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Falling Into the Fire: A Psychiatrist's Encounters with the Mind in Crisis

Page 26

by Montross, Christine


  short-stay, 13–14, 99

  threats of violence by, 78–79, 116, 135–40

  vulnerability of, 2–3

  see also specific individuals

  Patty (self-mutilation patient), 34–35

  pediatricians, 7, 142

  pedophilia, 136

  penises:

  self-amputation of, 35

  shrinking and disappearing of, 12, 198–200, 202

  pep squad, mass psychogenesis in, 196–97, 203

  pharmaceutical companies, 30

  phenothiazine, 130

  Phillips, Katharine, 72, 73–75, 77–78, 81

  Phyllis (seizure patient), 169–75, 177, 178, 180, 182, 184, 188, 190, 207

  Pierre, Jean, 155–56

  Plath, Sylvia, 110, 113

  polyps, 31

  Ponte Vecchio, 123

  possession, demonic, 200–201

  postpartum psychosis, 30, 112, 157

  postpartum stress, 150–51, 155

  post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 169–70

  poverty, 31

  preaching, 121

  pregnancy, stress during, 150

  Price, Lawrence, 30–31

  prodromal phase, 109

  projection, 45–47

  projective identification, 45–47, 50

  prostitution, 55

  Prozac, 79

  pseudoseizures (psychogenic nonepileptic seizures), 171–80, 182, 185, 188, 195

  history of, 190–93

  Psychiatric Times, 140

  psychiatry:

  author’s hard questions about, 1–3, 16, 17, 90–91, 93, 112–14, 119, 126–33, 147–48, 207–16

  difficulty of determining a diagnosis in, 108–9, 126, 128, 132, 137, 146–47, 157–58, 163–64, 166, 170–75, 182–84

  doctor’s nonjudgmental stance in, 181–82

  domain of, 11–12

  emergency procedures in, 166–69

  historic evolution of, 13–17

  intersection of medicine and, 163–205

  lack of certainty in, 168

  as medical discipline, 11

  mission of, 106

  myths and misperceptions about, 30–31, 105, 107

  perceived as pseudoscience, 30

  responsibilities of, 3–4, 208, 211

  risks to practitioners of, 98–99

  shortcomings of, 106

  surgery vs., 26

  Psychiatry: An Industry of Death, 30

  psychogenic movement disorders, 176

  psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (pseudoseizures), 15, 171–80, 182, 185, 188

  history of, 190–93

  psychogynecology, 189

  psychology, 11

  psychopharmacology, 30

  “Psychophysiology of Self-Mutilation” (Haines), 50

  psychosis:

  delirium vs., 165–66

  euphoria and, 106–8

  in harming of children, 140–41, 144–47

  obsession vs., 146–47, 158

  in self-mutilation, 33–35, 59

  see also schizophrenia

  psychotherapy, 16

  for BDD, 73, 80

  in BIID, 88

  for depression, 30

  for pseudoseizures, 176

  psychotic filicide, 142–43, 147

  quadriplegics, 12

  Quiet Room, 169–70, 174

  racism, 143

  Raving Madness, 15

  rectal insertions, 35

  reflexes, 8

  Reid, Russell, 88

  rejection, 50

  religious and spiritual delusions, 56, 59, 97–121, 126, 128, 130–33

  faith vs., 119

  in harming of children, 140, 143–44

  mass psychogenesis in, 200–201

  in self-mutilation, 33–35

  see also Colin

  “Repetitive Self-Injurious Behavior: A Neuropsychiatric Perspective and Review of Pharmacologic Treatments” (Villalba and Harrington), 47–48

  repetitive self-mutilation syndrome, 37

  reproductive system, in hysteria, 184–85, 189

  research, ethics of, 48–50

  Resnick, Phillip, 141–44, 147, 159–60

  respiratory rate, 7

  restraints, in hospitalization, 16

  rhinoplasty, 72

  Rhode Island:

