September 1962

And the final clincher given for this A psychiatrist corninents on “the honesty part” point of view is a quotation from an unidentified lawmaker from New Mexico to the effect that freedom to lie is a fundamental right: “I say”

How “White” Is a “White Lie”? (imagine you hear Senator Claghorn speaking and it comes out about right) “I say you have a right to lie to whomever you please.” by Dr. 0. Hobart Mowrer Let us consider first the lighter side of this beguiling argument. Under the sway of Freudian psychoanalysis, author of “The Crisis in Psychiatry and Religion” we psychologists and psychiatrists former Professor of Psychology, Harvurd and Princeton, now Research tried for several decades to believe ciety; and if we end up with too Professor of Psycho[ogy, University of Illinois-friend of A A that the painful discrepancy which much conscience, it is clearly their is found in every case of so-called fault, rather than ours. neurosis or functional psychosis be- But we are now, for a variety of selves, victims of a “severe illness1- tween an individual’s moral stand- reasons, beginning to suspect that A RECENT issue of a popular magazine carried an article entitled “The Whole Truth about Lying,” by and unable to “help themselves.” Here Mr. Krimmel is simply echoing ards and his actual conduct or performance has arisen, not because his the real problem is not that our standards are too high but that we Herman E. Krimmel. “You are a the now widely held view that if you performance has been inferior or fail or refuse to live up to them. If liar! So am I, and so is cvcryonc are “sickW-or, better, “sick, sick, “bad,” but because his standards are this is thc situation, then the reelse,” it begins. sick,”-you can, literally, get away unrealistically high. In short, accord- sponsibility or “blame” comes back There are, according to Mr. Krim- with murder, not to mention the mere ing to this view, people fall “ill” be- squarely upon ourselves. And we are mel, two kinds of lying. One is ad- mishandling of truth. cause they are trying to be too good. beginning to ask: Why, then, do we mittedly malignant, destructive, hurt- Since Mr. Krimmel is not himself And Mr. Krimmel is making what he human beings permit ourselves to ful. But the individuals who engage a psychiatrist or professionally affili- may regard as a faithful application engage in such unfortunate, costly, in it are really “sick” and not to be ated in any other way with the field of this philosophy when he says we self-destructive actions? .Why, in held accountable. “Reality is so pain- of psychopathology, we should per- shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves other words, are we so weak and ful to its victims that they retreat haps not try to take too seriously if we lie or cheat a little–or is it just “evil”? behind a protective wall of deceit. what he has to say about “malignant” “a littlem?-now and then. If it were true that so-called neu- Usually they cannot help themselves lying and consider, instead, his views The alternative view which is now rotics are “disturbed,” not because and are unable to distinguish truth on normal, ordinary, healthy lying: in process of emerging is as follows. of anything they have done but befrom falsehood.” the kind you do, inevitably, if you As long as neurosis was attributed cause of what has been done to them, We used to think, naively perhaps, are intelligent, have your own best to a too severe, too demanding con- it would clearly be someone else’s that those who were taken-in and ex- interests at heart, and are compas- science, it was perhaps logical responsibility to “diagnose and treat” ploited by swindlers, confidence men, sionate and considerate of others. enough to say that the individual them-an inference which has creand other “psychopathic liars” were Such lying is declared to be “inno- himself was “not responsible” for his ated what Dr. Szasz aptly calls “the “the victims.” Now we have become cent, quite innocuous, essential to personality problems. Obviously we healing industry,” but it has not, it so civilized and “scientific” that the contemporary living, mandatory to get our consciences from our parents seems, created a whole and happy victims are said to be the liars them- get along in society, appropriate.” and other representatives of adult so- people. So we are beginning to as-

sume, instead, as thc current slogan of the National Association of Mental Health puts it, that “mental health is everybody’s business” and are asking just how, as individuals, we can rr …an open life means a strong will. .. 99

