Dr. Igor, His ‘Unorthodox Treatment’, And How “Veronika Decides (Not) To Die” In Paulo Coelho’s Seminal Work.
Brazilian author Paulo Coelho’s 1998-novel ‘Veronika Decides To Die’ is set in a mental asylum called Villette
A mental hospital in Slovenia—and follows a psychiatrist’s unconventional treatment method for the mentally ill.
The psychiatrist, Dr. Igor, attempts a fascinating but provocative experiment:
Can a doctor ‘shock’ patients with their impending death, ‘jumpstart’ a new appreciation of the world around them, and draw them away from their suicidal instincts?
The novel follows him ‘successfully scaring’ Veronica, a depressed and suicidal woman, with an ‘invented’ aneurysm into healing and falling in love with life again.
However, scholars contended that this controversial ‘mixed therapy’ is a fictional creation—with no real-life counterpart.