Re: Second thoughts
Scottie Bowman (rbowman@indigo.ie)
Tue, 07 Dec 1999 19:15:11 +0000
There is, I'm afraid Jim, no question of rescuing
The Laughing Man. And probably not much hope
for Elizabeth either.
They represent a variant of what is known in these parts
as the South of Ireland Psychosis. It starts with
the not uncommon prodromal symptom of obsessive,
scrupulous guilt over completely trivial peccadilloes.
This forces the patient into repeated demands for confession -
which, of course, bring no ease or sense of absolution.
The condition moves on, quite rapidly, to the delusional
conviction that one has become possessed by the Devil.
Each action, each thought, each wish is minutely examined
for traces of possible culpability - which traces are invariably
found, leading to an ever deepening despair &, eventually,
a semi-inert, drooling passivity in which the features
assume a Mongoloid, mask like appearance.
The thoughts become incoherent. Strange word salads appear:
'... I'm in a relevant aspect regretting my careless quotation
of Ignatius yesterday ... The problem is in the fact that
using a pejorative epithet, if so only in quoted form,
does not help those fighting the misuse of the same ...'
& so on.
Occasionally, visual hallucinations appear. I remember
one patient who kept seeing 'epithets'. 'Look at them,' he used
to cry, 'the bastards. Just look at those buggering epithets
with their filthy black tails ...'
A terrible condition indeed. Some epidemiologists claim
to detect an infective element in the pattern of distribution.
I personally doubt this, but it may be wise to avoid too close
or too prolonged a contact with affected subjects.
Scottie B.