March 14, 2003

Label Liberation with Justin Thomas

In this gripping soliloquy, Justin chronicles his escape from imprinted labels of ‘moron’ and ‘idiot’ to that of a sage and philosopher. Yet these are all ‘labels’ which he eschews, for labels, can mortally wound the psyche as surely as a sword can wound the body.

In the role of a jester he cleverly and emotionally relates the evolution of his life from a downtrodden, berated child who acted out his assigned role of fool, but evolves to a wise jester who discovers the understanding of personality formation as molded by the impact of labels.

He relates his journey from a child who repeatedly fails grade one until he finally springs free from the imposed label of idiot and successfully reenters grade one at age 28 (and goes on to earn doctorate of philosophy). In that path he discovers the pathology of negative words and in the process is freeing himself from the role of jester who has played out his sad life for so many years.

The beautifully told but truly sad story demonstrates the power of a dysfunctional family to destroy the natural process of personality formation. Viewers will discover the intertwine of Freudian and behavior modification theories in the destruction of a personality which victoriously emerges in the end as a successful person “Label Liberated”.

 

G. A. Fraser, M.D., FRCPC

Medical Director