"When they do engage in political activity, they adhere to the more radical, extreme, irrational, and defiant part of the group. . . more commonly, however, anger is directed inward, causing apathy, withdrawal, and depression . . .

Insomnia, Blindness, Masturbation

"Insomnia, sometimes accompaniedby fantasies of going blind, disturbs the late hours. The resultant anxiety may lead to masturbation, or a sudden motorcycle ride through the night... They go to bed at dawn, wake about three in the afternoon, and then begin a routine of aimless wandering. Sleep, drugs, television, and alcohol provide escape from a monotonous, painful reality."

A defective self-image. "They reveal deep-seated, often unconscious, feelings of being ugly, unintelligent, fat, weak, feminine, and defective and frequently express a sense of having 'something missing.' "

Poor impulse control.

Fear of and counterphobic involvement with aggressive girls. "These patients characteristically depend on and fear tall, broad-shouldered, sexually aggressive girls, girls who initiate relationships by expressing admiration for the motorcycle or by asking to ride it."

Impotence and intense homosexual concerns. "The sexual history ranges from a few traumatic unsuccessful experiences for some to promiscuous activity for others. When sexual activity is mechanically successful the promiscuous subjects describe the experience as physically and emotionally ungratifying. They often attempt to alleviate anxiety resulting from failure to perform sexually by riding the motorcycle."

Masculine Self

Nicholi points out that certain aspects of the motorcycle's appeal-the thrusting of the rider's body into space, the intrusion of the deafening noise into other people's ears, the practice of keeping motorcycles in girl friends' garages-suggest genital or phallice elements, but says, "Clinical evidence proves such approaches to be limited in scope and far too superficial. . . Clinical material does make it clear, however, that the motorcycle serves as an extension of what the patient considers his masculine self."

The machine both pleases and terrifies, Nicholi said. "While fully conscious that the motorcycle provides pleasures of full expression of masculinity, even to the physical sense of orgasm, the patient also acutely senses its potential danger."

Both pleasures and the two basic fears-fear of bodily injury and of loss of control-are described "in remarkably similar terms," he said.

Cars and Planes

Nicholi stressed that this syndrome may be very similar to the emotional situations of accident-prone automobile drivers and small aircraft pilots. "Because of their susceptibility to injury and death people suspected of suffering from this syndrome should always be given psychiatric evaluation," he said.

The problem, he added, is not peculiar to this country-since the publication of his report last May he has received several hundred requests for reprints, many of them from Europe.

"The syndrome does not, of course, affect everyone who enjoys riding a motorcycle," he said. And "the sense or ejection, pervasive anger, and brooding resentment" that go with this syndrome "characterize not only the patients described but a large proportion of young people today."