"The Chicago Scam"

I had just admitted two addicts in their sixties in the same hospital room. They were buddies and this was not their first visit to the rehab and as I walked by the room one of them called to me, “Hey Doc, come here I want to tell you something.” What followed was a fascinating half-hour on how not to get scammed. He said, “Now doc I am telling you this so you won’t get hurt.”

 He proceeds to explain the intricacies of a version of a “Pigeon Drop” scam. This is where you convince someone to put up collateral for a bigger payoff in the near future, of course, the bigger payoff never comes. I was seated in a chair at the foot of his bed against the wall as he regally held court. He explained in detail how he entered the bank with a woman and she withdrew 10,000 dollars and gave it to him. He sincerely cautioned me not to fall for any such a scam. I thanked him and I got back to business.

 Later he once again summoned me and this time with an anguished gaze he asked, in a pleading voice, “Doc you don’t think I am a bad person do you?” I don’t remember exactly what transpired but I do believe I did say “no” he persisted and went on and on for a while explaining how he had done nothing wrong, nothing at all wrong that, “That the lady had gone into that bank of her own free will and taken out the money.” He had not laid a hand on her.

Switch to “The House of Cards” a movie that captures what I experienced above. I don’t know if a city can have its signature on a scam but this one is set in Chicago. It has its weakness such as the plot being centered on a psychiatrist getting caught up in investigating the lives of grifters to the point of participating in the life. Yet, in doing so it touches on the emotion of interest-excitement. She is bored with her life and the patient leads her to investigate this other world. She is ultimately hurt as she is “played” by the leader of the group, made love to in the making of a scam, and then abandoned. 

My purpose in bringing the movie up is to parallel it with my experience in the hospital in this way: A deal goes bad and there is violence. There is an older partner who is upset about this and, if I remember correctly “resigns.” He throws a major fit and goes on and on about how honorable they were because nothing they ever did involved violence or hurting anybody. He had a “code.” After all, he had his “ethics” to uphold.

Of course, all this is to say that human beings can justify anything. It is not in any way to “condemn” these people or to say they are “evil.” It is to start to appreciate what psychologist Silvan Tomkins calls “script theory.” It is to get away from simplistic terms such as to “excuse” actions and behaviors. It is to deeply understand it.

 Many will want to say about my patient, “Oh, he knew that he was doing wrong.” “Oh, Dr. Lynch your so naïve. He was playing you!” Well, if he was what was his goal? What was he getting out of it? Laughs? One never knows. 

It seems to me that we don’t want to hurt people but we are hurt and taking care of that hurt is important. That puts us in a tough bind, a shame bind. Damned if I do and if I don’t so I make all kinds of compromises and secondary rules and before I know it I live in my castle, my world. And yes I am saying that while I am in that castle I cannot make any other “choice.” 

My patient does not believe he is doing anything wrong at any given moment. But then you ask why does he have to ask if I think him a bad person? Good question. That is the problem with making it “right” and “wrong” black and white, “good” and “evil.” The situation is as they say “what it is.” And what is it? As someone said we are indeed “many selves” at once. Shame and “shame binds" help us understand all of our conflicting interests and how we can live with all kinds of what we call “cognitive dissonant” behaviors at once. So does he or doesn’t he know he is doing “wrong” and will punishing him or arguing with him do any good? It seems to me that all of the above are pretty much non-starters. He is pushed and pulled by fears and demons that only he understands and the only antidote is a sense of safety and security however impossible that may seem.

Brian Lynch