Tuesday 4 August 2009

DR. JOHN'S CASE NOTES: AN UNUSUAL VARIANT OF A.D.D. FOUND TO BE VERY PREVALENT IN BRIDGE CLUBS Labelled TENCHIAN C-KIN this particular form of ADD ( attention deficit disorder) seems only to affect people who play club bridge. The particular nature of this condition causes all its victims to display the same behavioural symptoms. They all adopt an identical strategy in their driven attempt to become the centre of attention, each and every time they turn up to play.......and that requires them to play with partners who are utterly inferior to them. This way they can very easily engineer win-win situations. The strategy involves a 3 pronged tactical approach. The first tactic they employ is to dump upon their hapless partners huge dollops of abuse. The subsequent carry-on and commotion is cleverly designed to gain audience attention through the use of colourful language to produce stinging remarks and sarcastic insults. The second bow to their string comes with the inevitable wretched score-cards, which set the scene for bar room post-mortem discussions. Here they gather an audience, detailing each and every horror hand they lived through that evening......where extreme instances of partner's incompetence brought on near heart-attacks. Seeking as much heart-felt sympathy as they can, they wallow in the words of comfort and concern, which inevitably come their way. Admiration and praise for persisting with such inept partners is always an added bonus. Naturally, players with this disorder must have good bridge credentials in order to present a raft of plausible reasons as to why their partners' bids and play were so appalling. Finally, the third string comes into play, if on the rare occasions they come back with a good card. Now they draw attention to themselves by loudly bragging about their success, which first required them to overcome the handicap of their inept partners........but then to work miracles single-handedly to take on and triumph over some very tough and difficult opponents. Gasps of admiration as to "how did you do it?" brings in the type of accolades they desperately seek. So whoever they play with, and whatever the result , victims with this disorder have found a strategy that works very well. However, by constantly getting the attention they crave for, the addictive nature if this condition makes them totally unreceptive to any offers of therapy and treatment.

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