  author’s home in, 212–13

  hurricane in, 93–96

  involuntary hospitalization in, 104

  Riggi, Theresa, 142

  risk, author’s avoidance of, 164–65

  Roethke, Theodore, 208

  Sackellares, J. Chris, 172

  Sacks, Oliver, 106

  saints, 12, 130–31

  Saks, Elyn, 169

  Salpêtrière Hospital, 190–92, 196, 201

  Santa Croce, Church of, 123

  Santa Maria Nuova Hospital, 122

  Satan, 140, 143

  scabs, reopening of, 36

  schizophrenia, 69, 91, 103, 111, 116–17, 168, 169

  and BIID, 108–9, 115–16

  catatonia in, 11

  Schumann, Robert, 111, 113

  Scientific American, 150, 153

  Scientology, 30

  Scott, Charles, 8–9, 180

  scrotums, 200

  Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog, 188

  seclusion, 169–70

  security guards, 20–22, 28–29, 39, 40–41, 98

  sedation, sedatives, 5, 7, 29, 30, 173–74, 177, 178

  Sedda, Anna, 92

  seizures, 7, 12, 143, 170–76, 178, 180, 182, 188, 207

  see also Phyllis

  self-amputation, 33, 49, 56–60, 85–86, 90

  self-fulfilling prophecy, projective identification as, 45–47

  self-help, morbid forms of, 36

  self-image, self-harm and, 67–96

  self-injury, 19–65, 165, 200, 208

  anger and resentment at, 37

  disconnection in, 32–33, 50–54, 55

  ethical issues in, 56–60

  feedback loop in, 36–37, 59

  through ingestion, see intentional ingestion

  involuntary hospitalization and, 104

  normal aversion to, 32–33

  physiology of, 51

  root causes of, 47–50

  through self-mutilation, 33–37

  sense of calm and relief through, 33, 36, 47, 49–51, 75

  sequence of events in, 50–51

  three types of, 33

  as unintentional consequence of BDD, 72–75

  self-mutilation, 33–37

  self-soothing, 53

  Selma (BDD patient), 79

  sensory loss, 9

  separation, self-injury prompted by, 50

  September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks of, 52, 145

  serotonin, 78

  serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs), 76, 79–80

  sex:

  body identity and, 85

  irregular actions and desires in, 83, 139, 201

  as motivation for self-injury, 34, 35, 200

  perceived relationship of hysteria to, 184–89

  Sexton, Anne, 110, 112

  sexual abuse, 48, 53–54

  Shakespeare, William, 1, 19

  shame, in doctor-patient relations, 183–84

  Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 110

  “shell-shocked,” men, 184–85

  Shorter, Edward, 84, 181, 188

  short-stay patients, 13–15

  sigmoidoscopy, 35

  Simon, Robert I., 116

  sinfulness, as motiva
tion for self-mutilation, 34

  Singapore, 198

  skin, in BDD, 67–70

  Slater mental hospital, 44

  Smith, Robert, 85, 88

  Smith, Susan, 143

  Smith, Thornton, 197

  Smithsonian, 185

  snapshots, residents’ game with, 99–101, 106

  somatoform disorders, 180–84, 193–96

  throughout history, 184–88

  misinterpretation of, 196

  somatoparaphrenia, 91–93

  sparrow, 115

  speaking in tongues, 200–201

  spinal cord, 11

  spouse-revenge filicide, 142, 144

  Standal, Stanley, 181

  starlings, group behavior of, 203–5

  status epilecticus, 170–71, 173–74, 177, 179

  Stendhal syndrome, 123

  stereotypic self-mutilation, 33, 35–36

  sternal rub, 5–6, 8

  “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (Frost), 19–20, 64

  Strasbourg, 198

  stress:

  cortisol and, 150–51

  ingestion as response to, 23–24, 31, 33, 46–47

  of isolation, 48–49

  in mothers who harm children, 152–54, 155–57

  self-mutilation as response to, 36–37, 51

  social, 31, 154

  in somatoform disorders, 194–95, 202–3

  stroke, 7, 11–12

  Strong, Marilee, 53

  stupor, 11

  subcision, 81

  submersion, as therapy, 16

  suicide:

