Theory of Psychic Degradation

Theory of Psychic Degradation or sometimes Vedric's Theory of Psychic Degradation is a proposed medical explanation for why some individuals experience the onset of mental retardation or illness in later life. The theory was proposed by Madame Dijana Vedric in 92 AE and is still widely believed to be the best explanation for the phenomenon in combination with Mikael's Theory of Predestination. The theory belongs to the school of Psychic Divination in the greater Northern Modern Medicine canon.

Proposition
In Vedric's original paper, her personal research on subjects suffering from late onset mental degradation is cited. Patients who experienced at the least ten years of normal function were used in the research, later being compared to work done on those experiencing mental retardation since birth in the follow up paper published in 89 AE. Those diagnosed with retardation, hysteria, homosexuality, and degeneracy made up the bulk of the study.

Vedric was employed at the Petrikov Sanitarium for the Rehabilitation of the Insane and Malformed which gave her access to plenty of participants, both willing and unwilling. The madame concluded after many autopsies, drawings, and divinations that the cause of the patient's conditions was a weak mental barrier. She hypothesized that certain people were born with a thinner mental barrier, which she said could be physically seen in the subarachinoid space. Dijana argued that the thinner the space and the yellower in color the fluid in the space appeared, the more susceptible said person was to develop a psychic wound. Dijana used the term psychic wound to describe any kind of mental abnormality that was not physically viewable to the eye without scientific intervention. The term was popularized by the Petrikov school.

Dijana theorized that the psychic wound was caused by an abundance of evil spirits in the air which would enter one's mind through the pores into subarachinoid fluid. Once in the brain, the spirit would cause rapid onset mental degradation. Only through a combination of physical and psychic treatments could someone be cured of the attacking spirit. Some, she argued, could not be cured due to the level of corruption being beyond the ability of science to revoke. She argued only prayer, isolation, and penance could help someone of that stage.

Reaction
Dijana's theory was printed first in the 92 AE edition of Petrikov's Manual of Psychic Diagnostics, the overall twelfth edition of the text. It was later greatly reproduced in texts related to Psychic Divination and Northern Modern Medicine. Many critics were wary of a woman's ability as a scientist, but her support by the Dr. Petrikov helped ease suspicions. The theory was accepted throughout the north, into Arimania, and even Media. Sikkudian scholars argued against it, claiming that spirits did not have the time to possess laypeople, arguing instead towards the cause of mental retardation being brought on by race mixing and bad blood. However, the theory's acceptance in the north was enough to make Dijana well known among the medical community in the region.

Later, in 103 ME, Mikael Astorka would propose his own explanation for mental degradation, called Mikael's Theory of Predestination. His theory suggested that certain people were predestined to having psychic wounds and that latent psychic wounds are the cause of late onset mental malformations. He argues everyone who experiences these symptoms was born with them and that when they appear is based on the individual, mostly by their zodiac, blood composition, and pedigree. Despite the seemingly contradictory nature of both theories, many have chosen to view them side-by-side as equally valid. The current consensus is that some are born with psychic wounds and others develop them due to extreme circumstances.

In 38 ME, Dijana Vedric was given the title of doctor posthumously for her work by the Northern College of Modern Medicine located in Isgerdia, Korevna.