Citation

Capps D. J. Relig. Health 2009; 49(4): 560-580.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Academy of Religion and Mental Health, Publisher Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10943-009-9317-z

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

From July 1, 1959 to August 15, 1961, Milton Rokeach studied three male patients at Ypsilanti State Hospital who believed that they were Jesus Christ. They met regularly together with Rokeach and his research staff, a procedure designed to challenge their delusional systems. He believed that Leon Gabor, the youngest of the three, would be the most likely to abandon his delusional beliefs. Instead, Leon met the challenges that the procedure posed by creative elaborations of his delusional system, especially through the adoption of a new name that gave the initial appearance of the abandonment of his Christ identity but in fact drew on aspects of the real Jesus Christ's identity that were missing from his earlier self-representation.

Language: en