
The Man with an Elephant’s Nose - sergeant3
https://earlymodernmedicine.com/the-man-with-an-elephants-nose/
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duopixel
This reminds me a bit of Alejandro Jodorowsky's approach to psychotherapy[1],
in which trauma and neurosis are resolved by performing an act related to
them. For example, if conflict was left unresolved with someone who has passed
away, he instructs talking over the problem at the grave, and then painting
"peace" with honey over the tombstone. Most of his suggestions are quite
outlandish I recall his cure for agoraphobia was having your friends carry you
inside a sleeping bag to a plaza where they would simulate your "birth into
the world".

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Jodorowsky#Psychomag...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Jodorowsky#Psychomagic)

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2038AD
I thought of course it couldn't've been _that_ Jodorowsky. I checked the link
and realised of course it had to be _that_ Jodorowsky. Imagine living The Holy
Mountain.

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tomrod
What a fascinating write-up!

The discussion seems to hint at something I've seen effective working with
several family members succumbing to Alzheimers/dementia: when possible, play
into the world as they see it. Something causes these folks to disconnect from
a full reality, and being told you're wrong and being constantly corrected
irritates/aggravates. There are limits to this, certainly, but I've found it
easier to lean into it overall.

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flippyhead
Yes! My dad had Alzheimers and got OBSESSED with his kindle somehow being
broken. No reasoning could convince him it was working fine -- which it
clearly was. I ended up just faking a call to "amazon kindle support" and two
minutes later he was fine thereafter.

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pavel_lishin
> _a fourth case described ‘a certaine Gentleman’ in a ‘fooles paradise’ who
> was so utterly convinced that he was dead that he refused to eat or drink.
> His ‘frends and ‘acquaintaunce’, after a week were worried that he might
> starve to death, so they arranged for some people dressed as shrouded
> corpses to eat in front of him, and persuade him to join them in their
> posthumous feast. The gentleman happily ate his fill and they managed to
> slip him a sleeping draft, the sleep being credited with his subsequent
> cure._

Sounds like Cotard's delusion:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotard_delusion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotard_delusion)

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tyingq
Seems a bit like the mirror boxes they use to help phantom limb pain for
amputees. I suppose, though, maybe the mirror boxes aren't purely psychology,
but something to do with nueral pathways?

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adfm
Sounds like a case of Trombipulation to me.

[https://youtu.be/WaVzajICS-w](https://youtu.be/WaVzajICS-w)

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2038AD
The combination of the font color and weight makes the article difficult for
me to read. It could be my monitor so YMMV.

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CharlesW
Can we call this form of treatment "placebo therapy"? If not, how is it
different than using placebo substances?

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felipe_aramburu
Why not? That would be in line with what these physicians were doing which was
benign actions whose intent was to alleviate suffering.

It seems that the greater point is that instead of reacting to mental illness
by telling people,"you are sick and mentally unfit", they are trying to
alleviate stress and suffering in that moment and then getting people to rest.
Many mental disorders can be aggravated by stress and lack of sleep so it may
not be surprising that this provided tangible benefits to the individuals
being treated in this manner.

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stunt
Early medicine stories are always great!

