Medicine: Imaginary Poverty

For most of the world's poor, poverty is real, and so omnipresent that they can think of nothing else. But there are also a few oddballs around who suffer from "imaginary poverty," Dr. Archibald Beatson observes in the British Medical Journal. Theirs is a true psychosis, says the Worthing (Sussex) physician, because it includes two delusions: 1) that they cannot afford necessities, when in fact they have plenty of money for luxuries, and 2) that "life on earth will continue indefinitely." so they must not touch their capital "for fear of compromising the security of this interminable future." This emotional disorder, Dr. Beatson notes, becomes commoner with advancing age. Almost uniformly, victims have no hesitation in spending heavily for costly coats and dresses, new home furnishings and holidays abroad. But they hate to spend a penny for underclothes, bed linen, help in the house, nourishing food—or a doctor's services.

Dr. Beatson cited two cases. A man worth more than $110,000 boasted of laying out $1,120 for a cruise ticket but balked at paying 14¢ for cholera vaccination. A woman with $55,000 was disconsolate because Dr. Beatson would not prescribe toilet paper for her so that it could be paid for by Britain's National Health Service. Concludes Dr. Beatson: "I know of no treatment for this illness."