AN IMPORTANT BREAKTHROUGH
When Lillian made a clay sculpture of James, she had to make a hole in the base in order for it to be fired in the kiln. While showing the sculpture to Jean, Lucy emerged with the memory of Lillians’ mother sexually violating her and 2-year-old James. Lucy, who was 18, had appeared at 18-20 months of age during Lillian’s early years of abuse, holding back memories to protect Lillian.
As Lillian worked towards integration, horrible, traumatic memories surfaced. Jean recounts an important breakthrough that triggered the memory of Lillian’s mother Jessica sexually violating her two-year-old son James, rupturing his sphincter muscle. At age 10, James was soiling himself day and night, which his doctor (Dr. Frank Alabiso) believed was an expression of anger. Now, for the first time, everyone understood that James’ soiling was the result of heinous abuse inflicted by Lillian’s own mother.
Excerpt from, “Lillian, A True Story of Multiple Personality Disorder”
Jean wrote:
One of my visits to Lillian in the hospital was particularly memorable. She was expressing feelings by working with clay. After explaining to me how good it could feel to pound the clay, slam it down on the table or cut it up, she showed me a perfectly stunning statue she made of James. He was sitting on a rock, with his eyes cast downward, and the detail of the denim outfit he wore was exquisite! Every stitch of the jean jacket’s topstitching was distinct. I asked her how she made it so perfect, and she told me she did it with a straight pin. The double rows of topstitching went around the bottom of the jacket, up the front, around the collar, and even around the upturned cuffs and sleeves. There was a pocket on the jacket, and it too, was double topstitched. Down the side seams of the pants, more miniature “stitches” followed the wrinkles of the garment in its natural yet unnatural perfection.
The head was wonderfully formed, and every hair was depicted as a single strand by those wonderfully loving and talented hands of Lillian’s. It had been fired one time, and the realism was absolutely stunning! Lillian reached for the statue as I studied it and suddenly became violent and snatched it from me. Fortunately, she was not allowed in the art room without Dr. Reed. Instantly sensing a change of personalities, Dr. Reed yelled for help, grabbed Lillian and restrained her.
“What can I do?” I shouted.
“Pick up the statue! Set it high up on the cabinet there!” Dr. Reed shouted again for help. Her help arrived, and the “other” personality, realizing that she was outnumbered, returned the body to Lillian. Dr. Reed ushered us out of the therapy department. Lillian was returned to her room. It had frightened me terribly at the time, and now I marvel at how quickly I got over it. Lillian had to make a hole in the bottom of the statue in order for it to be fired. That triggered a memory of her mother coming to her home to sexually violate her and 2-year-old James, rupturing his sphincter muscle. No wonder he soiled himself so often.
