Posted by Jan den Breejen (213.75.43.167) on October 22, 2002 at 01:02:29:
Who wants to guess Emilio's type?
Jan
Case study text:
Emillio
Emilio is a 40-year-old man who looks 10 years younger. He is brought to the hospital, his twelfth hospitalization, by his mother because she is afraid of him. He is dressed in a ragged overcoat, bedroom slippers, and a basebnall cap, and wears several medals around hi s neck. His affect ranges from anger at his mother ("She feeds me shit ... what comes out of other people's rectums") to a giggling, obsequious seductiveness toward the interveiwer. His speech and manner have a childlike quality, and he walks with a mincing step and exaggerated hip movements. His mother reports that he stopped taking his medication about a month ago, and has since begun to hear voices and to look and act more bizarrely. When asked what he has been doing, he says, "Eating wires and lighting fires." His spontaneous speech is often incoherent and marked by frequent rhyming and clang associations (speech in which sounds, rather than meaningful relationships, govern word choice).
Emilio's first hospitalization occurred after he dropped out of school at age 16, and since that time he has never been able to attend school or hold a job. He has been treated with neuroleptics during his hospitalizations, but doesn't continue to take medication when he leaves, so he quickly becomes disorganized again. He lives with his elderly mother, but sometimes disappears for several months at a time, and is eventually picked up by the police as he wanders in the streets. There is no known history of drug or alcohol abuse.