Althouse: "George was also very depressed and told his mother that his life was so wretched that he would rather die."

May 25, 2015

"George was also very depressed and told his mother that his life was so wretched that he would rather die."

''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.''

The bullet didn't kill him. It cured him. Not that the mother predicted that bizarrely fortunate outcome!

40 comments:

Wince said...: Mother knows best.; 5/25/15, 10:59 AM
The Godfather said...: I'm not a doctor (although I played one on the stage), but I wouldn't recommend this treatment.; 5/25/15, 11:07 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I suffer from anosmia and I read a story about a lady who had her anosmia cured after she fell and hit her head hard on a table. What do you do with information like that?; 5/25/15, 11:11 AM
Michael K said...: There is an operation for OCD that is a bit more reliable than shooting yourself in the head,

My students one time did get to interview a guy who shot himself in the temple and missed his brain. The bullet was in his frontal sinus. Interesting discussion.; 5/25/15, 11:11 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Pretty much the same story with Kurt Cobain: him shooting himself in the head cured him of Courtney Love.

I am Laslo.; 5/25/15, 11:11 AM
pm317 said...: What do you do with information like that?

Try to bang your head as hard as you can on a table?; 5/25/15, 11:17 AM
Big Mike said...: I suffer from anosmia and I read a story about a lady who had her anosmia cured after she fell and hit her head hard on a table. What do you do with information like that?

Today? Nothing. In twenty years there will be a cure based on destroying a small part of your brain. As a professor, someone who depends on her brain to perform her job, would you have your doctor perform that medical procedure?; 5/25/15, 11:21 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: "... I read a story about a lady who had her anosmia cured after she fell and hit her head hard on a table. "

I was sucker-punched by a girl's angry ex-boyfriend in the parking lot outside a bar. Hit the pavement hard.

The plus side of the situation was that -- after the concussion faded -- I was now irresistible to women.

So it worked out OK.

I am Laslo.; 5/25/15, 11:22 AM
Gahrie said...: Find that table.; 5/25/15, 11:24 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Although my irresistibility to women has caused me some depression. Too many women out there, mainly.

I am Laslo.; 5/25/15, 11:26 AM
Wince said...: Ann Althouse said...
I suffer from anosmia and I read a story about a lady who had her anosmia cured after she fell and hit her head hard on a table. What do you do with information like that?

Was it Hillary? Maybe that explains why she seems to believe the public can't smell something fishy?; 5/25/15, 11:28 AM
Anonymous said...: If he had used something like a .300 Magnum rifle it also would have cured his obsessive compulsive behavior. But in a different way.

Peter; 5/25/15, 11:29 AM
buwaya said...: This sort of thing should prompt research into surgical cures for insanity.; 5/25/15, 11:33 AM
Original Mike said...: "What do you do with information like that?"

Lament. I don't see a practical application of this knowledge.; 5/25/15, 11:36 AM
Original Mike said...: In general, I don't think a .22 is big enough to do the job (of committing suicide). You are more likely to make matters worse. This guy was lucky.; 5/25/15, 11:41 AM
Louis said...: What do you do with information like that?

Giggle to yourself late at night, marveling at the absurdity of life and living.; 5/25/15, 11:45 AM
Scott said...: Guns. What can't they do?; 5/25/15, 11:51 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: That's incredible.

They already have ways of doing certain types of brain surgery without opening the skull, like Cyberknife. (Patients have to take large doses of Prednisone afterward though, so they might not be good options for someone with cancer elsewhere in the body.) If they could pinpoint these areas of the brain and eliminate them, perhaps they could cure these conditions.

Glad this man failed so wonderfully.; 5/25/15, 12:04 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: impossible is a strong word, but even the muzzle blast, the escaping gases from a .22 cartridge, enclosed inside the oral cavity, would seem to be reliably lethal on their own without the bullet.; 5/25/15, 12:19 PM
Anonymous said...: .22's don't always get the respect they deserve. Even the Israeli military underestimated them. In the 1980's, the Israelis acquired .22 rifles to use against Palestinian rock throwers when lethal force wasn't justified. The idea was to take pot shots at the Palestinians from a couple hundred meters away, figuring that the bullets would be painful at that range and might scare off the Palestinians.
The plan came to an early end when it turned out that a significant percentage of the Palestinians were achieving Holy Martyrdom.

Peter; 5/25/15, 12:20 PM
one of the bobs said...: Story is from 1988. Where is he now?; 5/25/15, 12:27 PM
lemondog said...: re: anosmia, I assume you've been check for nose polyps, etc,.

