Sometimes the family idyll falls apart. And it happens quite suddenly. This happened in one American family. The military and exemplary mistress had 12 children, but six of them were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Who is to blame for this? Parents themselves, lifestyle or genetics? We publish an excerpt from the book by Robert Kolker “Something Wrong with the Galvins”.
With the advent of each new child, Mimi increasingly reincarnated into a completely different woman compared to the one who had experienced such strong disappointment over the years.
In the future, new moves awaited the family: from 1954 to 1955, Don served at the Air Force Base in Quebec, then for three years at Hamilton Air Force Base in Northern California. They returned to Colorado Springs in 1958 with eight sons.
Richard was born in 1954, Joe in 1956, and Mark in 1957. At home, Don acted as a good policeman who does not show his presence in any way, except for his daily: “Get up, get up! The team to get up and give up the sail! Scrub decks and stairs from bow to stern, be in the galley by 6.00:XNUMX a.m. for grub!”
All the rest of the time, Mimi was in charge, not always kindly, but calmly, firmly and majestically. She was a warrior ready to fight mediocrity morning, afternoon and evening. By Sunday mass, all the boys appeared in jackets, ties and polished shoes. Long hair is not allowed.
The army and the church defined two sets of laws: American and God’s
Mimi ruled every aspect of her children’s lives and left absolutely nothing to chance in this matter. Children were brought up on a set of indisputable truths such as “They meet according to their clothes, see them off according to their minds”, “Don’t be sneaky – it will get worse.”
In the mornings, everyone had their own task: set the table, cook breakfast, make toast, vacuum, sweep and mop the kitchen floor, clear the table, wash and wipe the dishes. Tasks change every week.
The boys attended speed reading courses. When the weather was good, they would go birdwatching or picking mushrooms. There was no Reader’s Digest or Ladies’ Home Journal in the living room, only Smithsonian and National Geographic.
Even the neighborhood children who came to the Galvins to draw with pencils or paints learned that their works would not be praised, but explained in detail what was wrong with them.
“She wanted everyone to be perfect,” recalled one old family friend. At that time, Mimi could not even guess how terrible all this would turn against her.
In the 1950s, psychiatry turned its attention to mothers like her. The most influential American psychiatric theorists agreed to use a new term for such women – “schizophrenogenic” …