Case Study 10

A 36-year-old man and his young son were driving through an intersection when another car ran through a red traffic light and struck them. The two were trapped in the car until a fire department rescue team freed them. The patient was bruised but not seriously hurt. His son had a broken leg. The first few days after the accident the patient was preoccupied with arranging care for his son and getting the car repaired. A few days later he began having recurrent distressing thoughts and images of the accident. These symptoms lasted for several weeks. The memory of his son’s screams after the car was struck seemed particularly vivid. The patient became irritable, had difficulty concentrating, and avoided talking about the accident. He went out of his way to avoid driving down the street where the accident occurred. As time went on he could no longer remember whether the traffic light was red or green when he approached it.

The 36-year-old man in this case study exhibits many symptoms of Acute Stress Disorder. The man reported that these symptoms lasted for several weeks, and acute stress disorder is only known to last for 4 weeks. Also, another major symptom of acute stress disorder is reoccurent images of the traumatic event. The man exhibits this symptom with the reoccuring images of his son screaming after the car was hit. Dissociative trauma, another symptom of acute stress disorder, is the inability to remember an important aspect of the trauma. The man can not remember whether the light was green or red when he entered the intersection, showing that he has yet another symptom of acute stress disorder. The man also stated that he goes out of his way just to avoid the intersection where the accident occured. Marked avoidance of stimuli that would arouse rememberance of the traumatic event is another major symptom of acute stress disorder. The many symptoms shown by the 36-year-old man are all symptoms of Acute Stress Disorder.

James Piersall

James Piersall was a professional baseball player in the MLB that suffered from bipolar disorder. During his 17 year professional career from 1950 - 1967, Piersall played on 4 professional teams. Piersall was part of the Boston Red Sox from 1950 - 1958, the Cleveland Indians from 1959 - 1961, the Washington Senators from 1962 - 1963, and the Los Angeles Angels from 1963 - 1967. Piersall signed a contract with the Boston Red Sox in 1948 at age 18. He finally got to play in the pros in 1950 at age 20, becoming one of the youngest players in baseball.

The Red Sox began to notice Piersall's unknown problem in 1952. During this season, Piersall began acting out on many different occasions. First, in a game against the New York Yankees, Piersall started a fight with Yankee's infielder, Billy Martin. Soon after, Piersall started another fight with teammate Mickey McDermott. On another ocassion, Piersall was found in the Red Sox clubhouse spanking the 4-year-old son of teammate Vern Stephens. After a couple of these incidents, the Boston Red Sox sent Piersall down to their minor league affiliate, the Birmingham Barons. In Birmingham, Piersall was ejected from 4 games within just 3 weeks. He later even recieved a 3-day suspension for heckling the home plate umpire from the grandstand roof. After this last incident, Piersall was sent to the Westboro State Hospital to recieve treatment for "nervous exhaustion". This nervous exhaustion later turned out to be bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder almost ruined what was once the very promising career of Piersall. For someone to be so overwhelmed by the disorder, it must be a very hard thing to live with. I believe that Piersall had a huge amount of perseverance to be able to overcome his bipolar disorder and continue on his 17 year professional career after such a rough start.