resists questioning, asking “to be left alone.” He is very irritable. Disoriented as to time and place. He seems to feel that he is still fighting in the Great War.
March 18th
This patient was today transferred to the Infirmary.
March 28th
Since admission, this patient is showing some improvement. He is very nervous and apprehensive and hasapparently been this way for some considerable length of time. He believes that the neighbours are all against him and, as a result, was threatening to shoot a neighbour named Valentine and was accordingly admitted to this institution. Evidently this Valentine was trying to intervene when Weeks threatened his wife and daughter with a gun. His wife is understandably afraid of him. His delusions of persecution against his neighbours are firmly fixed. When asked if any of his neighbours had actually harmed him, his family or his property, he said, “If they did I’d kill the sons o’ bitches.”
April 15th
This man continues to show a slow improvement. He says that he likes the quietness of the ward and feels better. He claims that he was continually hounded by someone or something that followed him about the farm, threatening him harm, and that here he is “left alone.” When questioned further about the nature of this person or thing that was following him, the patient refused to answer.
May 4th
In a letter to his wife today, this patient shows marked persecutory ideas in regard to the people in their vicinity. He asks her not to associate with them as they are all rotten. He also warns her to stay out of the bush, that there is something out there that might harm her. His physical condition remains fairly good.
June 15th
This patient was again brought to the attention of the Clinic today. DIAGNOSIS: TRAUMATIC PSYCHOSIS. For verbatim, see separate sheets.
Ward Notes
REG. NO XX, XXX
NAME
DATE OF ADMISSION
J. Weeks
March 17th, 1945
Verbatim taken by Dr. Spears
1945
June 15th
Q. Where were you born?
A. In England. Nottingham, Nottinghamshire.
Q. Is your father dead or alive?
A. I never knew him.
Q. And your mother?
A. She died giving birth to me. My grandmother raised me.
Q. Any siblings?
A. No.
Q. What is your wife’s name?
A. Maudie. Maud.
Q. How many children have you?
A. Two. Beth and Dan. Dan joined up last year.
Q. Is Beth still in school?
A. No. She’s seventeen. She works with me on the farm.
Q. How long did you go to school?
A. I was taken home to work when I was twelve. I was milking morning and night. Then my grandfather died when I was fourteen and the farm was sold to pay debts so I went to Eastwood Collieries and served my time there.
Q. What for?
A. No, no, not jail! I was in the mines, driving the ponies down into the pits. Into the bloody dark. You had to force the ponies down, you see, anyway you could. Kick them, poke them, whip them down. But I had one named Charlie that would only go down for me, and not for the other drivers. I kept sugar cubes in my pocket for him. But then a runaway dram got him. The both of us heard it rumbling at us but there was only time enough for me to press myself up against the rock before it rammed past me; I couldn’t get Charlie out of the way. The dram flung away the oil lamp I was holding and thundered right into Charlie. I could hear him groaning in the dark until they found us. After that I came to Canada.
Q. Where did you go to first?
A. I went to a place called Toronto. But I couldn’t find work that paid so I came west to work in the mines. Then I got it in my head to go back home to find a wife, so I joined up here and they sent me over.
Q. You were injured in the war?
A. A shell hit close by, and buried me. There was dirt in my mouth, in my nose. I thought I was dead. But then a second shell exploded and tossed me out of that hole and shot me through with shrapnel. There were a lot of men buried that way.
Q. You say shrapnel hit you?
A. Tore open my head. They put a metal plate in.
March 18th
This patient was today transferred to the Infirmary.
March 28th
Since admission, this patient is showing some improvement. He is very nervous and apprehensive and hasapparently been this way for some considerable length of time. He believes that the neighbours are all against him and, as a result, was threatening to shoot a neighbour named Valentine and was accordingly admitted to this institution. Evidently this Valentine was trying to intervene when Weeks threatened his wife and daughter with a gun. His wife is understandably afraid of him. His delusions of persecution against his neighbours are firmly fixed. When asked if any of his neighbours had actually harmed him, his family or his property, he said, “If they did I’d kill the sons o’ bitches.”
April 15th
This man continues to show a slow improvement. He says that he likes the quietness of the ward and feels better. He claims that he was continually hounded by someone or something that followed him about the farm, threatening him harm, and that here he is “left alone.” When questioned further about the nature of this person or thing that was following him, the patient refused to answer.
May 4th
In a letter to his wife today, this patient shows marked persecutory ideas in regard to the people in their vicinity. He asks her not to associate with them as they are all rotten. He also warns her to stay out of the bush, that there is something out there that might harm her. His physical condition remains fairly good.
June 15th
This patient was again brought to the attention of the Clinic today. DIAGNOSIS: TRAUMATIC PSYCHOSIS. For verbatim, see separate sheets.
Ward Notes
REG. NO XX, XXX
NAME
DATE OF ADMISSION
J. Weeks
March 17th, 1945
Verbatim taken by Dr. Spears
1945
June 15th
Q. Where were you born?
A. In England. Nottingham, Nottinghamshire.
Q. Is your father dead or alive?
A. I never knew him.
Q. And your mother?
A. She died giving birth to me. My grandmother raised me.
Q. Any siblings?
A. No.
Q. What is your wife’s name?
A. Maudie. Maud.
Q. How many children have you?
A. Two. Beth and Dan. Dan joined up last year.
Q. Is Beth still in school?
A. No. She’s seventeen. She works with me on the farm.
Q. How long did you go to school?
A. I was taken home to work when I was twelve. I was milking morning and night. Then my grandfather died when I was fourteen and the farm was sold to pay debts so I went to Eastwood Collieries and served my time there.
Q. What for?
A. No, no, not jail! I was in the mines, driving the ponies down into the pits. Into the bloody dark. You had to force the ponies down, you see, anyway you could. Kick them, poke them, whip them down. But I had one named Charlie that would only go down for me, and not for the other drivers. I kept sugar cubes in my pocket for him. But then a runaway dram got him. The both of us heard it rumbling at us but there was only time enough for me to press myself up against the rock before it rammed past me; I couldn’t get Charlie out of the way. The dram flung away the oil lamp I was holding and thundered right into Charlie. I could hear him groaning in the dark until they found us. After that I came to Canada.
Q. Where did you go to first?
A. I went to a place called Toronto. But I couldn’t find work that paid so I came west to work in the mines. Then I got it in my head to go back home to find a wife, so I joined up here and they sent me over.
Q. You were injured in the war?
A. A shell hit close by, and buried me. There was dirt in my mouth, in my nose. I thought I was dead. But then a second shell exploded and tossed me out of that hole and shot me through with shrapnel. There were a lot of men buried that way.
Q. You say shrapnel hit you?
A. Tore open my head. They put a metal plate in.
Similar Books
