Man-in-a-Case Syndrome - Crazy Characters

We admit right away that officially such a syndrome does not exist in psychiatry. But it is quite possible that he will appear after this article is written

Aggressive fearfulness

The hero of Anton Chekhov's story "A Man in a Case", a teacher of the Greek language Belikov, is not so much ridiculous with his anxious and suspicious character and fear, "as if something might not work out," but rather strange and incomprehensible.

This eccentric of eccentrics “even in very good weather went out in galoshes and with an umbrella and certainly in a warm coat with cotton wool. And he had an umbrella in a case, and a watch in a case … and his face, it seemed, was also in a case, as he hid it all the time in a raised collar. He wore dark glasses, a sweatshirt, covered his ears with cotton wool …”Having become a household name, the image of a freak on closer examination turns out to be not so simple.

The world around him gave Belikov an anxious expectation of some kind of trouble. But his caution at times even acquired an aggressive character

We can talk about a certain degree of demonism of the Chekhov character, who in real life practically crushed all colleagues and residents of the provincial town. He oppressed everyone with "his caution, suspiciousness", remember - the Greek teacher "even the director was afraid." Residents did not dare to have fun, did not arrange home performances, fearing that he would find out about it.

Under the influence of an outwardly calm and quiet person, the city “began to fear everything. They are afraid to speak loudly, send letters, make acquaintances, read books … "

Who was the man himself afraid of in a case

Everyone was afraid of this strange teacher, and Belikov himself, in turn, was afraid, as it were, with him, priceless, which did not happen.

His bedroom was "small, like a box, the bed was with a canopy." And although he went to bed, hid with his head, but "he was scared under the covers." Belikov imagined that a servant could kill him at night, thieves could get into the apartment. But you never know what can happen ?!

He maintained “good relations” with his colleagues in a very peculiar way, as patients with schizophrenia often do: “he will come…, sit down and be silent… He will sit that way, silently, for an hour or two and leave”. Incomprehensible and not very adequate behavior was repeated in all cases without exception.

Teacher-colleagues somehow persuaded him to marry a young and beautiful woman. The teacher agreed, but quickly decided that he needed to think, "what good, you will get into some story."

Dull as wood and fragile as glass

Chekhov paints the image of an ambivalent person: on the one hand, callous and almost cruel, on the other, overly sensitive to everything that happens.

Psychiatrists have such a symptom to express the ambivalent emotional sphere of the schizophrenic patient called "wood and glass." And our hero fully justifies such a definition of his mental state

Being blunt in the emotional (friendly, collegial, sexual) sphere, he reacted with extreme emotionality to the embarrassing situation in which he found himself through no fault of his own. The brother of the failed bride in irritation let him down the stairs, and Varvara Savvishna herself, having witnessed such an incident, "could not resist and burst out laughing."

Belikov, who was experiencing this shameful situation, fell ill, fell into a severe depression, and a month later, without getting out of bed, died.

Presumptive diagnosis of "man in a case"

Our hero can be diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder.

How can this disorder be recognized?

This diagnosis hides:

• an inability to show empathy and sympathy towards other people;
• decreased interest in sexual intercourse;
• an almost unchanging preference for privacy;
• disregard for dominant social norms;
• lack of close friends and unwillingness to have them.

As a pathological bonus to this diagnosis, one can add a whole bunch of social phobias that Chekhov's hero suffered from