long long over due

 

I have finally finished my orientation so I have begun working in the psychiatric hospital and I realize that this is exactly what I want to be doing. Its eye opening, I feel that the diagnosis of a psychiatric illness is far more devastating than the diagnosis of a physical ailment. If you think about it, which illness is more easily accepted and understood, being told that you have cancer or being told that you have schizophrenia?  Which disease will your family and friends understand and be able to give you the support that you need?  At first going into the hospital especially when working in geriatrics I felt that if one was admitted to the hospital at that age it was basically a death sentence of sorts, but I have definitely witnessed some amazing things. I feel ignorant calling geriatric psychiatric a “death sentence” because I have talked to clients who are most definitely functional and have improved. It was heart warming working with a client who I was able to have a conversation with and they were thanking me and knew that what I was doing was beneficial to them. She was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and within 2 months her hallucinations had stopped. So there is hope out there.  But still if I was ever diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s I know for a fact that after working with these clients, I would rather die before everything fades away. Now working in adult psychiatry is a lot more interesting, the variety of psychological issues blows my mind, I am sure that all of us can be diagnosed with something and be put on a drug for it.  That’s part of the reason why I don’t think I can just stay with psychiatry. The mechanics of the drugs and how they work on the neurons of the brain are not entirely known and that kind of bothers me.  I had a great shift the other day working adult psychiatry. I was on constant with an autistic boy, I have a soft spot for autistic children due to my past experience, I feel comfortable and that once I know the individual and their quirks I will be able to have them open up to me. It was fun I took him to the gym and he rode his bike for 2 hours while I looked on and played basketball. I think one of the most mind blowing things about autism is that the individual could be having the time of their lives but you could never tell, sometimes though if they are really excited it will come through.  While in the gym a client from a unit that my roommate works on came in to ride the bike, I suspected he may have had some form of downs syndrome. I was talking to my roommate and I was very surprised by his diagnosis. He is a 28 year old male and before he came into the hospital he was a completely normal healthy individual. He had been in a bar fight and had been knocked out for literally a few seconds, he got up and everything seemed okay. Within a few weeks the family had noticed some changes in him. He was taken into the doctor, tests were done and the diagnosis was a degenerative brain disease. And with time he will become a complete vegetable. Who knows if the fight had anything to do with it, but in my mind it didn’t and these changes would have occurred with or with out the fight. Oh the mysteries of the brain. Well that is all for now. I have my first clinical tomorrow! Pray that this damn head cold goes away!