Case Study 6: A 28-year-old woman was walking through her local shopping mall
when she began to feel intensely anxious. The anxiety was accompanied by sensations of choking, smothering, and a sudden sense that the people and stores around her were unreal. She began to fear that she was going crazy and the more she worried about this the more anxious she became. A guard, seeing that she was in distress, brought her to the mall office where she was able to lie down. A few minutes later the symptoms began to subside. She went home after leaving the mall but she did not tell her husband what happened. A week later she had a similar attack while she was walking down the street. She was able to reach her house where she lay down until the attack ended. In the following three weeks she had two or more attacks. Between attacks she was constantly worried about having another attack. The patient was finally forced to tell her husband about the problem because she was so fearful of not being able to get help if an attack occurred that she would not leave her house alone or travel on public
transportation.

Subject has a clear case of Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia. As defined by the DSM-IV, Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia is marked by panic attacks which are then followed by at least a month of persistent fear of further attacks, and/or a significant change in behavior. Since these symptoms are presumably not brought on by any medication, illicit drug abuse, a previous medical condition like hyperthyroidism. An agorophobic panic disorder also accounts for subject's symptoms better than similar disorders such as OCD or Social Phobia.

The reccommended treatment for Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia are therapy to help the subject understand and control the thoughts that are the source of her condition and anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medication. Meditation and further behavoiral counseling have also been known to lessen the frequency and intensity of panic attacks.

Diagnoses for other cases:

1. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (due to her constant worrying and difficulty concentrating)

2. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (due to her traumatic accident and persistent avoidance of places similar to the highway it occured on)

3. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (mysophobia, hand washing obsession)

4. Acute Stress Disorder (flashbacks, startles easily, anxiety

Tesla: Mad Scientist or Eccentric Genius?

Nikolai Tesla is one of history's most controversial figures when it comes to the world of science and invention. His contributions to modern science and technology include the invention of wireless communication and groundbreaking achievements in electrical engineering like the Alternating Current. His many inventions and bitter rivalry with Thomas Edison lent him fame and recognition, but his eccentricities and bizzare claims about what strange things might be possible with the application of science led him to be shunned late in life as a 'mad scientist.'

It is not known for sure if Tesla had a true psychological disorder, but modern psychologists have suggested due to his eccentric behavior that he suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and was a mysophobe. Researchers cite his obsession with the number three and his dislike of touching round objects as evidence of his OCD, and many accounts by Tesla's contemporaries state that he was obsessive about cleanliness and hygiene.

OCD has received notable press coverage recently, with a number of celebrities having revealed that they suffer from the disorder. OCD is interesting to me because it seems like it covers a very wide variety of symptoms, many of which were dismissed as mere eccentricities in Tesla's time. Perhaps with proper treatment, Tesla could have gone on to achieve and create some of his most outlandish ideas without the label of a 'mad scientist.'