Week One - Psychological Disorder Profile (Albert Einstein)

Born in 1879 in Germany, Albert Einstein's parents knew that their son was different. By the age of three, he had yet to learn to interact socially with his peers. He was often described by his family as being withdrawn from others, constantly repeating everything he said multimple times, difficulty choosing socks to wear, and possessing a strange fascination with building houses out of playing cards. Because of these strange repetitive actions, Albert Einstein's parents genuinely began to think that their son was mentally retarded. At a glance, this would discourage anyone from believing that young Albert would accomplish anything as a adult. However, things changed when, at the age of twelve, Einstein picked up his first geometry book and began to learn.



From this point forward, Einstein's noted genius (and perhaps insanity) in mathematics began to emerge. At the age of fifteen, Einstein dropped out of school at the advice of a teacher and moved to Italy. He found great difficulty holding down a steady job, but behind the scenes, Einstein was publishing top-notch articles. The reception of these articles earned Einstein a spot as a professor at the German Univeristy in Prague. Five years later, Einstein left his wife and two sons just before the First World War broke out, and a year later, he completed his theory of relativity--the theory that would explain all theories. With his life's greatest works complete, Einstein's yearnings to make another impact upon the world dwindled until his death in 1955.



It was not until the last decade that it has been discussed that Einstein's unusual mannerisms and habits might not have been just the mark of a genius. Documented by Hans Asperger in the 1940's, Asperger's syndrome is a subgroup of autism, a psychological disorder characterized in a patient whom possess a particular, circumscribed area of interest, difficulty comminicating with others due to their stunted verbal growth, and extreme sensitivity to textures on their skin--all of which Einstein presented throughout his life. With this knowledge now available, Einstein's actions, attitudes, and simple manngerisms can all be explained. His disease not only facilitated his interest in science and therefore his career, but also what made this genius a genius in the first place.



To measure the extent this disease might have taken its toll on Albert Einstein objectively might never be known, but putting oneself into his shoes puts it into persective. Asperger's patients commonly suffer from clinical depression, and since my own family has a history of the disease, I know what feeling like you're crazy can make you do. Not know how to communicate with others nor decode their nonverbal messages must have been one of the hardest things Mr. Einstein would have had to endure.





"Albert Einstein in Brief." The Center for History of Physics 12/28/2007 7 Nov 2008 http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/inbrief.htm.

"Einstein and Newton 'had autism'." BBC NEWS 4/30/2003 7 Nov 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2988647.stm.

Fattig, Michelle. "Famous People with Asperger's Syndrome." Disabled World 12/28/2007 7 Nov 2008 http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/article_2086.shtml.

"What is Asperger's Disorder." Asperger's Disorder. 7 Nov 2008 http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/article_2086.shtml.