Well at least you can't smell Mead's malodorous socks....:-)); 5/25/15, 12:50 PM
Anonymous said...: I have a .22 rifle if garage wants to try some effective self-help. In his case I would recommend the 8mm Mauser or even the 12-gauge.
'cuz I'm all about the love.; 5/25/15, 12:57 PM
Anonymous said...: Guns don't kill people.; 5/25/15, 1:12 PM
ken in tx said...: The .22 pistol was developed for female self defence in the late 1800s. They don't kick much and can be easily carried in a purse. The mafia is reputed to use them for assassination because fired at close range at a certain angle, the bullet ricochets around inside the skull scrambling the brain and destroying the bullet so that it can't be traced.; 5/25/15, 1:37 PM
knighterrant said...: buwaya puti said..."This sort of thing should prompt research into surgical cures for insanity"

It's a known treatment called a frontal lobotomy.; 5/25/15, 2:16 PM
SayAahh said...: Cook County Hospital circa 1964.
X-rays show 3 .22 slugs in brain.
Patient sits up on gurney and asks me for a smoke!; 5/25/15, 2:41 PM
richard mcenroe said...: 'I suffer from anosmia and I read a story about a lady who had her anosmia cured after she fell and hit her head hard on a table. What do you do with information like that?'

Well, don't buy Ikea furniture, you need something a little more solidly built than that.; 5/25/15, 2:46 PM
MathMom said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/25/15, 3:01 PM
MathMom said...: What do you do with information like that?

Find a good craniosacral therapist and see if he or she can help. Your sphenoid or ethmoid may be stuck. I took an advanced CST class in Milwaukee a few years ago. Some of our TAs were from Madison. There are some very skilled therapists there.; 5/25/15, 3:09 PM
robother said...: So the 70s bumper sticker had it wrong: "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a prefrontal lobotomy." On the other hand it goes to show the ancient wisdom in "Mother knows best."; 5/25/15, 4:26 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Lucky shot.; 5/25/15, 5:42 PM
Meade said...: Perfect joke.; 5/25/15, 5:59 PM
cubanbob said...: 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.''

I am curious to know what relationship George has with his mother at this time.; 5/25/15, 6:26 PM
Bob Boyd said...: "I am curious to know what relationship George has with his mother at this time."

He washed his hands of her.; 5/25/15, 6:33 PM
Bob R said...: The good news is that somewhere down the line humans will probably be able to cure conditions like obsessive hand washing and anosmia by physically manipulating the brain. The bad news is that it's probably going to be far longer than people (even the people doing current research) think. (In 1979, one of my friends, confidently predicted that the brain would be a "solved problem" in a decade.) I hope I'm wrong, Professor.; 5/25/15, 7:25 PM
wildswan said...: "What do you do with information like that?"

I check Google, my robot half of my brain. And here's this:
A woman was had anosomia and was "prescribed ground raw organic pumpkin seeds (2 tablespoons per day) and was instructed to add this to any meal she wished." and she got to be able to smell peanut butter and peppermint.

Also on Google are various instructions on how to kill yourself by people who tried and failed.

And A Field Guide to getting Lost. Getting lost is a very popular activity. God, the internet is weird.

My secret fear is not having a can opener when there is no food except in cans following upon some terrible disaster but the internet just showed me that that is not a real fear because there is a way to open a can with a spoon.

Another fear is having to eat a baloney sandwich on white bread. The internet does not explain how to avoid this. Gotcha; 5/25/15, 8:38 PM
Sammy Finkelman said...: This is definitely possible, and you can read lots of stories like that - wth brain injuries causing all kinds of things.

I am wondering a bit how it did so little harm - but then it was a .22 caliber rifle.

It's not smething that can be planned in advance, though.

You couldn't even do surgery this way, because it's to tell just what place is the key point, unless maybe they test it by freexing tissue while the person is awake. It probably still would be very difficult to do.; 5/25/15, 10:14 PM
averagejoe said...: My brother killed a moose with a .22. One shot.; 5/26/15, 3:02 AM
Quaestor said...: "The mafia is reputed to use them for assassination..."

Mossad operatives of the Kidon have been known to carry mini-pistols like the Beretta 950 chamber in .22 Short. They aren't much louder than a suppressed .45 and are superbly concealable. At close range and used in the legendary "double-tap to the head" method those weapons are just as lethal as big bore pistols. Back in the day when Palestinian terrorists could operate freely in Europe, number of them, perhaps two dozen, were found in the gutter with their brains leaking from tiny holes... and nobody ever saw or heard a thing.; 5/26/15, 10:31 AM