Other // A myth from a Surgeon’s life
A myth from a Surgeon’s life
Introduction
A surgeon’s life talks about a specific psychomotor disorder that affects a person’s movement. The author concentrated on Tourette’s syndrome, which is a disorder characterized by a convulsive tics that makes a person to show involuntary movements. Example is echolalia or echopraxia that involves mimicry of words and actions on a regular basis. A person who exhibits this particular action is more likely to have a limitation in movement due to the presence of a brain’s disorder. The disorder has been officially identified in 1885 when Georges Albert Edouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette discovered and tested the disorder. He officially announced to the public that this is a condition that is associated by damage in the psychomotor response of a person due to an injury or a congenital disorder that affects the throat, mouth, and the nose of the patient (Sacks, n.p.).
There is a myth associated with Tourette’s syndrome. People who are not oriented with the disorder regard the disorder as a phenomenon of possession. During the medieval times, people regard patients suffering from a Tourette’s syndrome as a possessed individual by a demonic spirit. In this case, patients suffering from the disease during that particular time were at risk of being banished by their communities for the reason that they were wrongly convicted by their involuntary movements. This means that people with Tourette’s syndrome is not associated by medical or psychological disease or disorder. This is because people are always associating the belief of witchcraft and demons during the medieval times that is associated by the lack of knowledge regarding several diseases. Patients suffering from Tourette’s syndrome were attacked because they were wrongly accused of being influenced by the spirits of hell associated by their involuntary movements, which is a result of either congenital or an existing injury (Germiniani, et al., p. 550).
Another myth that was taken from the reading is that Tourette syndrome is a disease. This is because it can be regarded as a contagious medical condition that affects a certain individual. When a person is diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome, they are likely to pass the disease to other individuals, making them at risk of exhibiting similar actions in the future. However, to correct this myth, Tourette syndrome is regarded as a disorder and not a disease. The reason behind is that the condition is associated with the injury that exists within the brain of the person that has been suffering from an injury. As a disorder, the condition is not transferable to other individuals because it is only affecting the psychomotor of the patient with the disease. As a result, the person with this condition is likely to show involuntary muscle movements that are localized in their mouth, nose, and throat (Voss, n.p.).
As an implication of the reading, the author’s presentation of the story can relate to the real life. This is especially to a community where there are only few insights applied to a group of individuals relating to the disorder. The Surgeon’s perception of Tourette in the story creates different angles of issues associated with the existence, causes, and consequences of the disorder to the community. The story is recommendable to other individuals for the reason that it is a reading that enhances a learning insight to know more about the disorder. They myths presented from the story reveals a certain stereotypes associated with the existence of the disorder, which could reveal that people should be oriented with the disorder. Moreover, education is an important structure that allows an individual to understand and appreciate the value of a certain disorder that can help them value a person’s dignity (Howard, n.p.).
Works Cited
Germiniani FM, Miranda AP, Ferenczy P, Munhoz RP, Teive HA. Tourette’s syndrome: from demonic possession and psychoanalysis to the discovery of gene. Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2012 70(7):547–9. Print.
Howard, Tim. Tim Howard: Growing up with Tourette syndrome and my love of football. The Guardian. December 6, 2014. Print.
Sacks, Oliver. A Surgeon’s Life. Accessed: http://oliversacks.tripod.com/sur.html. 2010. Print.
Voss H. The representation of movement disorders in fictional literature. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2012; 83(10):994–9. Print.
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