Medicine, Mind and Adolescence 2001, XVI, 1-2
IATROGENIC OBSESSION
Luciano Berti1
Luciano Berti1
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Abstract
It all began one morning in mid-March. I received a telephone call from a high school teacher that had “adopted” me as for adolescentologist and advisor. There was an emerging problem: it was a week since one of the second grade boys was systematically late in getting to school in the morning, by one to two hours. Upon every enquiry for explanations on behalf of the teachers, the boy was evasive and non-cooperative. His family had been informed. The parents were surprised by this fact because the boy’s behaviour at home was never a problem. I was thus asked to meet the boy to clarify the situation and avoid disciplinary measures from the school.
An obsession was engendered by a wise crack during a sexual education program. How much can be said just to water down group-anxiety. Without thinking. Without thinking that traces can be left in a psychologically fragile subject, busy with the researching of his own identity.
In the same way that a wisecrack was enough to engender a problem, a simple explanation was enough to smooth it out. Two actions that, taken individually appear trite, but still contain information, suffering, and identity problems. And two actions which were possible because Marco was considered as a person and not as a problem.
Key Words: obsession, identity problem.
1. Correspondence to: Dr. Luciano Berti, Endocrinologo, Adolescentologo, Counsellor, Via Firenze 2, 24021 Albino (Bg) - Italy. E-mail : bertiluciano@tin.it
