A Physician's Journal

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Patient’s description:
A girl, seven years old, a merchant’s daughter. No siblings (two brothers killed by the plague)

Illness symptoms:
The patient claims that three days ago, while gathering mushrooms in the woods, she met ‘some fairies’. She refuses to eat or sleep since then, claiming all she wants is to be reunited with the creatures. According to her words, she met the fairies in the morning, played with them just for a little while, but when she was done, the sun was already setting.

Diagnosis:
Since the girl is otherwise healthy and well fed, the source of her hallucinations must be her mind. It is possible she made up the story, as children often do, but then thought about it for so long that eventually she believed it had actually happened.

Recommended treatment:
The parents need to occupy the girl’s mind with something other than her obsessive thoughts about the ‘fairies’. She should be given something to do in the house (cleaning or sewing are good, calming chores), and never be left alone until she gets better, otherwise her mind will wander. And if that doesn’t help, there’s always one more way. As the Bible says: ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child’.