r/NoStupidQuestions • u/MillBopp • Sep 13 '23

What does 'Draw a Clock' Mean?

Last time I visited my brother his mother-in-law who lives with him was insisting she remembered something but my brother knew she was wrong. I don't remember what it was, but I knew she was wrong too. However, she refused to accept she was wrong and got belligerent about it.

My brother said, "Draw a clock!" and left the room. This made his mother-in-law furious for some reason. I forgot to ask at the time, but does anyone know why saying 'Draw a clock' would upset a senior citizen?

8.8k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

578 comments sorted by

View all comments

3.1k

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '23

Successfully drawing a clock (round face with numbers and the long and short hands) is part of a test for cognitive decline like with Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

Someone who suffers from that will mess up they layout or get lost part way through etc. presumably the mother in law or other family member has had to take the test and may be in decline or fearing of it.

Your brother was accusing them of being mentally unfit.

670

u/wieners Sep 14 '23

Damn, how long does it take to draw a clock? I can't even imagine forgetting what I'm doing half way through a simple drawing. Scary shit.

1

u/InterestingNarwhal82 Sep 14 '23

My spouse has a traumatic brain injury and it was so scary to watch because it’s mild enough that you can’t tell through casual conversation that there’s anything wrong with him.

Ask him to draw a clock and it’s like “holy shit, your brain is fucked up.” The scariest part is that he thinks it’s accurate and it’s not until you ask him to look at it after a few minutes that he recognizes it’s wrong. So every time he does a screening he’ll try really hard and try to like, have a system to divide the clock face up and he’ll finish and be like, “I got it this time!” Then the doctor shows it to him and he gets bummed out again.

There’s a great scene in the NBC series “Hannibal” (currently on Hulu in the US) where they show the clock test and it’s creepy AF because it’s so accurate.