Anthropologist on Mars

An Anthropologist On Mars
Essay Assignment

Oliver Sacks is a very famous doctor of neurology as well as a writer. He spent most of his adult life treating patients. Oliver Sacks mostly concentrated on disorders of the brain and nervous system. In a lot of the cases that Sacks dealt with, there was nothing he was able to do to heal the patients. His goal was to find a way to live with and accept their condition as well as possible. Sacks enjoyed dealing with cases mostly about experiences of real people struggling to live with unusual conditions. That’s where he wanted to find ways to help these patients to the best of his and medical ability out there. Throughout his cases he studied he came across patients who had different syndromes such as the Korsakov’s syndrome which is a memory loss disorder. He also came across patients with Tourette’s Syndrom which is a disorder of repeated movements, and these are just several of them that he studied and treated. Sacks’ had a particular method of investigation for all of his patients. He used a more of “personalistic” method that involved an understanding of the patient’s self and identity. He believed strongly that patients could be taught to adapt, or get used to their conditions as fully as possible even if they remained sick. He did it in a matter where not only he examined and learned patient’s history but he became involved in their personal lives as well. Oliver Sacks who was a neurologist used various techniques where he learned each individual differently in a very personal and respectful manner. He examined their qualities from inside out. Sacks would make time out of his busy schedule to do private outings with each one of the patients who he was treating. He made arrangements to be part of activities in such a way where he can learn more about the problem and have better idea of how to treat these individuals. I believe Sacks had several reasons for approaching his investigations in