Putting the Pieces Together Again

Like the mathematician John Nash in the film A Beautiful Mind, Hsiao Ke was a schizophrenic. That is to say, he had two completely different personalities, of which the most common to appear was his six-year-old self-"Little Hsiao Ke."

Sometimes when Hsiao Ke was out of the house, six-year-old Little Hsiao Ke would suddenly appear. At such moments he would become just like a six-year-old child, unable to find his way home, and crying in a panic. Nonetheless, Hsiao Ke relied heavily on Little Hsiao Ke, and every time he wanted to go to sleep he would have to summon up Little Hsiao Ke in order to get to sleep peacefully.

As part of his psychological treatment Hsiao Ke joined in art therapy. In the early stages, Hsiao Ke's pictures clearly reflected two realities, indicating his divided inner space. While he maintained an outward attitude of nonchalance and a hippie smile, this was exactly the opposite of what he was feeling inside. In one picture, he drew three graves-one was his grandfather's, one his grandmother's, and one his mother's. Although art therapist Liona Lu already had a pretty clear idea of the source of Hsiao Ke's problem, she did not broach it directly.

After nearly two years of therapy, Hsiao Ke had begun to face his inner self. At this time Liona Lu discovered that there was an art gallery near the hospital that was displaying a work of installation art by Chin Lou-yi. She decided to take a drastic step, and brought Hsiao Ke to the gallery. When Hsiao Ke saw the piece, he was so shocked that when Lu asked him to touch the head and foot of the work, he responded by virtually hiding behind her back.

Finally, however, he proved willing to directly face the work, and while touching it began to cry, and remembered that he did not say goodbye his mother before her death, and how lonely and frightened he felt when he was six years old.

It turns out that when Hsiao Ke was six, an epidemic in his town killed many people. He had to leave school and stay in the hospital, and during that year he also lost his mother. With his whole family and the entire town in a state of fear and mourning, no one comforted or looked after Little Hsiao Ke. This terrible tragedy remained buried in his mind, and created in him a dual personality.

Since re-examining the dark spaces in his own past, Hsiao Ke's condition has improved considerably. He has matured greatly, and no longer does six-year-old Little Hsiao Ke serve as his imaginary shield from reality. As Little Hsiao Ke has disappeared, Hsiao Ke has grown up, and has gradually emerged from the world of schizophrenia into the world of normalcy.

In art therapy Hsiao Ke drew three graves as he revisited his childhood suffering of losing loved ones. (courtesy of Liona Lu)