My new Play by Post game. Now in the rpgbomb forums.
Excerpt form the journal of Edward Vanderbilt PHD
It is almost my 10th year operating my own practice and with each passing year I find my thought processed diverging ever more from the accepted cannon of my profession. Psychiatry is a nebulas profession dealing more with subjective theory than fact. That said most of my colleges prefer to deal in observable and documented forms of mental illness and treat them with traditional medications and therapy. Both methods are clumsy, time consuming and with uncertain outcomes. Particularly with the most sever forms of mental illness.
After considerable observation and contemplation I have come to conclude that the science that is of psychology is reaching its limits. That is not so say that the current science will not produce new discoveries but it is vastly more difficult to explain newly discovering phenomena with current conventions. We see this in science all the time when observable phenomena outstrips a science a new sciences is created to explain the phenomena. Just as Newtonian physics gave way to quantum physics so to shall psychology give was to something else.
I am reluctant to record all my thoughts on the matter at this time. More than one scientist has been arrested, locked up and killed for violating convention, even by his own peers. However, I will say that recent events have given me the opportunity to observe previously undiscovered forces that afflict the human mind and psyche.
Many months ago I came into possession of a patient suffering from a sever dissociative disorder. The specifics of the patents disorder are less important than the possible cause of it. It would seem that there is a history of sever mental illness in and around the area in which the patient lived. One would immediately think this to be an issue of genetics as we know mental illness can be passed from one generation to the next. My research has shown otherwise, however. Not only is the type of mantal illness widey varied among the afflicted individuals but the many people afflicted appear to have no relation at all. In fact most of the people so afflicted manifest symptoms after living within the area for 1-5 years. While in stark contrast are the local hill folk who fore the most part seem largely unaffected. At least no one has ever come forward for treatment.
While I am open to the possibility that there could be an environmental influence such as toxic waist, or fungal contamination of food, I do not believe this the case. This phenomena has persisted and been documented for the last 100 years which could very well rule out the aforementioned concerns. It is my belief we are witnessing the influence of a previously unknown and undocumented force which is eroding the psyche of individuals in the area. If I am right it could explain a significant amount of unexplained mental illness which strikes so many. It proven it could go a long way in preventing mental illness and maybe lead to a cure for other.
Tomorrow I will leave to the hills of South Carolina where I have arranged, at considerable expend to live with and observe these hill folk. God willing I will be able to record my findings and discover a way to test my theories. Such things take time though, but I am hopeful.
Dr. Edward Vanderbilt
