Gunshot to the Brain Turned Retarded Man into a Straight A Grades in College
Gunshot to the Brain Turned Retarded Man into a Straight A- College Student!
After a failed suicide effort, a mentally ill man turned into a bright and consistent A lister student. Doctors said that a mentally ill young man, who shot himself in the head in a suicide attempt and suffered a brain injury, took away his habit of washing his hands constantly and being frightened of germs after the incident.
A British journal of psychiatry, Physician's Weekly, conducted a report with the victim’s doctor and told them that a .22-caliber slug destroyed the section of the retarded man's brain disabling his obsessive-compulsive behavior without causing any other brain damage. On average, the victims of the disorder have a strange urge to repeat actions all over again.
Dr. Solyom identified the man as George. He washed his hands hundreds of times a day and go to the showers habitually. The said behavior resulted to him being forced to drop out of school and leave his job. Dr. Solyom treated him for more than a year before he attemped to end his life.
“George was also very depressed and told his mother that his life was so wretched that he would rather die” He also added that “She said, 'So look George, if your life is so wretched, just go and shoot yourself.' So George went to the basement, stuck a .22-caliber rifle in his mouth and pulled the trigger,” Dr. Solyom said.
The bullet got stuck in the left front lobe of the brain. Surgeons detached it but could not get out all the fragments. ''When he was transferred to our hospital three weeks later, he had hardly any compulsions left,'' Dr. Solyom said.
George retained the same I.Q. he had before becoming ill, Dr. Solyum said. He went back to school, got hired in his new trade and is now in his second year of college. The suicide attempt turned out to be a blessing in disguise because not only that this incident helped him fix his obsessive-compulsive disorder, he then became a straight – A college student five years after his suicide effort. It was a very fortunate event for him. But I will never advise anyone to do the same thing just to attain an A mark on your card. LOL
Source: NY Times,
Published: February 26, 1988