Mirror - Vol. 07, No. 06 - September 29, 1983

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Volume 7, No. 6 Thursday, September 29, 1983 Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut 06430 Incorporated 1977
Meissner Discusses
Suicide Syndrome
by J. Todd Bishop
In our present world of constant turmoil and
indecision, the subject of suicide becomes in-creasingly
prevalent. To bring some understand-ing
to the compelxities of suicide, the annual
Bellarmine Lecture Series began its season by
introducing Dr. William W. Meissner, S.J., a
noted psychiatrist and Jesuit, to speak about this
problem on Monday, Sept. 26, in the Oak Room.
Dr. Meissner began his lecture by telling the
full house that there are no easy answers as to
why people commit suicide. He began with some
startling statistics, stating that the highest risk
group is among white males over the age of fif-ty,
who are divorced, separated, or widowed,
followed by women in the same categories.
Among the general public, homosexuality,
drug addiction, and previous attempts at suicide
were raised as fundamental causes. Of those
who have committed suicide, 3/4 had made
previous attempts, 2/3 communicated to others
their suicidal tendencies, and 41% specifically
told others of their desire to take their own life.
Depression increases the risk of suicide. Dr.
Meissner presented three categories within this
syndrome: 1. Unipolar—a period of ongoing
depression; 2. Bipolar—periods of manic depres-sion
followed by intervals of unexplainable ex-citement.
Thirdly, the highest risk comes at the
point of withdrawal, when to others the depress-ed
person seems happier. This can be a sign of
contentment towards one's death.
Within many suicidal persons, there is a
heightened degree of self-hate, the belief that
one is unworthy of love and happiness. This feel-ing
of valuelessness can be rooted in childhood
development. Anger that should be rightly
directed towards parents is brought upon the self
out of fear of losing parental love and approval.
If this pattern of internalized aggression is not
resolved, self-hatred increases and suicidal
tendencies arise. The individual who cannot ex-press
his anger and so internalizes it feels wor-thless;
even though he may be popular and suc-cessful,
internally he may continue in his feel-ings
of lowered self-esteem.
Dr. Meissner explained that the ties between
the parent and child must be slowly severed so
that a mature adult relationship can follow. If not
enacted, the individual will find all of his futre per-sonal
relationships to be unfulfilling—internal-izing
all aggression-causing intensification of
self-devaluation.
According to Dr. Meissner, among
adolescents, males have a higher rate of suc-cessful
suicides, leaving unresolved questions
as to the whys behind them. Adolescent females
discuss their suicidal tendencies more readily,
and in some cases are helped to resolve their
conflicts.
Dr. Meissner has researched various fields of
psychology, including the paranoid process,
borderline personality, and psychoanalytic
theory. He presently practices at Harvard
Medical School as a clinical professor of
psychiatry. Dr. Meissner offers the advice that
the best one can do for a suicidal person is be i
open to discussion and willing to offer guidance.
Dr. William J. Meissner, S.J. opened the annual Bellarmine Lecture Series with a lecture
discussing the complexities of suicide, and the turmoil many suffer when contemplating taking
their own life. [Photo by Gerry McPartland]
Year-Round Residents
Curb Beach Parties
by Melissa Dowd
Last Thursday, Sept. 22, the student residents
of Lantern Point got the chance to meet with their
landlords and the Board of Directors of the
Lantern Point Assn. (LPA). The meeting, which
began at 8 PM at the Fairfield Motor Inn, con-
Hypnotist Entrances OakRoom Crowd
by Frank Locke
John Mapes, well-known hypnotist and lec-turer,
delivered a sold-out performance in the
Oak Room last week where he amazed students
with his hypnotic experiments.
Mapes began his evening by stating that all
of his hypnosis is done through the use of our
imagination, describing hypnosis as, "An exten-sion
of our own unconsciousness to achieve a
heightened sense of awareness." He continued,
" Once we have reached this state of con-sciousness,
my suggestions become our reali-ty.
By tapping into the subnambular parts of our
mind, most importantly the 'psi' forces of our
mind, we are able to hypnotize ourselves."
Once he had gotten the audience's attention,
he produced a lemon and took a bite out of it.
After he took a bite of the lemon, six people from
Hypnotist James Mapes with "Susan" while "she" is asleep on
to be a girl.
her" feet believing himself
[Photo by M. Hinderer]
the audience walked up on stage and fell asleep
in the chairs which were placed in a semicircular
arrangement behind him. He explained this odd
occurence by telling the audience that these
were some of the people he had hypnotized for
a cable T.V. program which he taped today.
