Free Savage Son by Corey Mitchell

actions very hard, especially since Bart had committed one of his thefts at her place of employment. Tricia seemed devastated by her son’s inability to make the right choice; she practically went into hiding. Afraid that she would go out into public and be ridiculed by her friends, Tricia uprooted many of her normal routines. She stopped shopping at her usual grocery store, because she did not want to face her friends and be supremely embarrassed. She even convinced the family to switch churches so as to avoid any more uncomfortable situations.
    After Bart’s arrest, his parents sought out help in the form of a psychologist, Dr. Brendan O’Rourke, a licensed doctor since 1982 after she had received her master’s degree from the University of Houston graduate school. O’Rourke had worked as a high-school counselor after college, and before beginning her work as a psychologist. She was uniquely equipped to deal with the adolescent mind, and the trials and tribulations experienced by teenagers.
    Kent and Tricia Whitaker had been referred to Dr. O’Rourke through a mutual friend. They hoped the doctor would be able to conduct sessions with Bart, determine what his problem was, and assess that he would be well enough to return back to Clements High School. They were looking for a letter of reinstatement for their son from Dr. O’Rourke so he could complete his senior year of high school at Clements.
    Unfortunately for the Whitakers, Bart’s meeting with Dr. O’Rourke did not turn out as they had hoped. The doctor spoke with Bart about his bad behavior and how he felt about what he had done. The doctor also conducted a Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory test on Bart to help her come up with an assessment of the young man. The test is “ideal for use with individuals being evaluated for emotional, behavioral, or interpersonal difficulties.”
    After meeting with Bart ten times, Dr. O’Rourke’s conclusions were definitive and damning simultaneously. My impression, Dr. O’Rourke laid out clearly, is the court system will impose adequate consequences to punish Bart and to bring about a self correction. In other words, she did not recommend that Bart return to school, but rather doing a little time in jail would do him the most good.
    Needless to say, the Whitakers were not happy with the initial diagnosis.
    O’Rourke further detailed her position on Bart’s mental disposition. She described Bart as an egocentric man who has an inflated sense of self-importance, combined with an intense mistrust of others. She added, He has a disputatious demeanor that invariably invokes exasperation and animosity in friends, relatives and co-workers. O’Rourke admitted that many of these traits are fairly common among teenagers, but Bart seemed to transcend most of the Breakfast Club clichés of teenagerdom.
    His guiding principle is that of outwitting others, O’Rourke’s test results continued, exerting power over them before they can exploit him. Apparently, many of Bart’s interactions with his peers, his teachers, and his own family were a sort of competition, a test of wills to see if Bart would come out on top and not be bested by those around him.
    Another portion of the test revealed that Bart may embellish trivial achievements despite the contradictions of others and added that he was easily provoked. Even more damning, he may express sudden and unanticipated brutality. So, to add to his general mistrust of others, was his need to best his friends and foes in everything, combined with a volatile personality capable of destructive behavior. But that was not the end of it.
    One final result about Bart from Dr. O’Rourke’s test was that he possessed a narcissistic personality trait, which is a severe mental personality trait that is characterized by a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy.
    One of the more telling traits of a narcissistic personality is that the people who have it