TROUBLES OF THE HALF-BRAIN DOMINANCE,
IN THREE DROPOUT UNIVERSITY STUDENTS.
Renato
COCCHI, a neurologist and a medical psychologist.
Summary.
The research reports the clinical histories of three university students
( one 21-years-old F, a law student; one 34-years-old F, another law student,
and one 22-years-old M, a psychology student) who do not succeed more to give
examinations since one year, or one and half year because concentration and
memory difficulties, for the continuous presence of intrusive thought.
The three clinical cases here described add a new possibility of finding
troubles of the half-brain dominance. The psychiatric frame is that of the
depression, but the cognitive aspect is the concentration and memory deficit
with impossibility to continue studying.
Key
words: Reversebrain, half-brain dominance, university
students, dropping out, concentration, memory, intrusive thought, depression.
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In three university
students, still a time the cause of studying interruption is creditable to
learning difficulty in subjects who in past had shown good or excellent
academic skills.
In all
three cases there was a serious difficulty in concentrating, linked to the
presence of an intrusive, parasite, fluctuating thought, not focussed on
particular content.
More
interesting, in their clinical histories collected during the first
examination, to note the troubles of maintaining the same half-brain dominance.
About that I wanted to give here a specific report.
Case
So, she
doesn't have any desire of studying, and she is feeling discouraged, depressed,
without any willingness to go out, tired, with easy weeping. She is taking the
pill, which, among others, regulated her a usually long menstrual cycle.
In her
family depressive body reactions were reported. There are also persecution
ideas, even towards her university professors.
Her
affective life does not satisfy her. Born from a prolonged delivery, the first
year of life she was eating a few and cried much, for no apparent reason. As a
child she was jealous of the younger sister.
Symptoms of inability to maintain the left hemispheric dominance: They
say that she is The Contrary Mary. She answered White to the test: Which is the
opposite of the Red colour. She remembers that some dyslalic words occurred,
and the losing of the speech thread, because she has memory problems in the
lexical choice. Often she has dreams with negative content.
Stress
symptoms: She usually suffers from the cold, looks for chocolate, likes meat
broth, does better to the mornings, sleeps much, bears badly noise and
confusion, has atonic constipation, colic ache, dizziness, dry hairs. She has
drooling during her sleep.
Case
To study
for examinations became much difficult, because the intrusive thoughts
prevented her to memorize what she was reading. So she was forced to read a
period even 10-15 times. Since 18 months she doesn't succeed more to give
examinations ( she lacks only one and the thesis ). Already treated of with
poor success by a cousin neurologist with antidepressant and anxiolytic
therapy.
A little
depressed. Much dissatisfied her inability to study. Asthenic, she wakes up as
tired, and does better in the afternoon, since 4-5 PM. In the evening she would
never go to bed. Hyperactive, a very religious woman, she was better in
mathematics.
Now, she
does not stand for the light, the noise and the confusion. Menses are retarded,
stomachache occurs as well as tachycardia, and fat hairs.
Symptoms of difficulty to maintain the left half-brain dominance: She
defines herself as The Contrary Mary. When asked, she answers White to the
test: Which is the opposite of Red colour? Often she does bad dreams. She needs
to count objects without any reason do it.
Stress
symptoms: No feelings of dizziness or faint. She suffers from colic aches and
diarrheas, the lump in the throat, feeling of mediastinum oppression,
"nervous" hunger for chocolate; At night she has drooling and
bruxism, for which last she wears a bite. Several days her face shows eye
sockets. She feels the weather changes with temporal-mandibular tension. Nighttime
cramps occur, and hands' sweating.
Case
3:
M, 22 years old, a university student of psychology. He doesn't succeed to do
examinations since nearly a year. He suffers from a concentration deficit and
has intrusive thinking.
A person
born from delivery to term, dry, prolonged, with birthweigh of
Hyperactive,
if he stops, he has unpleasant feelings. He bears well light and noise, but not
the confusion. His bowel function is normal.
