Bruno Bettelheim (Dr. B), the man who wrote about Joey was a child psychologist and a writer. He was Joey’s psychologist at the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School in the University of Chicago. The article he wrote about Joey was first published in Scientific American in 1959. In the article, Dr. B provides a case history of the autistic child Joey who believed he was a machine. Bettelheim was also known for his passion for fiction and fairy tales. In his book, The Uses of Enchantment he explains the importance of fairy tales for a child's emotional development. He believed that it was a way in which children could overcome their fears in the real world by understanding them through symbolic terms.

Joey was nine years old when he was first admitted into the Orthogenic School for disturbed children. Bettelheim described him as “fragile-looking and imperious”. Joey was so absorbed in his mechanical existence; he was able to convince others that he was a machine. According to Bettelheim, normal children may have magical realms where they can escape to, but they can be easily brought back to reality. However, children like Joey are possessed by their fantasies and are unable to return to reality. Bettelheim explains Joey’s state as infantile autism. He aims to treat Joey by helping him start his life over again in the real world.

Bettelheim explains that his psychoanalysis on Joey creates a general understanding of a child's emotional development in a mechanical age. It also presents a fascinating yet frightening reality that in Joey's case, machines overpowered his humanity. Bettelheim focuses on how he can make Joey human. Bettelheim believes that Joey was mechanized even before he was born. In the next few pages, I will be looking out how Joey's birth, infancy and childhood made him into a machine.