Oh Ophelia (LJ 2/15)

Poor Ophelia. She maybe is a little naive and "chronically submissive," but is it her fault? Does she deserve to be the champion of a rather unpleasant syndrome? I feel the blame lies with Polonius for brainwashing Ophelia from the beginning. In addition to disagreeing with the name, Thomas Plummer's "Diagnosing and Treating the Ophelia Syndrome" was almost a catch-22: my initial reaction to my reading was to accept it as "the TRUTH".  There are no more treatments and those listed are of course perfectly suited to everyone--the author then becomes a Polonius. But Plummer urges us to "develop a healthy distrust of authorities and experts" which includes himself. So we should distrust him and not question authorities? Very mind-boggling.


Moving past the catch-22, Plummer's treatments have potential both for curing or creating an epic  failure. For example, some may take treatment 3, learning to live with uncertainty, as a cop out to trying to understand. After looking at a problem for hours, I am willing to accept defeat and never mind I should be able to understand. I could just take treatment 3 and live with never trying harder. 


However, as in all treatments, moderation and critical thinking (and applying) is key. One treatment I am anxious to implement in London is stepping out of bounds in London. Don't panic; mainly I only mean breaking self-imposed bounds. Last summer, I had an internship in Boston. And I watched a lot of Dr. Who episodes. A lot a lot. I barely infiltrated the city. My bounds told me to avoid Boston at night alone, and my fears told me to avoid people in general. I allowed my fear and pointless discretion dictate what I could do. Not to be repeated in London. By stepping out of my bounds, I will be able to observe and learn more about London and myself. Time to stop inflicting rules on myself and holding myself back (within reason). London has so many opportunities, but I have to be willing to break the bounds to have them.  If I never question authority or always meekly accept archaic rules imposed by myself to avoid getting hurt or lost, I will not be able to really push the boundaries of statistics, truly establish an academic contact, or honestly observe people and myself.