Handlung

Teenager David Clemens develops a hysterical fear that he will die if he comes into physical contact with another person. Perturbed, David's overbearing mother places him in a home for mentally disturbed young people.

The emotional story of a young man in a mental institution for teens who begins to understand his psychosis in the environment of others with mental and emotional problems. He finds intimacy with Lisa, a young woman suffering from dissociative identity disorder.—joe robertson <glossy@mail.utexas.edu>

The parents of David Clemens send him to a private school that deals with youth who have mental illness issues. Outwardly, David's mental health issues manifest themselves in he not wanting to be touched, as he believes human touch will potentially kill him. And he has a recurring dream where he chops off the heads of people he knows using the arm of a large clock which acts like a guillotine. David does not respond well to authority, has a need of precision in his life, and acts with an air of superiority and arrogance to those around him. That is why he has made few to no friends at the school. The only exception is Lisa Brandt, who he correctly surmises suffers from adolescent dissociative identity disorder. Initially, David seems to like Lisa solely as a clinical case. However, as he goes through his own counseling with the compassionate head of the school, Dr. Swinford, David begins to open up emotionally to Lisa, and she to him. Potential problems are David's parents, especially his controlling mother who seems to care more about what the outside world thinks than if David is truly well, and David needing to come to an understanding of what he needs compared to what Lisa needs in their fragile mental states.—Huggo