by Andrew Tibor Szemeredy
They have actors to act out symptoms at medical schools, if there is no actual real live patient to be shown with a disease under study. And very similarly to what happens in real life theatrical productions, they have understudies to the actors, in case the actor becomes incapacitated to act.
I was the understudy of a famous actor doing dementia praecox, where he was told to act as if his confused state led him to falsely believe that he was the under-study to a famous actor. They asked me to act the role of the psychiatrist.
The famous actor was called away, so I had to do both roles. Due to my ambition and diligence to do well, and due to the contradictory nature of the two roles, I suffered a complete schizophrenic breakdown in the middle of the verbal exam sessions of the students.
I got a standing ovation from the medical students, and the psychiatrist-in-chief shook my hand in appreciation of my brilliant performance.