Augusto - Short Fiction

Matter, a little genetics and a big medley of feelings and psychiatric diseases...

Sarah Truman just smiled and waved as a car crashed into the back of hers. She gently left the car and said, almost happy:

 That's OK. We'll solve it later, just give me your number.

A little surprised and very proud of herself, she came back to her car and went away. She couldn't be more satisfied about her decision. She knew that one year ago, that single happening would have pulled her down the whole week.
Instead, she arrived in her job glad she was fine and ready for one good work day. Everybody kept staring at her a little curious, a little envious and a little scared. She really wasn't the same person since she’d done it.

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 As we can see – continued Clark Truman, not far from there – we can't see any stress symptom at this patient, and even no signs of stress-induced disease. Sarah Truman used to be an ultimate example of stress complications and damages. Headaches, warts, many kinds of eye outbreaks, social and professional problems and even heart diseases were observed.

The audience was astonished. Was that a real and definitive cure for that complicated disease?

 In this scenario, the stress situation may lead to damages in many levels. Sometimes, as we've seen in Sarah's case, depression. Sarah tried to do away with herself many times, spanked her own children twice and absolutely gave up her life in consequence of those intense stress crises. Many years of treatment weren’t enough even to make her stop the suicide attempts. That's why our staff decided to try the Intensive Psychiatrist Behavior Changing, which we called IPBC.

Clark was glad he could withhold his emotions and approach this topic with such distance and detachment. After all, he was proud for what he had done.

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When Sarah arrived, Clark was already home, as usual. With an old and corny sweater and his terribly unfashionable favorite glasses, Clark was lain in the sofa reading carefully some academic reports, while their youngest child filled in all his most important documents with flowers and teddy bears.
Sarah just walked directly to the kitchen and came back with a cup of steaming hot tea.

 How was your day?
 Excellent. People from all around the world were in the conference this afternoon. They're very interested in the IPBC and specially in your successful case.
 What about the researches?
 Ow... It's amazing! All the tests with rats and even monkeys are encouraging. I really think that soon we'll be able to apply the IPBC to other psychiatric disturbances. Tomorrow we'll present it to a multinational company that intends to invest more than 15 millions dollars in our project! Do you know what it means?
 I'm so proud of you.

Sarah went to bed, and only woke up when the alarm rang 5 AM. Clark kissed her on the forehead and brushed his teeth. He knew it would be a big day.
Clark arrived early at the company and waited anxiously for the investors. At 7 AM he started:

 What does a psychiatric disease mean? Are there physiological differences between a person with a mental disease and a healthy one? Actually, there are. As we know, many people suffer from chemically induced psychiatric diseases. An under production of serotonin may lead to a depression state, an excessive adrenaline production may lead to a stress outbreak... Feelings are chemical reactions... Psychiatric diseases are chemical imbalances.

Clark couldn't withhold his enthusiasm.

 The psychotropic drugs are nothing but substances that supply the brain's lack of production. That way, a chemical intervention may help many patients with psychological problems. For many years, our laboratory has been researching the human brain in order to discovery how and why these substances are under production. And we've deeply described those control processes. Some neurons are able to stimulate those productions and others to inhibit them. Nowadays, we're able to know precisely what each of them makes.

Clark sipped some water, more to give the audience some time to think than because of his thirst, and continued:

 After decades of study, with some help from nanotechnology we finally developed the Intensive Psychiatrist Behavior Changing. This surgical procedure consists of making some microscopic scars in specific regions of the human brain disabling some neuron activities. This way we're able to inactivate some substances production suppressors or supporters.
 But, if the suppression of one substance is totally blocked, so the brain begins an uninterrupted production... How could we control it?
 Actually, many groups of neurons are able to do it, so we can choose how many we're going to damage. After many researches, we're able to know how many is necessary. That way we can definitely heal some psychiatric diseases. During the past two years, we did three successful cortisol/adrenaline control surgery for extremely stressed people. Our company is very proud to say that in all cases the problem was completely solved and those people are able to live a normal life, as they couldn't for years. Now, we're trying to expand the IPBC to other substances and consequently to other diseases, like depression, attention deficit, schizophrenia and others.
 What you're proposing seems to be a definitive process. We aren't able to reverse the IPBC. Do you think the process is reliable enough?
 My first patient was my own wife.

