First comes shock. Then denial. Then the hysterical attacks on others. These are recognizable and documented stages in this kind of case.

These "shadow" personas tend to generate strange stories about other fictional personas. The "Amos" persona, for instance, appears to have invested inordinate amounts of time in spinning seamy and bizarre stories about a licentious chimpanzee Madame named Chinga, supposedly the abusive and slatternly sister of a well-known male chimpanzee character who has starred in a series of popular detective stories. The "Amos" persona created the "Chinga" persona in order to attack a character of popular fiction who represents all the things to which Louie Troutfriend himself can never aspire, such as success, fame, courage, nice suits, a car that actually runs, and a walk-up office flat with a framed and signed photo of Primo Carnera on the wall.

Thus does envy drive madness. There are cures, though, for this dire malady....a strict 6-month fast in which one consumes only pure water, fresh Kiwi fruit, and ripe bananas has been shown to ease the more violent symptoms in 72% of respondents. Others, sadly, have not done so well. Some end up swallowing their own feet and finally turning themselves inside out. It's not a pretty sight.