be responsible, competent, informed, strong, effective, business-like in this area. “wills” progressively deteriorate. Shlein advances the interesting pos- we hope, by the strategy of decep- When the problem is reformulated One of the commonest manifesta- sibility that this sort of “symptom” tion and denial, to avoid the more in this way, the hypothesis that is tions of “neurosis” is a feeling of is really a primitive and automatic remote-and possibly less agreeable most likely to be advanced is that we LLdeper~~nali~ation,” i.e., a tendency (“unconscious”) protective device, –consequences. permit ourselves to indulge in “in- not to “seem” quite like oneself, and aimed at ending the policy of secrecy I personally am no arch conservaferior,” “low,” “degrading,” be- a generalized sense of “unreality.” and isolation in the life of a chroni- tive, and when a law or ethical rule havior, with the familiar sequence of What could be better calculated, cally duplicitous individual. has truly outlived its usefulness, I am guilt and the self-administered suf- really, to produce such a state than After all, if others can read your as glad to see it go as anyone. But we fering which we call “mental DIS- the practice of consistently denying mind or if your thoughts are going are on unsound grounds when we ease,” because we have a weak will. who one is, by lying, pretending, to be “broadcast,” your life becomes, argue that the injunction against And at a grossly descriptive level, boasting? Yet Mr. Krimmel and the in effect, an “open book” and noth- bearing false witness is out-moded. this assumption is true. However, it authorities he cites would apparently ing can any longer be hidden. If this Instead of our eliminating the Ninth does not tell us what “will power” have us believe that lying is not is “nature’s” ultimate way of dealing Commandment, as Mr. Krimmel or strength of character is or how we wrong or dangerous, but is instead with liars ,we surely take an awesome proposes, I would like to see it raised lose or regain it. normal and healthy-at least if “used responsibility upon ourselves when to a much higher position in the Psychiatrists, psychologists, and in moderation.” we condone o r deliberately advocate Decalogue. For if we can but obother social scientists are now be- In psychosis a common symptom lying as a regular, or even occasional, serve it, the danger of our violating ginning to realize that will power, is a weakenin4 or loss of “ego bound- personal strategy. the remaining Commandments is mai.e., the capacity to make the right aries,” by which is meant an inability Mr. Krimmel and those who share terially lessened. decisions and to act upon them, is a on the part of the patient to dis- his disingenuous philosophies seem Sir Walter Scott, in “Lochinvar,” function of whether one is in or out criminate clearly between his own to be advocating that we revise the neatly captures the essential idea of community. This means, quite thoughts and feelings and those of Ten Commandments, at least to the here when he says: “Oh what a simply, that if we follow the policy other persons. In a technical article extent of eliminating the one which tangled web we weave when first we of keeping our lives always “open Dr. John Shlein, of the University of admonishes us not to bear false wit- practice to deceive.” to inspection,” we find that our Chicago, tells of a young male schizo- ness. This may seem like a relatively We all know, of course, how hope- “wills” are surprisingly strong. phrenic who believed he had a “ma- innocent and not too unreasonable less, trapped, and boxed-in neurotic Conscience has been defined, chine” in his head which “broad- suggestion; but we need to realize and psychotic persons characterissomewhat wryly but not inaccu- cast” his thoughts, in such a way that that such a proposal is, in effect, an tically feel. But they are living in a rately, as that still, small voice that others could know about them. And open invitation to disregard the other self-created prison; and it is quite tells us when someone is watching. the delusion that other people are nine; for if we have no compunction wonderful to see what a difference it But if we adopt a policy of secrecy “reading my mind” is very common about lying, what “protection” do we makes if and when they adopt a new and deception, so that others can’t indeed. Such a condition is obviously have against the temptation to per- policy of openness, not just with a ‘L~at~h US,” then we have no “re- highly “abnormal” and a person form any action which may seem to “therapist,” but with “significant sistance to temptation” and our manifesting it is “very sick”; but Dr. be to our immediate advantage, since others,” which is Harry Stack Sulli-

van’s apt phrase for those in our lives “Remember the turtle: He makes who ”count most” (which means not progress only when his neck is out.” only those on whom we are most de- We have our “neck out” only when pendent but who also count on u s ) . we are being open and honest and The universal testimony of those when we shift from the strategy of who have tried and persevered in hiding our head (in our fear and such a policy is that, very soon, shame), it is remarkable how much “things begin to happen.” Since “progress” we do begin to make. others who would like to help a per- Our journey back to integrity and son who is in trouble cannot do so self-respect may be a painfully long unless they know what the trouble one. But this, and apparently only is, it is small wonder that the situa- this, is the “switch” that makes such tion remains pretty static and stag- a journey possible; and the “minor” nant as long as deception and denial victories that we experience along are systematically practiced. the way will be sufficiently rewarding When I was in government service to give us the strength for the next during World War 11, there was a step, and the next, and the next, if sign in one of our offices which read: we but make a “good beginning.”