Psychiatry is hard
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《加拿大医疗协会学报》
Psychiatry is hard. My patients aren't getting better. Actually, I think they're getting worse. The psychotic hears so many voices, I bet he thinks he's at the UN. The bulimic is spending half the day in the bathroom. The manic hasn't slept for days and is currently wailing out Bridge Over Troubled Water in a pressured frenzy at the nurses' desk.
I can't convince them of anything. Not a thing. Not that voices don't usually come out of thin air. Not that food is neither control nor shame. Not that sitting quietly once in a while might be a good idea.
Not that there is hope.
Today I spoke with the psychotic.
"Sometimes I hear voices."
"What do the voices say?"
"Well ... they take my stuff, sometimes."
"How can they do that? They're only voices."
"They can assume human form."
"How do they do that, assume human form?"
"How else could they take my stuff?"
Well, you can't argue with that. It's the worst syllogism I've ever heard, and it opens my eyes.
I can't persuade these people to be healthy. Logic isn't the drug that will cure them. A cure isn't even what they need. What they need is help.
Help getting their stuff back from those thieving voices. Help confronting whatever monster is hiding behind the food. Help living life with the volume set a little below eleven.
Help finding some hope.
And, perhaps, help taking their meds.(Paul Moorehead)
I can't convince them of anything. Not a thing. Not that voices don't usually come out of thin air. Not that food is neither control nor shame. Not that sitting quietly once in a while might be a good idea.
Not that there is hope.
Today I spoke with the psychotic.
"Sometimes I hear voices."
"What do the voices say?"
"Well ... they take my stuff, sometimes."
"How can they do that? They're only voices."
"They can assume human form."
"How do they do that, assume human form?"
"How else could they take my stuff?"
Well, you can't argue with that. It's the worst syllogism I've ever heard, and it opens my eyes.
I can't persuade these people to be healthy. Logic isn't the drug that will cure them. A cure isn't even what they need. What they need is help.
Help getting their stuff back from those thieving voices. Help confronting whatever monster is hiding behind the food. Help living life with the volume set a little below eleven.
Help finding some hope.
And, perhaps, help taking their meds.(Paul Moorehead)