Men who behave voilently ask for help

Abstract

Tuesday morning after a long weekend with a public- holiday-Monday. You've been on call the whole time and are ready to get back to routine daily practice. Your first patient is Mr X. You're surprised to see him because he's not one of your usual attenders although you've been looking after the family for some time. He is a successful businessman whose life and career appear to be on the ascendancy. You feel you don't really know him and in your previous dealings with him, he has tended to be stoic and reticent. After the usual greetings, you become aware that he is extremely uncomfortable in your presence and has diffi culty in talking to you. Without visibly showing that you're aware of the time passing and that other patients are beginning to fill up the waiting space, you try and nudge him into getting to the point. You're not prepared for what you piece together from what he does tell you. He had a deadline to complete a budget over the week-end and he took the work home with him. His wife had however made other plans for the long weekend which she had not told him about. An argument ensued and he locked himself into his study with the whisky bottle to try and re-focus himself on his work. The rest of the weekend deteriorated as one altercation provoked another until he'totally lost it' and hit her. He knocked her out cold and he initially thought he had killed her. This gave him a huge fright and he decided he better come and see you. He asks if you don't perhaps have a medicine that will help control his temper