Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Complete Idiots
I just had my last regular clinical in nursing school, hopefully forever.
I was at one of the psych wards here in town. The actual ward I was on held patients who had both a personality disorder and a substance abuse problem.
The real scary thing about this particular visit was the staff. There was this guy there who, if you didn't know better, could just as easily have been a guest of the facility. He had been listening to the crazy for so long he was starting to believe it. He was talking about things like the Illuminati and the Rothschilds and secret societies. He was convinced that there was a secret society that owned the federal reserve, and that they used a paper currency that was "more valuable than gold. They have warehouses full of the stuff."
I politely told him that he was out of his mind.
I further told him that I thought it would be cool to be a member of a secret society. I bet they have secret handshakes and stuff like that. And really good secret beer.
What I wanted to say to him was that he should spend some more time online looking for instructions for making a tin foil hat.
It's episodes like this that make me realize that people don't get poor care when they are hospitalized because there is a conspiracy to keep them ill. No, the truth is much sadder. It's because of lazy care givers who are too involved with their own personal drama to provide any meaningful healing interventions.
Want proof? I saw one of the staff there reading the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Enhancing Self-Esteem?"
I was at one of the psych wards here in town. The actual ward I was on held patients who had both a personality disorder and a substance abuse problem.
The real scary thing about this particular visit was the staff. There was this guy there who, if you didn't know better, could just as easily have been a guest of the facility. He had been listening to the crazy for so long he was starting to believe it. He was talking about things like the Illuminati and the Rothschilds and secret societies. He was convinced that there was a secret society that owned the federal reserve, and that they used a paper currency that was "more valuable than gold. They have warehouses full of the stuff."
I politely told him that he was out of his mind.
I further told him that I thought it would be cool to be a member of a secret society. I bet they have secret handshakes and stuff like that. And really good secret beer.
What I wanted to say to him was that he should spend some more time online looking for instructions for making a tin foil hat.
It's episodes like this that make me realize that people don't get poor care when they are hospitalized because there is a conspiracy to keep them ill. No, the truth is much sadder. It's because of lazy care givers who are too involved with their own personal drama to provide any meaningful healing interventions.
Want proof? I saw one of the staff there reading the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Enhancing Self-Esteem?"