Clark knew that this would show them how he trusted in the process. The conversation continued for a while, but after his convincing arguments the points were more about curiosities and bureaucracies. It was almost dark when he left the company. Tired, but very satisfied.
The company decided to fund the IPBC's researches and the technique was deeply improved. Almost one decade after, they were able to deal with almost all psychiatric diseases. People all over the world did the IPBC and the success ratio was impressive; People disinterested in sports or math could easily change it in matters of hours. Depressed people could decide how much Serotonin their brain would produce.
Clark Truman became the most famous name on the psychiatric science and her company the richest of the medical area. The IPBC became very popular and widespread.

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Sarah turned off the telephone and came complaining about her third inconclusive call to the bank. Sarah entered he room and patiently talked about many big absurdities that were happening to her bank account. Almost snobbishly, she explained to her husband what was happening. Clark was outraged about the situation.

 Just calm down! Everything is gonna be OK! They're from the bank! They're supposed to complicate our lives!

Sarah sweetly giggled and went to the kitchen. Clark couldn't stop thinking that the IPBC changed her humor, but our humor is directly related to our ways of thoughts, our ways of life.

 That's not my wife. - Clark whispered to himself.

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Clark's company had been growing since IPBC was created. Everything was wonderful, except himself. Many years later, people were used to deciding about their personality. Clark became each day more alone and reserved. Focused on his own research, but not as it used to be: sharing and trying results, but lonely and quiet. Nobody knew what he was doing.
The IPBC was now a fever. Everybody wanted to be braver or more concentrated. It really bothered Clark. He never allowed advertisements of his company, but it wasn't necessary. Instead, he always tried to convince people not to do the IPBC:

 Try to accept yourself!

Now it was out of control. Other companies began to do the IPBC, people requested the government to do it. To be stressed was considered to be disrespectful to other people, to be depressed is an exclusivity for those who deny the surgery. And then began the psychological dictatorship. More than ever, you had to be what seemed the normal.
Clark was going to have lunch and heard:

 I'm going to get Nicole Kidman's nose, Angelina Jolie's mouth and Michael Phelp's discipline for sports.

Next week the report spread all the company and after, all the media: Clark was going to have the IPBC. “Why? What are you going to change? How did you decide?” Clark didn't answer anything.

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Clark entered the surgery room. Only one reliable member of the staff knew what to do:

 Why are doing this? Do you know what it means?
 Have you seen what I've done? Can't you see those people on the streets? They are not better people, they are other people. I've turned everybody into the same framed person. They don't know who they are, neither do I.
 Those people, now, have the choice to be healed of serious diseases. They can live a normal life!
 What the hell is a normal life??? Hm? What is the human being if it isn't a portion of flaccid and perishable matter, and a big fucking medley of selfish feelings and psychiatric diseases? That's what you are. Your depression, your happiness, your anxiety and all the trouble in your mind. We can't separate who you are from your suffering. That's all the same thing. We studied enough to know that what we think, HOW we think, our conclusions and everything else are directly related to our feelings. I have always been against all this bullshit of psychiatric chemical intervention. I really think that stopping depression and other diseases by using psychotropic drugs was like creating zombies. How could I do this? I must have been too hopeless about Sarah to do this... I turned the world into a big margarine advertisement!

Sarah stared at them through the surgery room glass. She couldn't hear them, but she knew exactly what was happening. She was very upset about his decision, but only that. She wasn't able to flounce or to stop the staff. She just stared with wet eyes.

 Look at those silly, naive and cold eyes.... Is that Sarah? It isn't her. And she knows it.

Clark and Sarah kept the eye contact until that the anesthesia made him get sleep.

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Apparently Clark woke up the same person. Even he was surprised. But everybody, including him, knew that things had really changed.
Clark was an extremist. He refused to feel anything unpleasant. Sadness, anger, anxiety, stress... Now he lives like a dog. No worries, no hard feelings, no complaining, no growing and absolutely no conflict resolutions.

 It was like a suicide. Painless for my family and friends. Now I just am.