The Doctor's Casebook Pt. 07 Ch. 01

I cleared my throat. "Let me begin by asking a question of the group. Do you just want me to quiz these people and try to solve problems, or do you want to know WHY I'm thinking and reacting the way I am?"

"Oh, tell us!" Daphne responded, ignoring the couple flanking her for the moment. "I want to know!"

"I'll try not to lecture," I said earnestly, "but explanations might become exceedingly boring... and I can't guarantee that you won't find some things... repugnant."

Beside me, Loretta smirked. "You DO know what's wrong! I knew it!"

"Lectures about WHAT?" Daphne queried, looking at me carefully.

"If my guess is correct, paraphilias," I answered.

Nadia piped up from my right: "Are para-whats-its devil worshipers?"

I laughed and shook my head. "If the Randolphs here have gotten themselves hooked up with some weird religious cult, that's of little interest to the field of psychology; or at least, not beyond the aspects of programming and de-programming. Today, that's not much different than product marketing... and especially politics. People believe what they want to believe." I leaned forward, my forearms resting on my knees. "Is she ready for me, Daphne?"

"Yes. They both are. They should respond to you without hesitation."

"Lily, can you hear me?" I asked.

"Yes, doctor."

I turned toward my other patient. "Terry?"

"Um... Yeah. I can hear you."

"Sit up straight, please." I waited only a few seconds while they both complied, sitting upright, though both of them had their eyes closed. "Okay, here's how this is going to work," I continued. "You are each going to feel wonderfully detached, physically and mentally, as if you are looking at yourself from above... seeing yourself as someone else sees you. In this marvelous state of mind, it is very easy to speak about yourself. There is no anxiety, no concern or apprehension. Telling the truth is effortless... and your only option. You will be open and honest; and you will find it very, very easy to answer my questions without hesitation or embarrassment. Do you understand this?"

They answered at the same time, him responding offhandedly: "Yeah, sure," while she replied meekly: "Yes, doctor."

"If I want to ask you something, I will preface my question with your name. If I do not use your name, there will be no reason to listen to me... you will simply disregard it. You will also disregard the voices of other people. That will begin now. Terry, do you understand this?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, sure."

"Lily?"

"Yes, doctor. I understand."

"And now, Lily; once again, be completely open and honest. You are NOT full of evil. You know that. But... tell me now. What ARE you full of?" I was slightly surprised when she did not answer right away. Instead, she blushed furiously, even her upper arms turning pink. Rather than contradict this lack of control on my part, however, I just continued. "You are full of semen, aren't you, Lily."

"Oh, God," she moaned. Again, it was a sound that was normally reserved for passion. "Yes. Yes, I'm full of cum. SO much cum!" She forced herself to take a deep breath before continuing. "I... I tried to wipe some of it out. But... I thought that if I still had some left in me, Terry would take me again after we got back home tonight. I'm so sorry... I didn't realize how much was still in there! It's dribbling out of me and tickling my thighs... and my ass. I hope I don't stain the sofa." She shifted again slightly, side to side, forward and back.

I ignored the open stares from those around me. "And... that semen didn't come from Terry, did it?"

"Some of it did!" she insisted, almost pleadingly. "I came home tonight, and I told him what that man had done to me... what BOTH of them had done to me... but especially the man... about how he had filled me... about how he made me feel! And, Terry took me so hard! He was so passionate! So forceful! And I PLEASED him! I did! He came inside me! My husband came inside me!"

"You say that with a great deal of satisfaction," I observed. "As if you haven't been pleasing him much lately; and you are only now giving him satisfaction by being with others, sexually."

"It happened last week!" she said pleadingly. "I found out then that I could make him cum in me if I had been with others first! Before, I thought that might be the case, but last week proved it! And then tonight! Tonight, I did it again! Only tonight... I think I made a pact with the devil!"

"Lily, you must calm down now. Take a deep breath, please. Yes, just like that. Relax for me. Just relax. You must be completely calm and detached. Very good. Now, I want you to stay in this wonderfully restful state until you hear me ask you another question. Okay?"

"Yes, doctor."

I sat back and looked around. Everyone was leaning forward, staring intently at the girl on the couch... everyone except Daphne, between the two subjects, who was staring intently at ME. "How did you know?" she asked pointedly. "I never saw there was something wrong with her."

I shrugged. "Maybe there's not. That is yet to be determined."

"Nothing wrong?" Nadia gasped. "She was with another man! And... she insinuated that there was woman, too! And others before that! That's... that's...." She seemed incapable of continuing. Her right hand was idly clutching her slender throat, her eyes wide; she was flushed, and her breathing was ragged.

Simone, at the left end of the "circle" chimed in. "Is this that 'philia' thing you mentioned?"

"Paraphilias are sexual fetishes, right?" asked Loretta.

