Wicked Good

Posted on May 1, 2006 in Hospitals and Prisons

Just found another blog by a mental health professional which is worth reading. It’s hard not to dislike a writer who says to us:

A nurse in our meeting, a senior nurse, the head of the community mental health team, who has never met this patient, gave us this very helpful and thoughtful recommended treatment plan (I quote her, verbatim):

“You need to turf her – a waste of space like that.”

All through the meeting, at any mention of any patient with, say alcoholism, or self-harming behaviour, she gave a derisive snort and a roll of the eyes….

To all of the mentally ill people reading this: I am sorry. I feel for you. I understand why you feel so bitter. This system stinks.

I got this at shrinkette where I wrote, in part about the bias of mental health professionals in favor of caregivers:

I’ve gone to so many talks where the caregivers stand up and say “But how do we control them?” A few of the psychiatrists nod and give them the “oh yes, they can be difficult” line right in front of the rest of those of us who are afflicted.

I am tempted to stand up in one of those meetings and say “Doctor, I want to know this. How do we control them? They freak out if we laugh. If we want to go to the store, they ask us for a complete shopping list. They check our pills. They read our diaries. How can we control them? They are so clearly out of hand and what is worse, they don’t think they have a problem!”

Wouldn’t it be wicked good?