Introducing a Hippie Stuck in the '60's
Written collaboratively by Anil Nayak, Dominic Barandica, and Jeanne Lee
Chronic illnesses are notorious for profoundly impacting the lives of afflicted patients. Among individuals with disorders that manifest themselves exclusively physically, such as arthritis, asthma, and diabetes, treatment may vary from drugs to physical therapy, as such symptoms are relatively easy to assess and approach. However, with mental illness, the solution is not so simple: in cases like Parkinson’s disease, Down’s syndrome, and dementia, treatment often entails not only addressing psychosomatic effects, but also attempts to deter or, if possible, halt the progression of the disease on a chemical level.
Disorders resulting from damage to an otherwise normally functioning body may be particularly devastating. To individuals like victims of paralysis, this is often because they find themselves unable to do tasks, even those that may have before been considered trivial and simple. That said, there are times when patients with mental illness as a consequence of brain damage are less distraught than are affiliated individuals. Take Greg F., one of the patients examined in An Anthropologist on Mars, who was a proficient student and avid fan of music before suffering a midline tumor that destroyed his pituitary gland, optic chiasm and tracts, temporal lobes, and diencephalon (Sacks 45). After suffering severe brain damage from a tumor, though he was not particularly fraught with worry, his parents were devastated by how much it had impacted him.
Irrevocable damage to a relatively large portion of the patient's brain resulted in a drastic change in demeanor, not only in social situations, but also in relation to himself and his own identity.
