By Robert Miller
THE NEWS-TIMES
RIDGEFIELD — In 1991, therapist Sandy Berenbaum began treating a 15-year-old boy who, a few months earlier, was an honor student. By the time Berenbaum began treating him, the boy had lapsed into a set of deep, irrational fears.
"He said he couldn't love anyone or anything, even a pet, because what he loved would die," Berenbaum said. "He was refusing to go to school. I found out after I began talking to him that he was also suffering from insomnia."
Berenbaum quickly figured out what he was suffering from wasn't paranoia or melancholia. It was Lyme disease. A few days after he began taking antibiotics to fight the infection, his psychological maladies went away, to be replaced by physical ailments that were harder to treat.
"It took a year-and-half to recover," Berenbaum, "but he ended up graduating from college,"
Berenbaum, who now lives in Danbury and practices in Brewster, N.Y., will be one of several speakers Saturdayat an all-day conference "Protecting Your Family From Lyme Disease" sponsored by the Ridgefield Lyme Disease Task Force.
Berenbaum's message will be straightforward: that anyone practicing psychotherapy in an area where Lyme disease is endemic should know about the disease and its symptoms. Fairfield County and Putnam County, NY are places where Lyme is rampant.
Jennifer Reid, the task force's co-chairwoman, said the conference will also have room for Lyme disease support groups and for state agencies teaching people how to rid their yards of ticks.
Lyme disease is a tick-borne disease. Humans, once infected by the bacteria, can suffer flu-like symptoms: a high fever, headache, aching back and sore joints. Unlike influenza, there are no respiratory ailments accompanying the other symptoms. They often, but not always, have a target-like rash around the site of the tick bite.
The point of the conference, and others like it, is to simply educate people about Lyme disease, Reid said. Then, if people get caught in the web of the disease, they will know where to go for help.
"If you get a disease like cancer, there are all these wonderful support groups to help you," she said. "But Lyme disease is very complex and it can be a struggle to find psychologists or social workers who understand it. They're out there. They're just not always readily available. "
The Ridgefield Lyme Disease Task Force will hold an all-day seminar, "Protecting Your Family From Lyme Disease," Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Scotts Ridge Middle School, 750 North Salem Road, in Ridgefield. Doors open at 8:15 a.m.
Admission and lunch are free and the public is urged to attend.
For information, call the Ridgefield Lyme Disease Task Force at (203) 431-7006
Contact Robert Miller
at bmiller@newstimes.com
or at (203) 731-3345