Dr.Richards' Notes 1/1/04

Today I had my first session with Thomas Matthews.  Thomas' parents, William and Nancy Matthews, told me that when Thomas was eight he began to tell them stories of "Mr.Tall", Thomas' imaginary friend.  In the beginning, the stories were just that they played "hide and go seek"or that they played "Pirates", but as time went on, specifically around Thomas' tenth birthday in November, the stories became rather strange.  For example, one time he told them that they played "in Thomas' head".  His parents thought this, coupled with the fact that it is unusual for children the age of ten to still have imaginary friends, could be signs of psychological problems.  Near the end of November,(Thomas' birthday is the fifth), Thomas began to complain to his parents that "Mr.Tall" refused to leave even after Thomas had told him to.  Then came the night terrors where Thomas would wake up screaming that "Mr.Tall" wanted to take Thomas away.  Then Thomas started having panic attacks and would randomly burst into tears.  On December 27th, at 3:00 A.M., Thomas came into his parents' bedroom covered in blood screaming that "Mr.Tall" was going to kill him.  The police never identified whose blood it was, and Thomas took a lie detector test proving that he'd not killed anyone or anything, nor had anyone hurt him. His parents had him commited here on December 31st.  During our session today I only tried to get to know Thomas.  He likes the television show "Dragon Ball Z" and "Samurai Jack".  He also wants to be a doctor when he grows up.   I plan to begin discerning what exactly is going on with Thomas' psyche tomorrow.