Mental

True Story #3

I worked at a hospital, an inpatient psychiatric hospital. There was this boy, I think he was about 15. He originally came to our hospital in the wintertime. He had been aggressive and really depressed, but other than that, he was your average teen. A couple months later he was re-hospitalized. this time, he had a completely different presentation. His affect was all wrong. He was cold, distant, and he hardly remembered me. One night, after I had gone home, he went to use the bathroom. After being in there for like 20 minutes, the staff went looking for him. With some verbal prodding, he reluctantly opened the door to the bathroom. there he stood, completely nude, save for the feces, which painted him from head to toe. Oh, and the two Payday sized turds he ferociously gripped in each hand. He then gestured all "matrix" style to the staff, with a sort of a Neo/Morpheus "come hither" gesture. The staff donned the hazard suits and then bull charged him. He had smeared poop all over the walls. And in the light switch. They sedated and restrained him that night. When i came in the next day, the nurses told me what had happened. I went to go check in on him, since I'd had previously established a relationship and real rapport with him. He proceeded to ask me if I had ever been raped, had sex with a man, or seen God. Yeah. That was when I really understood the power of psychosis. And I now have more empathy, understanding, and respect for all of my majorly mentally ill clients.