In September 1961, Jim started classes at Florida State University, majoring in theatre arts. Jim remained at FSU for only a year. However, a week later Jim finally realized his dream and was enrolled in the `motion picture division` of the Department of Theatre Arts at UCLA (Hopkins, p.48).
Jim became known for his pungent graffiti in the men’s room in the student editing building (Hopkins, p.49). He frequented the Lucky U, a bar near the Veteran’s Hospital, where Jim got drunk and teased the wheelchair vets (Hopkins, p.52). He exposed himself and urinated in front of women in a public library. He climbed tall buildings on campus, drunk, and threw his clothes to the ground below (Hopkins, p.53).
Jim dived deeply into film. Everywhere he carried ringed notebooks for scrawling his puzzling and unusual ideas (Hopkins, p.53). The camera was an all-seeing god, he said; it satisfied a longing for omniscience (Hopkins, p.53).When Jim slipped away form UCLA, with his degree in theatre arts, he started experimenting with anything that could be swallowed or inhaled (Hopkins, p.53).
In 1965, Jim lived on the rooftop of an apartment building in Venice, California. Jim rarely ate and he lost 20 pounds in weight in a period of three months (Hopkins, p.59). He took LSD or smoked marijuana, or both, virtually on a daily basis, while scribbling poetry in a notebook (Hopkins, p.59).
These poems eventually became songs. Jim ran into a friend from school, Ray Manzarek. Jim said he had been writing poems and Ray asked him to sing one (Hopkins, p.60). When he had finished Ray said those were the best lyrics he had ever heard and he suggested they start a band. Jim said it was precisely what he had in mind (Hopkins, p.60). In time, the body of work produced during this summer of narcotic dieting carried him, and the Doors, a long way (Hopkins, p.59).
In the summer of 1966, Jim met the most important person in his life, Pamela Courson. Enchanted by the hippie life and a little afraid of it, Jim took her under his wing and introduced her to psychedelic drugs and poetry. Although he was not faithful, it was to Pamela he returned time after time, pledging his eternal love. They were, he said, cosmic mates (Hopkins, p.69).
Pamela and Jim argued consistently about Pamela wanting him to spend a quiet evening at home versus his wanting to party with friends. Often these arguments turned into knockdown, drag-out fights with their place getting smashed up. The next day, when they had sobered up, and she had calmed down, they went on, and resumed their life as if nothing had happened.
More and more, Pamela was exerting her influence, or trying to. She hated the idea of Jim as a rock star and urged him to quit the band to devote himself to his writing (Hopkins, p.96). She fussed about the way he looked, pestered him about getting his clothes cleaned more frequently. She was jealous when he saw other women, even though she saw other men. Jim liked to walk the streets of West Hollywood and frequently when he met a young woman, no matter how overweight or unattractive, he took her back to his tiny room (Hopkins, p.108).
With a Number 1 song, publicity comes easy, but the money comes more slowly (Hopkins, p.77). Besides acquiring increasing numbers of girls, he started spending money furiously-not on houses or cars but on huge bar bills and custom clothing. Jim also began assembling his first coterie of serious drinkers, including Tom Baker, the actor; and the then virtually unknown singer Alice Cooper (Hopkins and Sugerman, p.172). Jim was, by now, very serious about his drinking, no matter how casual he seemed. He spent his days in the bars that were located near his motel. He never entered the studio without a bottle (Hopkins and Sugerman, p.172). Jim’s drinking got so bad that his band members hired a babysitter, to make sure Jim got to where he had to be, sober and on time.
During concerts, Jim would try to exorcise demons, or conjure them up from some hidden and secret past. ‘See, there’s this theory about the nature of tragedy,’ Jim said, ‘that Aristotle didn’t mean catharsis for the audience, but a purgation of emotions for the actors themselves. The audience is just a witness to the event taking place on stage (Hopkins, p.86).’
One time, Jim’s mother came to a concert to see how Jim was doing. Jim refused to talk with her, but she stayed for the concert anyway. While on stage, during a song called ‘The End’ Jim whispered, ‘Father, I want to kill you,’ then looked directly at his mother and screamed, ‘Mother I want to fuck you’. Jim never saw, or talked to his mother again, and he told the press that his entire family was dead.
Between 1963 and 1969, Jim was arrested at least ten times on such charges as drunk driving, lewd and lascivious behavior, battery, driving without a license, and interference with the flight of an aircraft (Riordan and Prochnicky, p346-347). As expected, he refused to talk about Miami-for legal reasons, he said. But, unexpectedly he did talk about his family, not in depth, but with honesty and perspective, something he had not previously allowed himself to do (Hopkins and Sugerman, p.244).
