The Terminal Man Sparknotes

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Recommended: Introduction of personality

The Terminal Man Michael Crichton’s book, The Terminal Man, takes place over a five-day period in 1971. Harry Benson suffered from seizures, which caused him to blackout, become violent, and have no memory of the episode. Dr. McPherson, head of the Neuropsychiatric Research Unit (NPS), believed that a revolutionary brain surgery could cure Benson’s seizures. Benson was in a car accident, which caused him to develop an acute disinhibitory lesion (ADL) and have blackouts, which lasted for a few minutes to several hours. During these blackout, he would become violent. The stage three procedure was designed to cure Benson’s seizures by placing electrodes inside his brain. Benson’s ADL caused a portion of the brain to become damaged and scar tissue formed on his brain. The brain injury created unusual electrical discharges. These electrical discharges caused seizures. Part of the debate between the physicians was did the seizures make Benson violent or did his psychosis make him violent. The electrodes were designed to produce an …show more content…

Dr. Ross recognized that psychosis would not be cured from the operation. “A personality disorder is a type of mental disorder in which you have a rigid and unhealthy pattern of thinking, functioning, and behaving,” (Mayo Clinic Staff 1). In doing further research in reading the Mayo Clinic Personality Disorder article, I believe today Benson would be categorized as a “Cluster A” personality disorder, which is characterized by unusual thinking or behavior. He had schizotypal personality traits, such as odd thinking beliefs and speech behavior; peculiar perceptual experiences such as his strange smells; apathetic, mistrustful, and guarded towards others. He believed that certain events had secret messages, such as the time period when computers overtook humans during “Watershed Week,” which was when his coworkers believed his behavior became much more

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He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but some thought he might actually be suffering from drug-induced toxic psychosis. He visited the emergency room for testimonials that bones were coming out the back of his head, someone stole his pulmonary arteries, his stomach was backwards, and his heart stopped beating sometimes. He was also diagnosed with hypochondria, where he believed his heart was in danger of shrinking until disappearance. He then came to the solution that drinking blood of animals or humans would stop the shrinking. He was also interviewed and said that he killed to stay alive. He was admitted to a mental institution and was prescribed antidepressants. He was allowed to leave anytime he wanted. He was left unsupervised and his mother told him that he did not need the
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The Terminal Man Sparknotes
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The Terminal Man is a science fiction book written by Michael Crichton. Michael Crichton is an author who wrote many science fiction books, but he was also a doctor who graduated and received his MD from Harvard Medical School. He died on November 4, 2008, “after a courageous and private battle against cancer” (In Memoriam). The Terminal Man focuses on Harry Benson, a man who suffers from a severe personality disorder which causes him to believe that machines will take over the world. He also suffers from ADL syndrome, also referred to as acute disinhibitory lesion syndrome (a fictional mental disorder similar to temporal lobe epilepsy), which causes him to have dangerous seizures. During these seizures, he acts violently and brutally harms people, but he doesn’t remember doing so. It turns out that Benson is a prime candidate for a procedure known as stage three, in which electrodes are placed in Benson’s brain to soothe him before a seizure takes place. The operations is successful until Benson learns how to overpower the electrodes and control them on his own. He escapes the hospital and goes on a murderous rampage.
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After weeks of testing Charlie is selected and has the procedure performed. There are no noticeable changes immediately, however after some time Charlie begins to have flashbacks and mixed emotions of his childhood for example, Charlie’s first flashback begins with him standing in front of the bakery as a child and it goes blurry and cuts out. (2) As Charlies intellect increases so does his perception of the world around him and the way people act toward him. Charlie finally begins to realize guilt and shame along with all other natural human
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The Terminal Man Sparknotes

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