Polite Dissent

As part of their post-Congressional hearings “New Direction,” EC put out several new comic series including the one titled Psychoanalysis. The comic is exactly what it sounds like: a comic book in the EC style detailing three patients visiting their psychiatrist.

The psychoanalysis in the comic is a fairly basic take on Sigmund Freud’s philosophies. It all boils down to two concepts: First, everything is the parents’ fault. Second, any mental problem can be cured by psychoanalysis. Granted, this is before there were any effective medications for such problems, but several of these patients would benefit from medication..

The first patient is Freddy Carter. His parents bring him to the psychiatrist and are clear that he is a big disappointment to them because he has been caught stealing from his best friend. His father is a successful engineer and is upset that Freddy won’t apply himself in school or at sports. Instead, Freddy prefers the more artistic endeavors such as music and painting. His mother encourages these activities — wanting Freddy to be “refined,” but his father considers them “sissy.”

After some harsh words for Freddy’s parents, the psychiatrist sits down and talks to Freddy. He explains that Freddy is mad at his father for not letting him do what he enjoys. Also, he is mad at his mother for encouraging him in these activities, thus inviting and worsening the anger of his father. Freddy steals things from his friend because he thinks his friend has the perfect parents and perfect family and subconsciously wants to be a part of it.

The second patient is Ellen Lyman. Ellen is clearly a very anxious person. She is also troubled by a recurring dream. This dream, which is incredibly detailed, recounts young Ellen trying to get into a walled garden. A kilted Scotsman bars the way and won’t let her enter until she passes a written exam. She fails the exam, but sneaks into the garden anyway, only to find it is dead and barren.

The psychiatrist explains that the dream is about her sister. The garden represents her parents’ love and it is sealed off and guarded because she believes that they always loved her sister best. The kilted guard represents her sister (kilt = dress). The test represents the fact that her sister always did better in school than Ellen. Finally, the dead garden represents how bereft Ellen’s life would be if her sister wasn’t in it.

The final patient, Mark Stone, is a successful television writer who is having panic attacks. It turns out that the Mark really wants to be a novelist, not a Hollywood writer. The psychiatrist is able to have Mark realize that his stress is from his fear of success and his acceptance of mediocrity. Mark sticks with the television writing because he fears that he may fail as a novelist, and this conflict is causing his stress and panic attacks.

Makes sense? Sure, but it’s not enough for our Freudian psychiatrist. He digs deeper into the patient’s past and is able to discover that true conflict is the patient’s extravagance versus his father’s frugal ways. Thus it is all the father’s fault.

Although every patient is much better by the end of their session, the psychiatrist reminds the reader that they’ll be able to check back in on the patients in the next issue of Psychoanalysis. The series only lasted four issues, so I hope the patients didn’t need long term counseling.