When he had these people hypnotized earlier,
he put into their subconscious mind the instruc-tions
to come up on stage and fall asleep when
they saw him bite into a lemon.
He asked a group of students to come up on
stage and had them do a few relaxation exer-cises.
He said that whenever he sounded a few
descending notes on a harmonica, they would
fall asleep. After making a few chosen in-dividuals
fall asleep, the group returned to their
seats. The next time he blew into the harmonica,
a group of people fell asleep throughout the Oak
Room. He told them they were ballerinas and
that when they awoke they would dance up on-to
the stage and fall asleep. This group of about
ten, was the object of most of the night's
entertainment.
The band of ten students was forced to forget
names, numbers; subjected to temperature ex-tremes
on imaginary planets, weightlessness, lit-tle
green men, cute birds and a rendition of a
1962 "twist" contest. One of the most amazing
feats of the evening was one that caused the
group to act intoxicated. Mapes caused two
young ladies in the audience to stand up and ask
him to stop and one young man to ask them to
sit down. The hypnotist concluded the show with
a past-life experience and an age-regression ex-ample.
He was banned as a heretic at Holy
Cross for performing a similar past-life act.
After the show was over a number of students
reportedly went back to their dormitories in a still
hypnotized state. Several resident advisors
reported having students on their floors who
were acting strangely.
An R.A. who ran into this problem, Cesare
Figliuzzi, on Jogues IV, related his experience
in the following way, "I noticed that he (a student
who attended the lecture) was not himself, he
seemed disoriented, extremely passive, and he
was not responding to questions."
He continued, "When I saw him I called the
head resident and she told me that the hypnotist
would come up and see him. The same thing
had just happened in Gonzaga." Later in the
evening, so many people were calling in that a
meeting was arranged for the people with that
problem.
vened to discuss the issue of parties at the Point.
During the first 3 weeks of this semester, near-by
residents (some of whom are members of the
Fairfield Beach Road Assn.) have repeatedly
called the Fairfield police complaining of the ex-cessive
noise, crowds, and traffic problems
caused, they say, by Point parties. In reaction
Richard Pacelli, President of the LPA, has ban-ned
all parties on "common ground" from now
on at Lantern Point.
Common ground is defined as any area out-side
a 10 foot perimeter of each house. Pacelli
says the "no parties on common ground" ruling
has always existed, but has never been strictly
enforced. Enforcement will be more stringent,
however, since recent parties have been deem-ed
"out of hand" because of noise and damage
to LPA property.
Under pressure from the neighboring com-munity,
Pacelli and the other officers of the
Board (John Kollar-Sec, Bob Cacchione-Treas.,
and Rob Rominger-Point Manager) acknowledge
that Point parties tend to be "extravagant," but
they also readily acknowledge the students' ob-jection
that much of the damage and confusion
is caused not by residents, but by outsiders who
come uninvited to their parties. In fact Pacelli
said he thought highly of Fairfield University and
its students—and Cacchione reflected the same
attitude when he mentioned how conscientious
Fairfield students have been in cleaning up after
outdoor gatherings. In return Scott Fletcher,
President of the Fairfield Univ. Beach Assn.,
stated that Fairfield students are more than will-ing
to cooperate with the LPA and come to some
mutual understanding. In the words of Peter
Ville, a resident who attended the meeting, the
Point situation is "not our fault, but it's our
problem."
Having expressed a common will to end the
trouble at the Point, the Board of Directors and
students turned to discussing solutions for beach
problems. The Board was firm in its stand on par-ties:'
they must be kept indoors. In that way, say
the Directors, hosts will be better able to keep
their parties private, and will also be able to spot
vandalizing outsiders more easily.
Faced with no more deck parties, Butch Whit-tam
(another student at the Point) suggested
devising some kind of security system for par-ties
in common areas. Pacelli approved of the
idea, and urged Whittam to contact him in the
future to meet with the Board and discuss it. Stu-dent
Melissa Murphy asked about the possibili-ty
of electing a student representative at LPA
meetings. John Kollar replied, saying such a step
was unnecessary for 2 reasons: first, the LPA
doesn't meet that often; second, anytime they
want to meet with the Directors, students need
only call the Board to set a time, and they'll be
there.
One landlady suggested that the Point gates
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