Having witnessed one assault too many from a member of one of those two families that seem to be behind most of the strife in Motovun, I cannot but wonder about mental illness as the underlying cause. What else could explain so much misery in the hilltown? In the case of one of the families, the connection is unmistakable, which started me thinking in the first place. The medical diagnosis of an important member of this family is beyond me, but paranoid schizophrenia strikes me as the right verdict. The Istrian peninsula is rife with it, too. I do not know the other family well enough, but the same diagnosis seems plausible at first glance. To learn a bit more about this condition, I just checked it on the World Wide Web. Losing touch with reality is mentioned over and over again. This is accompanied by delusions and hallucinations having to do with a belief that everyone is out to cause you harm. Among the symptoms are disorganized speech and behavior, as well as inappropriate affect. All this is quite plausible in the case of those two families. But what can be done about the underlying mental illness? This is where I am baffled in spite of my considerable effort. As far as I can tell, the first step forward is the recognition of the problem. But who in the world could even suggest such a thing to those two families?

Addendum (February 17, 2017)

Now that the winter seems to be ebbing, I am starting to think about my return to Motovun once again. Quite a few friends pop up in my mind, and I am happy that I will be with them early this spring. Against my will, I cannot but think of those two families, as well (“Those Two Families,” March 29, 2013; and “Those Two Families, Again,” March 28, 2014). These are families Vugrinec and Ivašić, it goes without saying. And I must admit that I am far from happy to see some of them ever again. Alas, Motovun is so medieval that I cannot but see a few of them every single day! In my predicament, I find myself searching the World Wide Web for paranoid schizophrenia one more time. Although the mental illness seems to be quite widespread in Istria, I cannot find much more about it. How to diagnose it? More important, how to deal with it? To my chagrin, it appears that psychiatrists are not doing their job in these parts. What are we to do with families such as these two? Are we to suffer from their shenanigans for ever and ever?