“The lawyer requested that the Lawton’s records be transferred to this area immigration office with which they were now dealing. He also arranged for the Lawtons to be interviewed by an immigration officer. He would be there with them and make a new approach.
“The interview was with a very friendly and helpful mature woman. It was obvious from the start that she was being positive toward the Lawtons and their case. However, she had the sad task of informing them that their previous records submitted to the other office could not be found. The records were lost. The Lawtons would now have to do all new papers, have new medicals, more X-rays and all, and bear the expense of it once more. The woman gave them the new sets of papers, and instructed them to submit them through their lawyer for processing. After the processing, they would be granted a final interview after which the process would be completed within a short time. So the Lawtons did the whole process once more, this time much more hopefully.
“After their submission of the new papers, this office came back with a request for a more recently dated and original copy of the psychiatric appraisal. Durwin had submitted a photo copy he had preserved from the original appraisal that went to the first office. Photo copies were not acceptable, and furthermore a recently dated paper was required.
“Durwin made an appointment with the same church related psychiatrist who had appraised him so well before by describing his performance as ‘superior in all areas of living.’ The psychiatrist again interviewed Durwin exhaustively, but this time not in the friendly, helpful tones of the first interview. This second interview was of a cold, stern nature, even bordering on hostility at times, and mixed with a seeming impatient concern at other times.
“First, of course, he asked Durwin why the need for another appraisal. Durwin explained to him that he was now living in a different state and applying through a different immigration office. Remember now,” said Collin to the group, “this is after approximately four years of trying through the other office.
“The doctor spoke in mixed tones of perturbance and seeming, seeming that is, concern. Further he spoke very curtly and loudly, ‘you have been trying for several years now to get these papers, and obviously without success. What’s wrong with living in your own country? Why are you so adamant about staying in this country? Are you going to stay here till they wear you down?’
“‘Not so,’ replied Durwin calmly, ‘I’m going to wear them down!’
“The psychiatrist was taken aback just a little. ‘You have moved,’ he still growled, but not quite as harshly. ‘How many members are there in your new parish?’ Durwin told him the figure that was in the church statistics record.
“‘And how many members are in your previous church?” Durwin gave him the number. It was a little less than for his new church.
“‘Where is this new church located?’ he asked. Durwin told him. The psychiatrist pondered for a moment, then very demandingly, ‘And what went wrong in your previous church that they placed you away out there?’ he growled.
“Durwin replied calmly, ‘I did my work faithfully and well. I gave them a good ministry. I guess it wasn’t what they wanted.”
Brett Culver interrupted the story, “If only Durwin could have simply said that the place was dominated by belittlers, how simple it could have been!”
“Right,” said Collin, with a sigh, “and as I said earlier I will be telling you much about belittlers at work in the church at later meetings. But the way we use the term belittler is not yet used in psychological language in the same manner. However, that does not mean that some psychologists and psychiatrists do not play the belittling game. The fact remains though that it cannot be talked about because it is not a part of the professional language. To talk about it is to risk being labeled a nut, or a paranoid.”
Collin continued the story, “The psychiatrist grilled Durwin again, ‘Why did they put you away out there? What did you do wrong in your previous church?’ he asked in a very demanding way.
“Again, Durwin couldn’t give the doctor the complete reason why he had been moved from his previous parish to his present one. Psychology simply doesn’t record the gross behavior of belittlers that we in this group know and speak of; their envy, hatred and tactics. Durwin simply and calmly replied, ‘they told me that is all they had for me.’
“The psychiatrist seemed baffled by Durwin’s ready answers. He growled again. ‘Do you take medication for depression?’
“‘No,’ replied Durwin as calmly as ever, ‘I don’t need it.’ The psychiatrist looked hard at him. Durwin continued, ‘One night my wife and I watched an hour long TV program on depression. It doesn’t fit me at all. I’m functioning just fine as I am.’
“The psychiatrist was taken aback some more, and in somewhat subdued tones asked pointedly, ‘and you insist on trying to stay in this country?’
“‘Yes,’ said Durwin, without a ruffle, ‘and I am at last making progress with it.’ Then in an effort to explain his new circumstances, he said, ‘in the previous immigration office they seemed to be doing all they could to prevent my acceptance into the country, but now…’
“The psychiatrist interrupted abruptly, ‘What,’ he snapped, as though questioning the soundness of Durwin’s statement and attitude.
“Durwin knew what the psychiatrist had in mind. He was probing for paranoia. ‘You didn’t let me finish,’ said Durwin still calmly, ‘in the other office they seemed to be doing all they could to prevent my acceptance. In this office I am now dealing with, they are doing all they can to have me approved.’
“‘I see,’ said the psychiatrist, ‘an altogether different atmosphere!’
“‘Yes, altogether different,’ replied Durwin pointedly.
Collin commented, “I would here ask you to note one of the ironies of the conversation. At one point the psychiatrist impatiently asked Durwin ‘Are you going to stay here till they wear you down?’ He was thereby admitting that “they” ‘, some people that is, were trying to wear Durwin down. Now, a little later in the conversation, he was trying to trip Durwin up in the paranoia trap that belittlers so often use to either defend themselves on their actions of belittling or to belittle some more.”
Collin then continued with Durwin’s story. “After a moment of silence, and in a mild tone of grudging resignation, the psychiatrist spoke again, ‘Well, you have a larger parish this time. The membership is higher and that speaks well for you. I still think my first appraisal of you was accurate. I’ll have a similar one drawn up and mailed to you within a few days.’”
Collin instructed the group members, “I will ask you to keep this second episode with the psychiatrist in mind for future reference in conjunction with other experiences of the Lawtons. But to sum it up for now, in this second interview this church-related psychiatrist revealed the vicious mind-game that has been played in this denomination of the church in Terraprima for generations. He knew the game, and he tried to play along with it, but he couldn’t subdue Durwin with it, so then he protected himself from being revealed, so he thought.
“I will elaborate on that further, but let me add first that Durwin still didn’t see through the game at the time of this second psychiatric interview. Rather, with this and other experiences he was later able to reflect back on the second interview with this psychiatrist. It helped him piece together the mind-game that was being played on him by the church at large.
“The second church, out of the way, unprogressive and almost totally unsuited to Durwin’s ministry and present interests, was supposed to have depressed Durwin. Had he been a person of hollow undisciplined pride like his assailants it might well have. If the psychiatrist could have gotten him to admit to depression and to taking medication for it, or, given him medication for it, Durwin probably would have lost his opportunity to stay in the country. If Durwin, when pressed so hard, had admitted