The psychotherapy of a subnormal patient

This paper is a resumé of the treatment of a man, aged 33 at the beginning of treatment, whose IQ was said to be 59. I had reason to believe that it was higher than this. The account covers a period of two years, during which time I saw him regularly once a week. At the end of two years, he told me he did not wish to come any more. I do not know whether the treatment was a success or a failure. My purpose in presenting this treatment is to stimulate further discussion on this subject, challenge the assumption that psychotherapy requires a normal or above-normal IQ to be successful, and to investigate the aetiology of mental retardation. This two-year period of treatment was extremely enlightening and opened many avenues of thought which are presented here only in the most embryonic form. So I start with the background to the case and some of the reasons why I decided to take him into treatment, then a summary of the course of the treatment and finally a discussion of some theoretical issues of psychological interest.