Jim’s Inner World
Jim had always sought self-definition. This search was marked first by constant attention seeking as a child. When he still could not feel his own existence, he then looked to others for the reactions and responses he needed to bolster himself to derive something of a sense of self. His troublesome childhood behaviors foreshadowed adolescent and adult misadventures and stimulus seeking. As an adult, he pressed his intellect into serving his search for a solid self. His futile attempts to fashion a “me” for himself included displays of intellectual arrogance, preoccupations with bizarre and esoteric subject matter, and the presentation of an oppositional, I’m different-from-everyone-else attitude (Faris and Faris, p.150).
Eventually, Jim tried to fit himself into a life role, hoping to find the self he had always been looking for. Of course, this role had to be intense and special. Only by passing through the doors of perception into the mystical and the unconventional-outside of the world in which he found no solace-might he find himself (Faris and Faris, p.150).
Jim used alcohol, drugs and sex in every way he could. He was persistent, and sadistic. Alcohol was Jim’s panacea, the magic potion that answered his needs, solved his problems, and seemed to him the thing to do. He abused many drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, and acid, but settled on heroin.
In seeking the mystical and the visionary, he sought to “understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the unfathomable mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend” (Faris and Faris, p.145). Jim also talked of pursuing sanity through insanity, and so he embraced the arcane, the hidden, the mysterious, the inscrutable, the extreme, the illogical, the disordered and the sensual (Riordan and Prochnicky, p134). Jim constantly lived on the edge, captured by the lure of escape that he thought that style of living would offer.
The purpose of Jim’s self-destructive substance abuse was not to discover the other side but to escape to the other side. He sought to escape the deeply distressing anxiety emanating from an inner world lonelier for him, than if he had grown up somehow without human contact (Faris and Faris, p.146). By behaving in an outrageous and provocative manner, Jim attempted to fill the void, to prevent panic from overwhelming him. Hanging off the ledge of a tall building, rambling on in a trance like a shaman, cursing his audience, instigating a police officer to arrest him or tormenting a teacher were all actions driven by the same demons. The greater the tension, the less he felt the alienation, despair and dread (Faris and Faris, p.147).
Diagnosis
Axis 1 Alcohol Dependence, with Physiological Dependence 303.9
Alcohol intoxication 303.0
Cannabis Abuse 305.2
Hallucinogen Abuse 305.3
Opioid Abuse 305.5
Cocaine Abuse 305.6
Axis 2 Borderline Personality Disorder 301.83
Axis 3 None
Axis 4 Disruption of family by separation
Inadequate discipline
Death of friend
Harassment by media
Arrest and litigation
Volatile future
Axis 5 GAF 39 Current
Axis 1
Alcohol Dependence, with Physiological Dependence 303.9 (DSM IV-TR, p 199 & 213).
According to the DSM IV-TR Jim meets the criteria for Alcohol Dependence with Physiological Dependence in these ways:
- Recurrent substance use resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations. i.e. Never on time for concerts or studio time.
- Recurrent substance use in situations in which it is physically hazardous. i.e. Drunk driving, climbing tall buildings.
- Recurrent substance-related legal problems. i.e. Arrested on several occasions.
- Continued substance use despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by the effects of the substance. i.e. Instability in interpersonal relationships; family, co-workers and personal relationships.
- Physiological dependence on alcohol is indicated by evidence of tolerance or symptoms of Withdrawal. i.e. never entered the studio without a bottle of liquor, spends his days in bars that surround his motel.
Alcohol Intoxication 303.0 (DSM IV-TR, p 215).
According to the DSM IV-TR Jim meets the criteria for Alcohol Intoxication in this way:
- Recent ingestion of alcohol.
- Clinically significant maladaptive behavioral or psychological changes that developed during, or shortly after, alcohol ingestion. i.e. Lewd and lascivious behavior, drunk driving, interference with flight of an aircraft, and sexual and aggressive behavior.
- Unsteady gait
- The symptoms are not due to a general medical condition.
Cannabis Abuse 305.2 (DSM IV-TR, p 199 & 236),
Hallucinogen Abuse 305.3 (DSM IV-TR, p 199 & 252),
Opioid Abuse 305.5 (DSM IV-TR, p 199 & 271), and
Cocaine Abuse 305.6 (DSM IV-TR, p 199 & 243),
According to the DSM IV-TR Jim meets the criteria for Cannabis, Hallucinogen, Opioid, and Cocaine Abuse in this way:
- Recurrent substance use resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations. i.e. Never on time for concerts or studio time.
