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  • William Chester Minor born (22-6-1834)

    From Ross Clark@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jun 22 23:08:35 2024
    American army surgeon, served in the Civil War.
    His mental condition led to his being discharged from the army.
    Went to London for a change of scene in 1871, but things got worse and
    he shot and killed a total stranger in the street.
    Found not guilty by reason of insanity, sent to Broadmoor Asylum at
    Crowthorne (Berkshire). He was comfortably accomodated and respectfully treated, could receive visitors, and had the wherewithal to order all
    the books he wanted.

    And here is the language connection:

    During the four decades he spent there, he became one of the most
    prolific contributors of citations to the Oxford English Dictionary.

    The story is told in Simon Winchester's _The Surgeon of Crowthorne_ (US
    title _The Madman and the Professor*_).
    (*Stupid title. The "Professor" is James Murray of OED fame; but Murray
    was never a Professor, and didn't even have a university degree until he
    got a couple of honoraries very late in his life.)

    Minor's condition became much worse after the turn of the century. As a
    result of a campaign led by Murray, the Home Secretary (one Winston
    Churchill) had him released, and he was deported back to the USA. He
    spent some time in St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington (which later
    housed Ezra Pound) and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. (!) Died in 1920.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Stefan Ram@21:1/5 to Ross Clark on Sat Jun 22 11:20:42 2024
    Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz> wrote or quoted:
    result of a campaign led by Murray, the Home Secretary (one Winston >Churchill) had him released, and he was deported back to the USA. He
    spent some time in St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington (which later
    housed Ezra Pound) and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. (!) Died in 1920.

    Back in 1918, the way doctors understood schizophrenia was shaped
    by early psychiatrists like Emil Kraepelin and Eugen Bleuler.

    Kraepelin first called it "dementia praecox," focusing on its
    early onset and worsening over time. Later, Bleuler came up
    with the term "schizophrenia," highlighting the "splitting" of
    mental functions (rather than a split personality). At that time,
    the illness was mainly seen through its psychotic symptoms like
    hallucinations and delusions, but they also started to recognize
    its broader impact on cognitive and social functions.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Aidan Kehoe@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jun 22 16:51:21 2024
    Ar an dara lá is fiche de mí Meitheamh, scríobh Stefan Ram:

    Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz> wrote or quoted:
    result of a campaign led by Murray, the Home Secretary (one Winston >Churchill) had him released, and he was deported back to the USA. He
    spent some time in St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington (which later >housed Ezra Pound) and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. (!) Died in 1920.

    Back in 1918, the way doctors understood schizophrenia was shaped
    by early psychiatrists like Emil Kraepelin and Eugen Bleuler.

    Kraepelin first called it "dementia praecox," focusing on its
    early onset and worsening over time. Later, Bleuler came up
    with the term "schizophrenia," highlighting the "splitting" of
    mental functions (rather than a split personality). At that time,
    the illness was mainly seen through its psychotic symptoms like
    hallucinations and delusions, but they also started to recognize
    its broader impact on cognitive and social functions.

    In general there is no role for doctors in a given clinical picture absent a current or future impact on cognitive functions, social functions, the activities of daily living, or early death. The relevant thing about psychosis (which is often but not always due to schizophrenia) is the auditory hallucinations and delusions allow a better, more effective choice of treatment. Lithium or SSRIs won’t be much help in schizophrenia.

    Given Minor’s heavy use of prostitutes and the era, neurosyphilis was probably
    the way to bet as to the underlying diagnosis, though I can’t comment on how prevalent psychosis is as a presenting complaint of neurosyphilis. I thankfully have very little clinical experience with syphilis of any sort.

    (Every pregnant woman locally has a syphilis test done, since treating it is a cheap and effective way of preventing major disability in the child and is of benefit to the mother, and any positive test tends to be a false positive, negative on repeat, so we are getting a representative sample of the sexually active population and it’s not that we’re missing it. There’s just not a lot of
    it about. Now, we don’t have huge numbers of men who have sex with men locally,
    that would give a different epidemiological picture, cf the recent coverage of syphilis in the NEJM.)

    --
    ‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
    How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’
    (C. Moore)

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