Katherine,

Your response to my email was extremely helpful. If I have learned anything from my friend, it is to keep my mind wide open, without judging or assuming anything.

As you explained, what I described could be any number of things or just an ordinary person, over-taxed.

A new and strange development has come about ... He is now under investigation for the fraudulent acts of an employee. My friend's signature is on the files in question but the employee (who really does exist) did the work. When I helped my friend go through these files, after the investigation was initiated, it was as though he'd never seen them before. His comments throughout, were those of discovery like, "Look at this piece of evidence ... " "wow, look at the similarities here and here" ... as though, for two months during this fraudulent activity, he had a time warp and he cannot understand, now, how he let this employee's obvious and flaygrant activity reach his desk and get passed him, with his own signature on it, without him being aware of what was going on. I can't pinpoint it, but the "nature" of my friend's oversites seems so absentee. He's also been in two car accidents since this spring where he may have "blacked out" for enough seconds to not be able to react... and yet, he's law abiding driver and a former top college athlete with swift and accurate reflexes but the accidents make him sound like he wasn't there. Like you said, all this could be the ebb and flow of medications with memory-losing side-effects.

I will adhere to your sage advice and neither judge nor jump to a lay-person's conclusions without a real diagnosis. However, I will comment that I have grown up in the medical community, I know most of the medical language used, medical thinking comes naturally to me, and I have intensely accurate instincts.

You are right in everything you say and I wholeheartedly agree with all. What I've described is rather scanty, considering the complexity of a diagnosis that would require the elimination of all other possibilities; and I simply wouldn't have time to describe all of the hundreds of subtle nuances that I've observed; plus, he does have short and long-term time-warps.

Having said all that - something's definitely up and it's way more than a "simple" bi-polar disorder or borderline personality disorder, or a busy life, etc., etc. I will keep you posted, from time to time and I'm sure someday, he will tell me what it is ... maybe even years from now. But my knowledge combined with my acute instincts, tell me this, "thing", whatever it may be, IS I'm SURE, as deep and complex as that which you sponsor and offer support for, here.

Meanwhile, I will continue to keep myself mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically strong so that I may just "be there" for a friend. I'll put all "analysis" aside for a while.

Katherine, your time, knowledge, and advice, everything, have been invaluable. I cannot express, in mere words, my gratitude.

Thank You So Much,

A

Better make myself clear .... in my last email I said:

"But my knowledge combined with my acute instincts, tell me this, "thing", whatever it may be, IS I'm SURE, as deep and complex as that which you sponsor and offer support for, here."

I meant to emphasize that while my friend's issues are more deep and complex than the average, run-of-the-mill disorders, if you can call them that, these issues might, very possibly signify another disorder, as you suggested so succinctly.

ty,
A

One good thing is that since he's under investigation for a crime he will most likely in the near future undergo medical and psychiatric evaluations should he continue to use the defense that he cannot remember doing the crimes. Then he will recieve the right treatments or medication adjustments for whatever the problems may be that are causing his memory loss ect. mental and physical problems are often used as a defense against crimes that have been committed so its standard in most states in the justice system and places of employment to have the person accused of a crime undergo complete medical and psychiatric evaluations. Sometimes these type of evaluations include the person either volluntarily entering a local hospitals mental health unit or a state mental hospital or being involluntarily committed to these mental health facilities during the evaluaton time periods so that the mental and physical health problems can be diagnosed and treated and then the person released once the employer or court system is satified that the person is no longer a danger to their self or others by committing crimes that they are using the mental health defense for. I say this is good though no one wants to be committed to a mental facility for any time frame because now your friend will recieve the correct testing, diagnosis and treatment for his problems. Thank you for the compliments and glad to hear you are going tostay open minded and not attempt to diagnose your friend. take care now. :)