Usually,
he sleeps well, and wakes up not tired, but much drowsy, even during the day,
and doesn't have breakfast at once, because not hungry. Not nighttime cramps,
not drooling in the sleep, not bad dreams. Not need for forced breathing, not
temporo-mandibular tension, rare lump in the throat.
He had
diagnosed a sinusal arrhythmia. Not asthenic, but abulic and often melancholic:
he would come to cry. He uses aggressive words. Potentially timid, even as a
child, and he did uneasy to do friendship. Not persecutory ideas. In the
elementary and junior school did better at arithmetic and mathematics.
Symptoms of difficulty to maintain the left half-brain dominance: He
answered Green to the Test: to the test: Which is the opposite of Red colour? Many
times he has negative feelings, which feels as extraneous, about persons to
whom he is affectionate. Sometimes he has difficulty to choose.
Stress
symptoms: He does not stand the heat, looks for sweet things and chocolate,
likes much the meat broth, is doing better to the mornings, sleeps much, bears
badly the confusion, which provokes him even a tinnitus in the left ear and
fainting feelings. Fat hairs. Sometimes affected by dyslalia.
Discussion.
I three
cases here reported have many common features. First there are the
concentration deficit and the study interruption, which was the reason of the
consultation. This interruption of studying varied from a year to one and half
year. In one case the troubles could even begin 11 years before, with a
progressive difficulty in studying and decreasing of examination notes. In the
first and in the third case there were birth troubles, the resentment of which,
during the first year life, was different.
All three
had clear depressive symptoms, in part surely even secondary.
The
troubles of the half-brain dominance had a long history and so recognized even
from other people and in two cases defined with the character of The contrary
Mary.
To the
test "Which is the opposite of the Red colour" both females answer
"white" which is the opposite of the black, but the prevailing
response in depressed people. The young man answered "green" which
exactly the opposite of the red, and he affirmed that it the first colour
coming to his mind. In all three the cases there are the possibilities to evoke
responses in opposition.
The two
women remember dreams with negative emotional contain, while the young man
recognizes to have negative feelings, which he feel extraneous, against beloved
persons.
in the
young man, the indecision seems due to an alternating of the opposite images of
the two half-brains, for which there is a choice difficulty because it not
succeeds to stop his thought on that is the right thing to think or to do.
From the
clinical histories it results evident that the troubled half-brain dominance
probably comes earlier than the concentration lacking. The fact that both women
were already pointed out as "The contrary Mary", presupposes a
long-lasting behaviour, identified with such character of the popular culture.
The
relationship with the concentration difficulty, and then with the intrusive
thought is not clear, even if it is the intrusive thought that blocks the
memory to beyond its short-term store. From here comes the need to reread 10-15
times the same paragraph, without any warranty of memorization.
The
results of the drug therapy were described and posted on Internet.(
www.stress-cocchi.org/Droping3-it.htm)
Conclusion.
The three
clinical cases here reported add a new possibility of finding the troubles of
the half-brain dominance.
The
psychiatric frame is that of the depression, but the cognitive aspect is that
of deficit of concentration with impossibility to continue studying.
Cocchi R.
Problems of attention and concentration leading to interruption of studying by
high school and University students: A report of 4 cases. It.
J. Intellect. Impair. 1994, 7: 29-38.
Cocchi R. Scientific college dropouts and the risk for psychotic
outcome: Four male cases. It. J. Intellect. Impair. 1995:, 8:
37-43.
Cocchi R.
The test "Which is the opposite of the Red colour" in 325
outpatient's subjects. January 2003 (www.reversebrain.org/Domin11.htm).
Cocchi
R. The trouble of the concentration, and stop studying in three university
students. Relief after antistress drug therapy. July 2003.(www.stress-cocchi.org/Droping3-it.htm).
Posted
on Internet on October 2003. Copyright
by Renato Cocchi, 2003.
42100 Reggio Emilia (Italy).
renatococchi@libero.it
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