DISCLAIMER: The characters and situations of the television program "Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years" are the creations of Rysher Television, and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. This story is not to be published on any ftp site, newsgroup, mailing list, fanzine or elsewhere without the express permission of the author.
This work is the creation of Darcie Daniels.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is the first in a series of what I call pyscho-bab-nalysis of the main characters of LD:TOY.
I know this may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I was having some fun thinking about Mosby and all his psychological problems. This was meant purely as entertainment, so I hope I don't offend anybody.
This is going to be a lot of psychobabble, so forgive me. ;)
Lost "everything" by the time he was 23. From the patient's comments, we can assume that his wife was murdered and raped, and his immediate family was killed during 1864-1865. FCM spent the last year of the War in a Northern prison camp, and upon his return from the War, found out about the loss of his family and his home. A colonel from the 14th Virginia regiment, FCM attained his rank at an early age, and he and his fellow countrymen lost the War in 1865. FCM became an outlaw after the War. He settled down in Curtis Wells, Montana Territory in 1878, after he saw the spitting image of his deceased wife in Hannah Call, wife of Newt Call (another person who can be analyzed). After Mrs. Call was killed, FCM took over CW, reshaping the little town into his vision of a "new Atlanta."
There is little we know of FCM's medical history. We can safely assume that FCM was a bit emaciated from his time in the Northern prison camp. How this affects his present physical health is unknown.
BTW, if it sounds like I'm typing directly off my lecture by Dr. Marcus Cook, then you are absolutely correct!!!
The multisystem axis diagnosis is based on 5 axis. I will give you a short description of what these axis are and their importance to clinicians. Basically the purpose behind the axis diagnosis are to help classify mental illness, give a prognosis for the patient, and to allow the clinician to make decision trees regarding the patient's treatment.
This is the clinical disorder that may be the primary focus of attention. Anxiety Disorder -- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with possible substance abuse problems.
Check out these sites on PTSD, and see if you agree with me on my
assessment here:
MentalHealth.com
National Center for PTSD
None. Though FCM has some obsessive-compulsive traits (Mary, etc), he's pretty much not focusing on that in TOY. Besides, you don't see him compulsively clean or do anything like that. :)
I'm willing to give on this one. See if you agree with my assessment by checking out these sites on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): MentalHealth.com
NIHM: Obsessive Compulsive DisorderNone, other than a possible substance abuse disorder that may lead to health problems down the road.
These problems relate to problems with the primary support group, problems related to the social environment, educational problems, occupational problems, housing problems, economic problems, problems with access to health care services, problems related to interaction with the legal system, and other psychosocial and environmental problems.
The severity of the stress rating is based on the clinician's assessment of the stress that an average person with similar sociocultural values and circumstances would experience from the pyschosocial stressors. The judgment considers the amount of change in the person's life due to the stressor, the degree to which the event is desired and under the person's control, and the number of stessors. In addition, in certain settings it may be useful to note the specific psychosocial stressors. This information may be important in formulating a treatment plan that includes attempts to remove the psychosocial stressors or to help the person cope with them.
Okay. Now what you have to do in Axis IV is provide a six point rating scale for coding the psychosocial stressors that significantly contribute to the development of or the exacerbation of the CURRENT disorder (Axis I and Axis II). This means we can ONLY evaluate Mosby during this one year time period (1880). We cannot include Mosby's entire 13 year history of trauma and angst. Sorry, but it's against the rules.
FCM, with the disappearance of his friends Robert Shelby and Olivia Jessup, has relatively no support group. Mattie may qualify, however. Austin at the beginning of the season may have been part of FCM's support, too. He most definitely has a problem with his social environment -- tell me who in CW can he really say is on his social level??? No, I don't think FCM has educational, occupational, housing, or economic problems. Dr. Cleese is in town most of the time, so he has access to health care servicing. He most definitely has a problem related to interaction with the legal system -- in TOY he can't find a sheriff. Other psychosocial problems -- (this weird thing with Call). Environmental problems -- (all the damn mud).
Now I can't remember from my psych experience whether 6 is good or whether six is bad. (Anybody out there know?) It doesn't say in my lecture notes, but for the sake of discussion, let's say 6 is the worst. Now, right now, you have to admit there isn't that many stressors contributing to his current disorder. Now, 13 years ago when he lost everything, his score would shoot way down. But right now, Mosby is doing pretty good. I'd give him a 2 or 3.
This is called the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), in which the clinician judges the person's highest level of functioning during the past year. So in FCM's case in TOY, we have to look at him during the year 1879 to 1880. We can only go from THE RETURN (obviously) to LOVE AND WAR. Functioning is a composite of three major areas: social relations, occupational functioning, and psychological functioning. The scale based on a continuum of mental health and mental illness, is a 100 point scale, with 100 representing the highest level of functioning in all areas.
Persons who had a high level of functioning before an episode of illness generally have a better prognosis than those who had a low level of functioning. Ratings are made for both current functioning (at the time of evaluation) and for the highest level of functioning shown by the patient for at least a few months during the year preceding the current evaluation.
So, in FCM's case, let me describe what points 91-100 are: Superior functioning in a wide range of activities, life's problems never seem to get out of hand, is sought out by others because of his many positive qualities. No symptoms.
Let me describe 1-10 (the lowest you can get): Persistent danger of severely hurting self or others (eg. recurrent violence) OR persistent inability to maintain minimal personal hygiene OR serious suicial act with clear expectation of death.
Okay. Let's see. It's going to be very difficult to assess FCM here. He really ranks up there with his activities list, yet he does have episodes where he can be dangerous. His hygiene level is on a high. He, at the present moment or perhaps never, has no suicidal ideations. I'd rank him at 71-80, which says: If symptoms are present, they are transient and expectable reactions to psychosocial stressors; no more than slight impairment in social, occupational, or school functioning.
Normally, the next thing on the chart would be a treatment plan, but since there was no treatment for PTSD back than, it's a mute point.
Well, it's entirely past my bed time, so Mosby can get off my psychoanalysis couch!!
END 8/97
Darcie Daniels
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