Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: Extraordinary Journeys into the Human Brain

by Allan H. Ropper

There are three kinds of patients who show up on the ward: the risk-neutral, the risk-averse, and the risk-resistant. We rarely see a fourth kind, the risk-takers, who instead show up in the morgue, if they show up at all. Most of the time they go straight to the funeral home. Risk-takers don’t come to the hospital of their own volition. They simply refuse to go to a doctor for anything. By contrast, risk-neutral people, a term that describes most of our patients, go to the doctor because they believe in modern medicine. They listen, they question, they comprehend, and for the most part, they cooperate. Risk-averse patients, on the other hand, need reassurance. These are the people who have to know everything. They have to call everyone. They need a better opinion. They won’t have the operation until they’ve had five second opinions. They anguish, they’re neurotic, but in the end they do what all normal people do when confronted with choices. Then there are the risk-resistant, who are simply recalcitrant, and give us the most trouble. They act as if they have something to hide, they often do have something to hide, and they hide it even when it would be in their best interest to let us know about it up front.