Re: Delusional individuals and how to deal with them- REPLY

[RADPROJECT@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/19/98 12:22:12 AM !!!First Boot!!!, BLHamrick@aol.com
writes:

<< In a message dated 98-09-18 17:02:38 EDT, Hmessers@isdh.state.in.us writes:
 
 << Has anyway had to deal with this situtation before?  What suggestions do
 you have?  Is it better to assist the person to get bioassays or other tests,
 even though they are not indicated at all?  To ignore the person completely?
 To confront the person with your belief that he needs psyciatric help?  >> >>

I've only had limited experience dealing with totally dilusional individuals
on radiation phobia but one case may be useful as a case in point. In 1976, I
was given an opportunity to author an op-ed column in the Boston Globe about
background radiation variations I had measured around Boston after complaining
to the Boston Globe about their coverage of what became a front page radiation
incident. The Globe had run an amazingly inaccurate story about a technician
for a medical instrumentation supplier who had his car stolen. The car was
found but the technician's toolbox was found opened and horror of horrors, a
several micro-Ci Co-57 button  check source was found to be missing. The Mass.
State Police after limited input from the Mass. Public Health Dept at the time
[this was 1976 and does not at all reflect on any aspect of any organization's
current capabilities] sealed off a square mile of south Boston with roadblocks
while they searched for the 1 micro-Curie Co-57 source with civil defense
style geiger counters!! which could never have seen the Co-57 source at a
distance of 3 feet. Statements issued by the police [run on the front page of
the Boston Globe - talk about dilusional] indicated that any person handling
the lost Co-57 button source could suffer radiation sickness and radiation
burns if they were to handle this button check source. The truly dilusional
person surfaced after my op-ed column ran a few weeks later, documenting based
on actual measurements I had made using a high pressure ionization chamber
that granite in construction [steps of the Mass. Statehouse], or South Station
in Boston,  and in various objects on display around Boston, such as a granite
sarcophagus had a 10 fold higher or more radiation exposure rate than would
result from being a few inches from the Co-57 source.

After the column ran an elderly lady called me up at my place of employment [a
nuclear utility engineering office] and asked if I was available to do a
radiation monitoring consulting project for her.  She was willing to pay for
any type of measurements. I told her this was something that required special
authorization from my employer but asked her what was the problem. She
explained that her neighbors were bombarding her house with some kind of
radiation ray and she was afraid it would cause her harm. Hmm.

Realizing that this woman's perceived problem was not something that warranted
any type of actual measurement whether she was able to pay for it or not, I
chose to just work within her frame of reference, dilusional or not. I asked
her if she had discussed her concern with anyone else before calling me. She
said she had called the Physics department at MIT and discussed her fears. I
asked what they had told her to do. She said someone at MIT  had told her to
line her windows facing her neighbors house with aluminum foil. I stated that
this sounded like a fine idea and that I could not offer her any better
advice. A few minutes of patience with this elderly troubled individual, left
her, I believe with a solution that satisfied her fears or dilusions.  It
seems that it is not the responsiblity of any radiation protection person to
get too deeply involved with someone in a situation like this, since the
person could be unstable, and even dangerous to themselves or others if their
very distorted/dilusional view of the world is challenged or threatened by
what to them is an unbelievable or unpleasant reality.

Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
Public Health Sciences
radproject@usa.net
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