The last case, R. E. O'M., is one of no less interest from a formal
standpoint than from a psychological one, while the trend presented is so
copious that it can well serve as a resume of the cases we have just
recited. He is now an unmarried man of thirty-three, and although he was
diagnosed dementia praecox ten years ago is now earning $1200 year as a
stenographer in the government service. His father was an Irishman banished
from Great Britain because of his political agitations. His mother was a
French woman of Huguenot extraction who died of cancer before the patient
reached his teens but to whom he was greatly attached. He has a sister two
years older than himself, given to hysteric attacks, for whom his love is
"Platonic," to use his own term. Although of more than normal intellectual
vigor, judging by his success in school work, he probably always had a
psychotic tendency. At seven or eight he saw a vision of God in the clouds;
at puberty he masturbated considerably and used to stand before the mirror
and "hypnotize" himself. In the fall of 1903 (then twenty-one) he was
staying at a summer hotel where he met a girl who made love to him, when he
began to have frequent emissions. Being caught together out in a storm, in
an effort to protect her his hand found its way to her hair. He was greatly
upset. On returning to the hotel he endeavored to avoid her, and, his father
being slightly ill, he became convinced he was going to die. A month or so
later he moved from Baltimore, which had been his home, and began employment
with the government in Washington. He had more emissions and immediately
developed hysterical heart trouble, and from his retrospective account also
had ideas of people influencing him. A year later (June 1905) a frank
psychosis with considerable manic flavor developed. Secretary of State Hay
had died, and peace negotiations between Russia and Japan were in progress.
He got the idea that he was to succeed Hay (whose face he saw in the clouds)
and that he would make peace between the nations. The accompanying
excitement was so intense that when he came to see his father in Baltimore
the latter had him committed to the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital.[3] He
remained there for one year and eight months, during which time his mood
showed great variability. At times he would be elated, again depressed or
anxious, often silly with irrelevant laughter. Towards the end of his
admission he had quite long intervals when he appeared normal. Eight months
after his discharge he began to have monthly attacks lasting from one to two
weeks. At the beginning of 1911 he came under the observation of one of us
at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Dispensary. His case was followed minutely
for some months when the following extraordinary clinical picture was seen
to develop with regular periodicity. His interest would gradually withdraw
from his work and an abstracted, "dim" look come into his eyes. He ceased
to sleep either day or night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account