"Actually, the two terms have become pseudonymous, "I responded, "though technically Paraphilias have to do with animate or moveable objects, while sexual fetishes do not."

"What? Like dildos?" asked Charlie.

I laughed. "No, more like concepts or ideas instead of actual, physical things. If you're turned on by the thought or possibility of something, that's a fetish."

"I get wet just thinking about Daphne hypnotizing me," Simone said, perhaps a bit too candidly.

I cleared my throat. "Yes, good example. A hypno-fetish. Although, in your case, it's advanced beyond that, psychologically."

"What do you mean?" Both she and Daphne said it simultaneously.

"Wait," Charlie interrupted. "First, if that's a fetish, what's an example of the other thing?"

"There are dozens of paraphilias. Maybe a hundred. I can't begin to list them all. Let me just mention the ones I've seen most recently in my practice. Morphophilia, an intense sexual interest in people of a certain body type... fat or thin or short or tall. Stigmatophilia: being sexually excited by body piercings... either in others or oneself. Lactophilia: being turned on by the thought of breast milk, either as the receiver or the giver. Coprophilia has to do with human feces."

"Oh, jeez," Charlie groaned.

"I think I mentioned that. A discussion about this is eventually going to lead to feelings of revulsion in almost everybody, sooner or later. Most people have limits to sexual tolerance. There are things like titillagnia, sexual excitation through tickling; katoptronophilia, watching yourself or others in mirrors; Melissaphilia, being turned on after you've been stung by bees; acrotomophilia, arousal by the thought of amputees; just about anything you can think of. My personal favorite is nebulophilia, people becoming sexually excited when they find themselves in foggy weather. Some other types, you're probably more familiar with. Necrophilia, for example... the thought of having sex with a dead person."

"Pedophilia!" Nadia gasped.

"Bingo," I replied. "And that leads me to differentiate between how psychologists view a topic and how it's seen by the general public. Because, most people believe pedophilia is illegal."

"But it IS!" Nadia exclaimed. "It HAS to be! You can't possibly tell me that it's not!"

"Nadia," I said gently, "if that was the case, then anyone who's ever enjoyed reading Vladimir Nabokov would be in jail. You can't prosecute people for what they think. Our thoughts are our own. Our feelings are our own. Our sexual interests are our own. And, as long as they STAY our own... our thoughts and feelings and interests... then ANYTHING is okay. Just as long as fantasies STAY fantasies. Take biastophilia, for example: the common rape fantasy: both males and females, both dominant and submissive, and all the various levels of consent or lack thereof. And believe me, in our imagination, there ARE different levels of consent, even though the law does not... CANNOT condone that. But no harm is done... as long as the fantasy remains a fantasy. And ninety-nine point nine percent of all adults are capable of doing just that: separating fantasy from reality. But, set foot outside that fantasy realm and the results are obviously horrific. So, as long as the person with pedophilia does not become a pedophile, then... no matter the opinions of others... no harm has occurred. Not officially. Not in the eyes of the law."

I turned and looked pointedly at first Simone and then Daphne. "You two have taken your interest in hypnosis to the next level. I hesitate to use the clinical word... it's too harsh, in my opinion. But we call that deviance. That's harsh in your case, because you are doing no harm... to yourselves, to each other, or to those around you. However, in the case of certain other sexual deviants, such as the pedophile, harm IS done; through physical action, mental and emotional distress, and exploitation." I looked around. "Make sense?"

"And what about our two patients?" Loretta urged. "She says he can't have sex with her unless she's been with another man! Can you cure him?"

"Suggesting a cure implies that there's a disease," I stated, perhaps a little too-smugly. "And, even if we COULD change him, do we really want to?"

Now it was Daphne's turn to sound exasperated with my reasoning. "Randy, this woman is in emotional pain! She desperately wants to provide a normal sexual outlet for her husband! And, Terry couldn't possibly be satisfied with their relationship!"

"IS she in pain?" I countered. "And, if so, is THAT what's causing it? We don't know for sure. Not yet. She's certainly anxious, but you are only ASSUMING you know why. Does Terry REALLY want a 'normal' relationship with his spouse? Does SHE? We can't assume to know these answers! Problems like Terry's are deep-set, something that might have been caused by a past trauma, but something that has been allowed to fester... or perhaps it's something that he's nurtured. We can't tell at this point. I'm willing to bet he knows exactly what it was and how it has affected him. However... he didn't display any anxiety at all when I spoke to him a few days ago... or a few weeks ago. The angst that he's displayed tonight is recent! Very recent! This is also true of Lily's mannerisms. Something has just happened to these people to bring on this type of behavior."

"Maybe it WAS the devil!" Nadia chimed in.

"As a psychological scientist, I will not rule out anything... even the paranormal," I resolved. "But I can almost guarantee you that when we finally discover the answer to this riddle, it will come from the land of the living. Let's listen to their story and find out."

TO BE CONTINUED