Psycho-Analysis of a City

By GREGG KIRK
November 1993, Big Shout Magazine

In the process of doing an overview of the Wilmington area’s entertainment scene from a socio-economic basis, we decided to take things a little further. Why not get to the root of the situation? Why not see what really makes Wilmington tick? Why not psycho-analyze the whole city as you would a person?

The only problem was finding a receptive psychologist who would go along with our wacky idea. Luckily we stumbled upon Dr. Marilyn R. Deak, PhD, who is a licensed psychologist and clinical child psychologist who practices in the Wilmington suburbs. While she was a little hesitant at first, she finally agreed to help us out as long as we made it perfectly clear to our readers that this is by no means the way she normally runs her practice, i.e. dishing out pycho-analysis over the phone. After we gave her a list of symptoms, she called back a few hours later with her prognosis and diagnosis. We would like to thank her for being such a sport and also thank her for her sound psychological advice, some of which could actually be applied to the city and those who inhabit it.

Symptoms: Non-specific feelings of inadequacy; overwhelming urges to be bigger and better, coupled with the fear of taking any chances, fear of change; envy and tendency to want to emulate those who are more successful.

Diagnosis: “Wilmington is like a teenager with an Adolescent Identity Disorder. It doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up. It doesn’t know whether it will want to be a jock, or a punk, or an artist. It doesn’t know whether it will be just like its dad or mom, (Philadelphia or Baltimore), or whether it will have a personality and career all its own. As with a teenager, it’s out of touch with its core — its center — so at times it feels as thought it’s flying apart or going in too many directions. Also like a teenager, it’s had a major growth spurt and doesn’t know where it begins and ends; therefore, it’s struggling to integrate itself physically.”

Prognosis: “Wilmington needs to ask itself, ‘What can I make happen?’ and take responsibility for its actions. It needs to discover its strengths and weaknesses in a reality-based way. Therapeutically, it needs to learn to accept who it is without wanting to emulate others.”