The Dark Sire Issue 4 (Summer 2020) | Page 21

thought it prudent to refer him to a psychiatrist. He had explained to Alex, as gently as he could, that the tests he had performed had found no physical basis for his complaints. Alex had grudgingly attended one session with the therapist, then had stubbornly refused to go back, flatly stating that he wasn't crazy. Dr. Usher sighed. "While I appreciate your difficulty, Eleanor, there's little I can do if Alex won't see the psychiatrist. He still comes to appointments with me, but frankly I think he's resentful that I suggested therapy. He thinks I don't take him seriously, which couldn't be further from the truth. It's just that I believe the problem is in his mind rather than his body." Eleanor looked hopefully at the older man. "Isn't it possible that he's right, Doctor? I mean, couldn't there be something wrong with his skin, some sort of rare disorder maybe?" Dr. Usher removed his glasses and gently rubbed the bridge of his nose. He felt a headache coming on. "Eleanor, we've been through that. We've run every diagnostic test; he's seen a leading dermatologist. There's nothing physically amiss with Alex. His skin isn't the issue.” He leaned forward in the chair. "What Alex is suffering from isn't all that rare. There's a fancy psychiatric term for it-- a 'somatic delusion', wherein patients believe, contrary to all rational evidence, that they have a physical ailment." "Isn't that called being a hypochondriac?" Eleanor inquired dubiously. Usher shook his head. "People with hypochondriasis suffer from a neurotic condition which 19