Robert Oxnam Research Paper

Neuro Disrepair

An angry boy, Tommy, who lives in a castle, an abused toddler, and Wanda, a Buddhist woman, all incorporated into the body and mind of one man (Weber). The burden of mental illness affects about ten percent of the global population based on a study of fourteen nations (Associated Press). It affects everyone either directly or indirectly, and does not discriminate rich and poor, young and old. Many people like you and I suffer from many mental diseases such as schizophrenia and split personality, also known as dissociative identity disorder. Notable people such as the scholar, Robert Oxnam, and the son of one of the greatest intellectual minds of the 20th century, Eduard Einstein, had the mental illness of dissociative identity

Oxnam, a leading scholar on China, former college professor, president of the Asia Society, accomplished sailor, author, and a father of two, lives every day of his life with dissociative identity disorder (Weber). Oxnam lived with eleven alternate people living inside of his mind, each with its own personality and distinct characteristics. Robert knew something was wrong when he began experiencing a variety of symptoms such as, bulimia, intermittent rage, memory blackouts and depression, but he did not know what it was (Weber). By March of the next year, Oxnam was impatient with therapy and plotted to withdraw. However, during the session in which Robert intended to be the last, Tommy, one of Oxnam’s alternate personalities made an appearance rather than Robert Oxnam. After this experience, 10 more personalities were discovered to be inhabiting Oxnam’s brain (Weber). Robert, the main personality continued to go to therapy and Robert and his therapist uncluttered his mind by whittling down the number of personalities until they had only the main three left. In addition to the the main personality, Robert, the other two active personalities are Bobby, an attention-starved boy who has become a young adult full of questions. The other active persona is of Wanda, a Buddhist woman who was once vicious and cruel, known only as the witch (Weber). Living with the different personalities was difficult but through therapy Oxnam learned how to live and function with all aspects of his