Ask me about working in a psychiatric hospital

[eviljeff]

gimme gimme more

[jackflashdrive]

[ QUOTE ]
what are the qualifications to become a psychiatric tech>?

[/ QUOTE ]

see my response to whoiam earlier in thread.

[jackflashdrive]

OK so some people were interested in sociopaths. I'll relay a story about a supposed sociopath that I knew.

Ken was an intelligent 35yo caucasian male who came from a very wealthy family. His family connections were the reason he was in the mental hospital rather than jail. The entire time I knew him he was extremely sociable and an interesting fellow to talk with. I never saw anything in his outward behavior toward me, other clients, or any staff that would indicate sociopathic tendencies.

The only indication of such tendencies came from his chart, and the contrast between the gruesome information recorded there and his social grace was unnerving. His file was an inch thick with incidents that seemed not just criminal but gratuitously evil. He had started a bunch of fires. Pushed an old guy into traffic. Some questionable accidents involving his vehicle and pedestrians.

I asked him about this and he said that his previous behavior was all due to a coccaine addiction, and that when off of coccaine he was a different person.

I went back and forth in believing that everything really just came down to coke. In the end I defered to the judgment of the large majority of hosptial staff who had a longer history of being around him and saw more of his completely sober manipulations of policies and people to what suited him. But the thing with sociopaths is that you can have a mountain of evidence piled thick in a chart recording the objective facts of behavior, but there will always be an excuse delivered in such a charming and disarming way that you can never totally doubt their story that everything is just a big misunderstanding.

[manbearpig]

[ QUOTE ]
gimme gimme more

[/ QUOTE ]

[jackflashdrive]

OK this will be my last post in this thread unless there is a groundswell of resurgent interest. I'll tell you about an interesting patient who I'll refer to as 'Preacher.'

Preacher was a ginormous black man -- 6'2 and about 250 pounds of mostly muscle. He had schizophrenia and a very bad attitude. He had a rough history with the police -- he once sent three of them to the ER during an arrest, and he had more than his share of beat-downs. For a big violent black guy to be brought to a mental health facility rather than jail, he has to be very [censored] nuts.

Whenever he came to the facility the doctors would immediately order sedatives in doses that would knock out an elephant. He would always fight the effects, though, and would walk about the unit as best he could. He moved extremely slowly, and due to the medication there was an effect whereby he moved in very jerky increments (e.g., if he is raising his arm up it goes up in spurts, one inch at a time).

His voice was unaffected by the medication -- he had a very loud booming voice, and he would always walk about the unit giving a sermon about evil and evil men that was not unlike Samuel Jackson's diatribe in Pulp Fiction. It was also funny how when he wasn't giving these religious speeches he was walking up to the nurses for an interaction along the following line:

Preacher: "Hey, you."
Nurse: "Yes what do you need and please lower your voice"
Preacher: "I's needsum hussy"
Nurse: "I'm sorry you need what?"
Preacher: "Hussy!"
Nurse: "Please lower your voice and I'm not really sure what you want."
Preacher: "Damnit I NEED PHUSSY"
Nurse: "Uh, I'm sorry we can't provide that here."

Occasionally he would get worked up to a point where he would need to be put in the seclusion room, but there was no way in hell we techs were gonna do it (I would have quit working there before trying to take down that guy). So we would call the police. Given his history with the police, they would send what is termed a 'show of force.' Something on the order of 18 cops would show up, all with nightsticks in hand. They'd let the black cop try talk him into going into seclusion on his own and voluntarily submitting to an injection that would knock him out for a week. Even though he was nuts, he retained the memory of going against cops in the past and I guess he was sane enough to decide it was not worth it. I never saw him fight with them.

[daveT]

[ QUOTE ]
OK this will be my last post in this thread unless there is a groundswell of resurgent interest.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that you have a ton of silent fans here.

But I will be the first to bump the ground.

[basementproject]

Definitely keep it up.

Drinking on the job... What's that all about?

[swingdoc]

Hi. I too have really enjoyed your stories. I'll encourage you to share more by sharing a couple of my own. I've spent about 4 months total between med school and residency working in different psych units.

During med school my first night on call with psych I got paged by the resident at about 11pm. I went to the ER and the resident tells me that we have a new guy in one of the exam rooms who is probably psychotic and she'll let me do the interview and physical. I'm pumped because I get to practice a little of what I've learned and I'm ridiculously naive. So I knock on the exam room door and enter to introduce myself. I see an older lady, probably in her mid 60's, sitting on a chair looking slightly worried. A young man in his late 20's is pacing back and forth across the exam room. He's wearing sunglasses. Unfortunately at the time, I was unaware that this is the #1 ER sign of mental illness - a patient wearing sunglasses inside the ER, especially when it's dark outside.

I introduce myself and ask Mr. G to sit down and talk with me for a bit. The resident follows me in and introduces herself. We sit down and I start my litany of memorized questions:

Me: "What brings you in"
Woman: "We're concerned because G was arguing with the pictures in our home and became violent."
G: "God, they won't [censored] shut up!"

Etc. It turns out that the woman and her husband are this guy's parents. They have done their best to manage their son's problems on their own. Good and bad. Good that they're dedicated to their son, bad that his problems had to become so severe before he was brought to a doctor. After breaking several pictures at home he attacked his dad and his parents had to call the police to bring him to the hospital.

While I'm learning this G is becoming more and more restless. He's pacing the room, muttering incoherently, sometimes interrupting his mom to yell at her and curse his dad for trying to stop him. He keeps referring to himself as Rocky and refers to his dad as "Dolph".

Being the good student, I ask about special powers or missions. Apparently he has been contracted to meet with Saddam Hussein and pay him $1 million and if he does not, then a nuclear sub will sail to kansas and nuke KC. Honestly I'm a little baffled by this and having some small trouble not smiling. G meanwhile is getting more and more agitated as he tells me this. I glance at the psych resident who looks totally nonplussed. I ask my next question and G throws a punch a few inches from my face. That's it for me! Security comes in and the patient slowly calms down and finally agrees to take an antipsychotic that will also help calm him down. I see him on the ward the next day and he's the most pleasant guy there. Such a scary disease.

[PhilBeans]

Tell more stories. A+ thread.

[RoundTower]

I don't have anything to add or any specific requests but keep on telling the stories.