The Sickness Game
The perks of taking on the sick role
Alice walked in to the counselling room. She threw herself on to the cushy armchair and lamented “I am so tired. Looking after my mother is taking a toll on my health. In the past month, I have lost 2 kilograms. My clothes fit loosely now. I sleep only 7 hours a night and I have developed many more wrinkles of which I have no time to visit the dermatologist to botox away. Truly, I am wasting away. How I long for some relief.”
“Well then, you may stop whenever you choose to.” said the counsellor nonchalantly.
“Can’t you see my pain? Where is your empathy? Why are you even a counsellor? You seem to be in the wrong profession.” Alice remarked dramatically with an angry expression on her face.
“Please allow me to share a story with you.” said the counsellor with a soft smile.
Viktor Frankl was an Austrian Psychiatrist who, together with thousands of others, was trained off the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.
When he arrived, he was herded into a line where he was assessed for suitability to be retained a camp (for hard labour) or to be sent to the gas chambers for immediate execution.
All the fresh arrivals tried their best to put on their freshest face — they pat their cheeks to make them look rosy. Death was…
