Thursday, September 23, 2010

Insanity


I work in a psychiatric facility with the truly insane, the temporarily insane, and the wannabe insane.

The truly insane are the most interesting: the psychotics, the catatonics. Once I spoke with an actively hallucinating guy who told me the voices said I was a nice lady. Last night I dealt with someone wanting to eat her sock. Like I said, very interesting

The temporarily insane function well until a blip happens like too much stress. Like the guy caring for his wife in hospice. Or the person in the military, in foreclosure and out of luck with his wife. These folks have a shot at normalcy again.

The wannabes dance with insanity. They shoot heroin or meth (sometimes while driving), they cut on themselves. They enjoy being hospitalized and avoid discharge. They could function but they seem to choose not to. These might be the sickest of all since they are the drama junkies, the kings and queens of chaos. These are the personality disordered: the borderlines, the antisocial personalities, the malingerers. They are the most difficult to deal with.

So, where does my recent depression fit in this continuum? I like to think the second catagory, but perhaps a touch of the third. I have in the past loved the drama, but no longer I hope. I hope that Dominica was the last big drama.

leavingdominica: drama free at last

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