- Recurrent substance use in situations in which it is physically hazardous. i.e. Recurrent use of two or more substances at once, followed by large quantities of alcohol.
- Recurrent substance-related legal problems. i.e. Arrested on several
occasions.
4. Continued substance use despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by the effects of the substance. i.e. Instability in interpersonal relationships; family, co-workers and personal relationships.
Axis 2
Borderline Personality Disorder 301.83 (DSM IV-TR, p 710).
According to the DSM IV-TR Jim meets the criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder in these ways:
- A clear pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships exhibited in relations with family members, co-workers, and personal relationships.
- An unstable and vague self-image and identity.
- Shifting and unpredictable moods.
- A poor control of impulses and emotions beginning in early adulthood and evident in a variety of contexts.
- A pervasive feeling of emptiness / deadness.
Axis 3
Jim reports no medical conditions or health problems.
Axis 4
Away much of the time, Jim’s father fluctuating between treating his children as recruits and exercising little parental authority, choosing instead to let his wife apply whatever discipline might be necessary (Faris and Faris, p.142). Living the Military life style, and moving frequently. The death of Janis Joplin, a long time friend, bothers Jim greatly. Jim is constantly judged and harassed by the media. He continuously has run-ins with authority. Jim was arrested at least ten times on such charges as drunk driving, lewd and lascivious behavior, battery, driving without a license, and interference with the flight of an aircraft (Riordan and Prochnicky, p346-347). He threatens to leave The Doors, to pursue his poetry. Jim is aware he is slipping into despair, voicing his concern that he doesn’t know who he is (Faris and Faris, p.169).
Treatment Plan
I have decided to begin treatment with detoxification as the first step, to help eliminate all the substances from Jim’s body, followed by Psychodynamic Therapy, combined with a comprehensive substance treatment program. I will also be prescribing a Benzodiazepine, to help reduce symptoms of withdrawal. In treating Jim’s borderline personality disorder, I will prescribe Prozac to help reduce his depressed mood and impulsive behaviors. Psychodynamic Therapy will also continue to help Jim with his borderline personality disorder.
Prognosis
Jim’s prognosis depends on how willing he is to address these difficult issues. The life Jim has created for himself is very demanding. Drugs, alcohol and sex go together with being a stage performer. He is not being forced into treatment, but it is highly recommended. Only Jim can make that decision.
Conclusion
Ever since childhood, Jim had reacted to his partners as a Jekyll and Hyde, sometimes gentle and charming, other times hostile, sadistic and destructive (Faris and Faris, p.158). This behavior is typical of the disturbed object relations of someone who cannot help but split the people with whom he is trying to connect with into partial beings without “realness”. Such a person is unable to maintain object constancy. Such relationships are typical for those with a ‘void’ in place of self (Faris and Faris, p.158).
From the very beginning, Jim’s vulnerability to splitting and object inconstancy limited his capacity to internalize the essence of significant others. In other words, he could not psychologically absorb all of the disparate experiences so he aggressively sought into a real self because he had not been able to internalize the essence of his parents as a child. The experience had no place to go, no place where they could be taken and assimilated as a part of an already developing self. No matter how many poems he wrote, trances he fell into, or images he provoked in his audiences, he was unable to use any of it. There was a black hole where self-feeling was supposed to be.
Jim acted out on many levels. Not all were entertaining; few were understood. Jim could ponder the mystical, experiment with concepts, dabble with the notion of creative chaos, and write surreal poetry. But he was a Jekyll and Hyde Character-unpredictable, self destructive and confused (Faris and Faris, p.149). His alienation from others and from himself was complete, and he experienced it practically from the beginning.
Jim’s efforts to break through the limits of the senses and ordinary experience were not driven by intellectual forces or curiosity, but by the irresistible dread emanating from the inner place most of us will never know.
Bibliography
American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, text Revision. Washington, D.C., American Psychiatric Association, 2000.
Faris, Gerald A. and Faris, Ralph M. Living in the Dead Zone: Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. Ohio, BookMasters, Inc. 2002.
Hopkins, Jerry. The Lizard King: The essential Jim Morrison. New York, FireSide, 1992.
Hopkins, Jerry and Sugarman, Danny. No One Here Gets Out Alive. New York, Warner Books, 1995.
Riordan, James and Prochnicky, Jerry. Break on Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison. New York, William Morrow, 1991
