Læknablaðið - 01.06.1961, Blaðsíða 52

80
LÆKNABLAÐIÐ
whole human heing, his liabili-
ties and liis assets, and by look-
ing for what is in the back-
ground, subtle and covert, can
we ohtain a more comprehen-
sive basis for making more ac-
curate diagnoses and prognoses
regarding future growing possi-
bilities in human beings.
To elahorate and support my
main thesis with two more ex-
amples: a woman on whoni I
had a twenty-six j'ear follow-
up, and a man with a twenty-
four jrear follow-up. I cite thcse
two examples hecause of tlie
length of conlinuous ohserva-
tion, because the prognosis
looked poor in hoth, particularly
hecause of the severity of their
illness, its duration and hecause
their pliysical and psychological
heredity and endowment were
poor. Assets, all in all, seemed
lo be limited.
Lucile, age 19, attempted sui-
cide hy gas in 1931. The hospi-
tal staff could not agree whether
tlie diagnosis was simple schizo-
plirenia or a psychotic depres-
sion. I worked with her ahnost
daily throughout the year. She
left the hospital about tliree
months after I did, after hospi-
talization of fourteen montlis.
In 1935 she was again in a
mental liospital down soulh.
This episode followed a severe
illness of her mother on whom
she was morbidly dependent.
In 1938 and 1939, for about one
and a lialf years, I saw her once
a week as a private patient witli
steady improvement. In 1939 I
saw lier sister after she — her
sister —- made a suicidal at-
tempt. The sister made a social
recovery. In 1945 her sister was
again in a psycliiatric hospital
with what looked like either
a psychotic depression or an
early schizophrenia. In 1954
her husband had to perman-
ently liospitalize her. She now
clearly showed the picture of
schizoplirenic deterioration. In
1940 Lucille’s’ hrother died of
a coronary thrombosis at 33.
Her father had died of a coron-
ary thrombosis at 38 when she
was a little girl. Also in the
early 40’s her j’oungest hrother,
at about age 19, was diagnosed
as a psycliopathic personalitj7
and committed to a mental hos-
pital in North Carolina. In 1943
her mother died in a diabetic
coma. Lucille took this experi-
ence very well.
From 1938 on slie was self-
supporting and in late 1945
when I last saw her she was
holding quite a responsible joh
as office manager in a large
factory. On this last occasion
she came to see me about an
emotional involvement with a
married man. She liad quite
some insight into the neurotic
nature of her difficulty. She had
liad other such experiences and
knew tliat they were sick. Sev-