
The Mysterious Case of the Vanishing Genius (2012) - wallflower
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201205/the-mysterious-case-the-vanishing-genius
======
wglb
Aha--this story triggered her coming back to her family:
[http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/05/missing-biologist-
surfa...](http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/05/missing-biologist-surfaces-
reunites-with-family.html)

~~~
WaxProlix
So strange that it had a happy ending, of sorts. I read this sort of thing and
assume the worst.

If anything, I'm more curious about her life now: what's it like to come back
after something like that, what was she doing in the meantime, does she retain
her flair for research, or even hold those sorts of pursuits in any kind of
regard?

Maybe this is what it's like to enjoy biographies _shrug_

~~~
sgtmas2006
I wouldn't so much say a happy ending. The article about her returning speaks
about her desire to not burden anyone in her life with her physical pain and
instead suffered through poverty.

"Unable to work because of it and subsequent injuries, she had long lived in
poverty, sustained largely by the religion she had come to early in the
decade."

I wonder what religion this is. One is quick to think Scientology, but to make
such an assumption is too quick and heavy-handed I fear. It seems to be the
best outcome, but not one that is pleasant at all.

~~~
dmix
That would be the last religion I would expect to financially support an
individual absent any work. Especially considering the widespread critiques by
past members pointing to the fact it's a pay-to-play type of arrangement.
Unless of course she reached some high ranking hierarchy before becoming
dependent.

Otherwise there are countless religions which fit this category in the US.
Many with a strong history in running almshouses:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almshouse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almshouse)

~~~
sgtmas2006
Oh dear! I've just realized that she was sustained _by_ her religion, I
thought her religion was creating the poverty!

------
sgnelson
What I find very interesting is that it seems like she suffered from rather
severe mental illness, but (IMHO) because of how society has responded to
mental illnesses over the past few hundred years, even the people she worked
with and her family were very reluctant to talk about it. "Karen [her mother]
declined to discuss Profet’s behavior or psychological state." It seems the
shame of mental illness itself may have lead to some of her problems, and
maybe have dissuaded her from getting help earlier. At the same time, she did
seem to reach out for some help, but I guess it just wasn't enough.

Even more so, it seems like her own family may feel this shame or be in denial
if you look at the Nature link [0] provided by wglb. Her mother claims it was
"physical" pain that drove her away, and caused her poverty, and that religion
"sustained" her. Physical pain does not typically mean you stop talking to
your family and friends for decades. And never mind the fact that she claims
that her daughter didn't know people were looking for her. This quote from the
original article I also found interesting about her disappearance and the
family's response. "“I’ve found their reaction to her disappearance odd,”
Eubanks says." It doesn't give any actual details, but just an odd comment for
someone to make, and even odder to add it in the article.

It's good that she's back with her family, and hopefully receiving the care
she needs, but the family's response opens up more questions to me than
answers.

[edited to add: This seems a bit conspiratorially in retrospect, unintended.
The only real point I was trying to make is how our view of mental illness
plays a large role in how the mentally ill deal with their illnesses.]

[0] provided by wlgb [http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/05/missing-biologist-
surfa...](http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/05/missing-biologist-surfaces-
reunites-with-family.html)

~~~
auganov
They could simply be retelling the story as told by their child. A respectful
thing to do.

------
kolpa
There's some irony in that her best biological scientific work was developing
theories that internally generated pain (menstruation, allergies, etc) is an
adaptive feature, and then some kind of internally generated pain drove her
into hiding and suffering.

~~~
02dun3u
I don't know if I'd call allergies internally generated pain. More like your
body's response to an irritant (i.e allergen).

~~~
jessriedel
It's not just a response, it's an over response. When we say people have "an
allergy" we do not mean that they are uniquely vulnerable to an irritant and
their body must compensate for it, we mean their body unnecessarily responds
to a benign marker.

~~~
kenjackson
It may not be an over-response at all. It may be the exact right response.

~~~
ItsMe000001
Anecdotal, but in support:

I was diagnosed with chronic heavy metal poisoning [0][1]. I had developed
almst asthma-like pollen allergy after an event that very likely contributed
quite a bit all at once. Over the years I also got allergic to cats.
Everything is completely gone now after years of chelation. The creation of
additional "outflow" surely must have helped get the stuff out from the system
overwhelmed by amounts it could not handle using its normal methods.

A tiny bit of my story, pieces of it posted on several occasions:

[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17310648](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17310648)
(in this thread, all my responses)

[1]
[http://onibasu.com/archives/fdc/137355.html](http://onibasu.com/archives/fdc/137355.html)
and
[http://onibasu.com/archives/fdc/137356.html](http://onibasu.com/archives/fdc/137356.html)
(list of things that improved/disappeared through chelation treatment) --
Psoriasis is missing from that list, that completely disappeared too, had it
on both elbows since "forever"

------
antirez
Related:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ettore_Majorana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ettore_Majorana)

