Notes from the Sesame Street Therapy Room (part 2)

The Sesame Street intervention posse has struck again.

The Count was found counting the stones in his castle for the 10th time today and his friends were concerned that perhaps he is taking his love of counting too far.  The Count agreed to talk with a counselor, but insists that he simply LOVES counting and has been living this way happily for centuries.

Count Von Count

  • Hair Color—Black
  • Eyes—Black
  • Age—Unknown
  • Presenting Problem—Counting Compulsion
  • Assessment—The Count has a strong compulsion to count all objects around him and to create songs about what he is counting.  He sometimes speaks to people who are not there and has melded these delusions into his compulsion.  The delusions seems to also spur the compulsion as he insists that he must continue counting to “teach” the “children” he says are watching him.  It is not yet known what disaster he believes may happen if he ceases to count to song, but that will hopefully be discovered during therapy.  We plan to explore his beliefs about being watched to see if he fears some retribution should he stop counting.

Yikes!  Sounds serious–though perhaps some folks on Sesame Street are getting too excited about sending people to counseling 😉

Notes from Sesame Street’s Therapy Room (part 1)

Well, it has happened.  Cookie Monster has eaten up so many items that his friends suggested he be psychologically evaluated.  Here is the report on his condition:

Cookie Monster:

  • Hair color—blue
  • Eyes—black, tendency to roll around in his head, rule out seizure condition
  • Age—mid-forties (approximate)
  • Presenting Problem—Binge eating of cookies and other foods, lack of control with eating, occasional memory loss.
  • Assessment—Cookie Monster appears especially triggered to binge eat when presented with stimuli related to cookies.  He has been conditioned in recent years to additionally consume vegetables, but this does not appear to have dealt with the problem of binge eating.  Additionally, when he is unable to obtain the object he desires to eat he seems to go into a fugue-like state where he resorts to Pica (eating of non-food items) and will eat whatever item is in his hands at the time.  After this state has ended, he has no memory of where the object went.  It is recommended that he embark on serious psychoanalysis to get to the root of his love for cookies and how he is compensating for other problems by binge eating.  Further exploration will be needed to understand the fugue states.

 

Poor Cookie Monster!  Let’s hope he improves soon. Who will Sesame Street have evaluated next??  😉