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Commentary on “Seven Institutionalized Children and Their Adaptation in Late Adulthood: The Children of Duplessis”: Case Studies of the Orphans of Duplessis: The Power of Stories

When I was a boy, my father recounted his experiences growing up during the Great Depression. His family, like many others, did not have much money, especially for the extra things in life. Much of what he, his brother, and his sisters did for fun couldn’t cost money. With their father, my grandfather, they would make toys out of extra materials they found around the neighborhood or around their house. Some of my own most memorable toys were those that my father and I made together, even though there was no financial need to do it. These were toys from his childhood—rifles made from planks of wood that used elastic band bullets cut from old inner tubes and buttons that were looped through with string that whistled when you pulled on the ends. My father’s stories told of less fortunate times, but they were rich and filled with the details of family, friends, and warm memories. I learned from a young age how stories have the power to communicate experience, connect people with their past, and bring meaning to their present and future. In their paper Seven Institutionalized Children and Their Adaptation in Late Adulthood: The Children of Duplessis (Les Enfants de Duplessis), Dr. Perry and colleagues continue their valuable contribution to the literature regarding the vicissitudes of early orphanage life; but this time as storyteller. Their previous publications describing this orphan group include a pilot investigation of a smaller, mostly male population of orphans (Sigal, Rossingol, & Perry, 1999), as well as a more comprehensive and detailed description of a larger male and female index group (Sigal, Perry, Rossingol, & Ouimet, 2003). Two more recent articles describe the prevalence of certain predictive factors in the study population, such as personal strengths, attachment relationships, and adverse experiences (Perry, et al., 2005a), as well as the association of these factors to later adult psychological health and social and occupational function (Perry, et al., 2005b). In the present paper, the authors move from a statistical description of the population to a detailing of the lives of seven middle-aged adults who were placed in orphanages before the age of 4. In so doing, they introduce us to the characters in this human drama, in very personal ways, and communicate their painful Psychiatry 69(4) Winter 2006 325