the lead character Jason Bourne is suffering from severe amnesia leading him to forget his own name and identity.   While the amnesia is caused by brain injury rather than being a psychogenic fugue, speculations about where Ludlum got the idea for Jason Bourne has given Ansel Bourne a strange form of immortality, even long after his death.

Such is life.