In this chapter, Mark reflects on his experiences with psychoanalysis and with various therapists and social workers. Mark is one of three sons. One brother, Billy, is a member of the army (to Mark’s disgust). Another brother, Davie, was disabled and died years ago.

Mark sees the attempts of therapists and social workers to help him as largely useless. He does acknowledge that he learned something from the process, seeming again to exhibit an intellectual curiosity that has been hinted at in his previous academic references (Brecht, Kierkegaard). He learns that he needs to express his feelings about Davie’s death and work through his jealousy of his father. He also acknowledges that he is “attention-seeking” (185). Mark concludes that his problems boil down to his “alienation from society” and that society can’t be changed. He thus copes by turning to heroin, a step that he sees as logical given the circumstances.

This summary, while insightful and possibly true, as Mark acknowledges, reads as almost ludicrous when delivered in this manner. It’s so cliché and almost over-the-top when compacted into a single paragraph of analysis that it casts a shadow of doubt over the efficacy of any of this psychoanalysis.