When Is It Appropriate To Name A Disorder “Awful” & Who Should Do It?

Question to be Answered: When is it appropriate to name a disorder “awful” and who should give it that label? This question should provoke self-exploration into what prompts you to fear.

Chapter 8 reviews motor function and presents several disorders of motor movement, which will undoubtedly trigger thoughts and feelings about living with certain diseases and deficits. You may have felt or expressed similar thoughts and feelings in reviewing previous chapters. I'm never surprised to come across comments about how awful it must be to have a certain condition. I agree, of course, that many disorders can be very difficult to cope with, but when is it appropriate to name a disorder “awful” and who should give it that label? This question should provoke self-exploration into what prompts you to fear.

Oliver Sacks is a physician, author, and professor of neurology at the NYU School of Medicine. He is the author of 12 books, including best-sellers Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales (see your syllabus for a list of suggested readings that compliment this course). “Witty Ticcy Ray” is an essay by Oliver Sacks that tells the story of his treatment of a 24-year old man with disabling Tourette's syndrome. It's an appropriate story at this time for two reasons. First, Tourette's syndrome is a motor disorder that involves the basal ganglia and other brain structures that you're reviewing in Chapter 8. But the essay goes beyond focusing on a motor deficit: it shares the patient's experience and introduces the importance of evaluating (perhaps reevaluating) our impression of disease. It also presents the clinical value of incorporating the patient's perspective of illness into treatment and diagnosis. Based on Sacks's article (link below) and this week's chapter on movement, please respond to the questions above for this week's discussion topic.