  attempted, 21, 115–16

  in BIID, 99, 106

  as consequence of BDD, 73, 77, 79

  drug overdose in, 7

  and filicide, 138, 139, 144, 155–56

  genius and, 112

  hospital precautions for, 27

  passive, 73

  self-injury vs., 33

  tendencies toward, 1, 29, 86, 88, 107, 122, 164, 209

  threats of, 39, 166

  superficial/moderate self-mutilation, 33, 36

  superglue, 72

  Supreme Court, U.S., 105

  surgery:

  ability to cure by, 26

  for amputation, 56–60

  author’s dream about, 41–42

  cosmetic, 68, 72, 73–74, 75–77

  dental, 71

  as effective in BIID, 83–84, 86–93

  historical dangers of, 188–89

  for ingested objects, 19, 23–27

  self-, 72

  Swallow: Foreign Bodies, Their Ingestions, Inspiration, and the Curious Doctor Who Extracted Them (Cappello), 42

  symptom exaggeration, 8–9

  symptoms:

  tests for neurological validity of, 8–10

  see also specific symptoms

  Szasz, Thomas, 30

  Taking of the Christ (Caravaggio), 132

  Technology of Orgasm, The (Maines), 186

  teeth, in BDD, 71, 74, 79, 86

  testicles, self-amputation of, 35

  Thailand, 198

  “Thorazine shuffle,” 105

  thyroid, 21

  tics, 193–94, 202

  Today, 202

  Tourette’s disorder, 36

  tourists, psychotic episodes of, 119–24

  tranquilizers, 171

  Transcultural Psychiatric Review, 200

  transformation, 126–27

  transgendered people, 35

  trauma:

  dissociation and, 52–53

  neurological effects of, 47–48

  retelling of story as reexperiencing of, 145–46

  Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare), 19

  tumors, 32

  Uffizi gallery, 122

  unemployment, 31, 209–11

  unresponsiveness, 5–11, 17

  obstructionist, 11

  unwanted child filicide, 142–43, 144

  Ursuline nuns, 200–201

  USA Today, 118

  uterus, in hysteria, 184, 187, 189

  Vancouver ferry, 149

  van der Kolk, Bessel, 47–48

  van Foreest, Pieter, 186

  van Gogh, Vincent, 110, 113

  veterinary medicine, 7

  vibrators, 186–88

  vigilance, maternal, 151, 153

  Vijay (medical student), 102–3

  Villalba, Rendueles, 48

  vital signs, 5, 7

  voices, hearing of, 15, 56, 83, 109, 115, 116, 138–39, 144–46, 166

  vulval massage, see genital massage

  Waller, John, 198

  Wallian, Samuel Spencer, 187

  Weatherston, Mary, 212

  Weil, Simone, xi, 211

  Welly (author’s friend), 81, 86–87, 96

  West Virginia, 105

  Whole, 88

  winter camper (self-amputation patient), 56–60, 83

  witchcraft, 201

  Wolf, Mabel, 42–43

  women, historical treatment of hysteria in, 184–89, 190–93

  Woolf, Virginia, 110–12

  World War I, 184–85

  Wrigley, Charles Harold, 1, 13, 16, 70

  wrists, cutting of, 51–52

  X-rays, 32

  Yates, Andrea, 140–41, 143–45, 155, 157, 158

  Yates, Rusty, 157

  youth, onset of mental illness in, 76, 108

  (ABOUT THE AUTHOR)

  Christine Montross is an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior and the codirector of the Medical Humanities and Bioethics Scholarly Concentration at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is also a practicing inpatient psychiatrist. Dr. Montross’s previous book, Body of Work, was named an Editors’ Choice by the New York Times and one of the Washington Post’s best nonfiction books of 2007. She and her partner, the playwright Deborah Salem Smith, live in Rhode Island with their two young children.

 

 

 


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