A little more than a week ago, something got caught in the blogosphere where a “psychiatry professor” made the following claims about this painting:

• This was painted by a person with a rare and severe mental disorder. He was constantly seeing his own fantasies all around him. He also had a certain phobia (undisclosed).
• His (the poster’s) psychiatry professor showed this painting in a lecture, and said there was one tell-tale sign in it that showed the painter’s insanity.
• The professor didn’t say what that sign was, leaving the students to do the guesswork. The only clues he gave was, “don’t look for small details, look at the whole; if you figure out what the phobia was, you’ve got the answer; ask yourself what could have preceded this scene; think of what the place would look like with all the objects removed“.
• The professor said that during the 15 years of his teaching, only one student had figured it out.

A great mystery, nyet?

Unfortunately, it’s a hoax.

Whether the “professor” is aware it’s a hoax or not, I don’t know. But I do know a thing or two about mental illness and I can smell something that is a lie when it comes to someone who can “see” mental illness in a painting a mile away. That’s like saying you could tell a person was a Republican just by looking at her. Or that Beethoven was deaf just by listening to his works.

There is no tell-tale sign in this painting. Don’t bother waiting to hear what it is, because it doesn’t exist.

Source: Very Russian Tochka Net — Could this be the new Da Vinci code?

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 6 Dec 2006
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