LTB: One Woman's Triumph Over Adversity
The doctor listened to Jane's story and immediately came up with a diagnosis. She was suffering from a Low Threshold of Boredom. (LTB)
"At first I was stunned, you never believe it's going to happen to you. This is the kind of thing that happens to other people. After the diagnosis I went into denial."
Jane closed herself in her room and lost herself in the world of ad imagery. Dancing hot-dogs and talking penguins became her world. Her husband tried to pretend there was nothing wrong. He hoped Jane would just snap out of it, but as the days spread into weeks he found he could not cope.
As a last desperate measure, he got the family together and they staged an intervention. Jane needed help.
"It was awful" Jane says. "I felt humiliated. I made a deal with them: if they would just shut the hell up I would do anything."
Through Dr. Hal, Michael was able to find a clinic that offered treatment for LTB.
"The first few days were a nightmare." Jane admits.
The clinic focuses on toleration therapy. Dr. Hal explains, "We like to take a positive interactive prosalve tolerant adaptive co-grain approach.
The patient is forced to watch the complete series of the original Big Brother and are asked to come up with five interesting quotes by Jamie and Curtis. The patients are then forced to read Britney Spear's autobiography "My Life So Far" followed by a lecture on child rearing by Kathie Lee Gifford.
"We find the time period directly after Mrs. Gifford's lecture critical: it is the make or break point. Luckily we have a suicide watch."says Dr. Hal.
Next comes confrontation and family members are invited in for a session.
"That was the worst part for me." admits Jane."It was the most difficult thing I've ever had to do."
