Psychiatry

Last rotation of 3rd year was Psychiatry.  To be honest, that was on purpose because Psychiatry was known for being a little more laid back than the rest.  It did not disappoint.

For the first 3 weeks, I was on Parkland Consults, meaning anywhere in the hospital that a team felt a Psychiatrist was needed for a patient, we went to see them.  Sometimes, this meant a team was trying to cover their own tails and it wasn't very interesting/necessary to get Psychiatry on board, but most of the time it was really (I found myself starting to type "crazy" here, but that's not PC, but now I can't think of a better word...) ...wild.  The second half of the rotation I spent on inpatient Psychiatry in Parkland which is a locked-down ward.  I also went to mental illness court which is where patients go who are trying to get out of the hospital when the doctors don't think they should leave.  Finally, I spent 3 shifts in the Psych ER, which was the most intense experience of all.  I'll sum up this rotation with a couple of good stories:

A woman with underlying dementia who became delirious (there is a big difference between delirium and dementia and if you learn that, you learn a very important Psychiatry topic) who told me stories about her maggot friends and how they walked in a line and she saw them on the ceiling and it was strange how they walked together because, everyone knows maggots don't walk in a line, just ask science and they'll tell you.  She also told me I looked like "one of them girls on the shows who is always hanging out with the boys" and to tell my husband to keep me in line.  I'm pretty sure she was calling me a floozy, but I tried not to read into it.

Another woman had the most beautiful singing voice, but the problem was she would sing gospel music at the top of her lungs early in the morning which aggravated all the other patients on the ward.  One day I walked in and told her good morning and she stopped me to tell me she had a revelation.  When I asked what it was about, she said it came in the version of a song and started belting out Steve Miller's "Fly Like an Eagle."

In all seriousness though, I think mental illness can be one of the most difficult things a patient and their family can face.  It is different from other medical illnesses both in how it is approached and how the public receives it.  There are so many challenges to coping with, treating, and handling mental illness.  I think the Church went through a period of time where it failed to see psychiatric illness as a true medical problem and people were often ashamed of it and saw it as spiritual failure when it is often just as organic as a heart attack.  There is a fine line between recognizing that a medication is necessary and relying on it, but I firmly believe that medication for mental illness has a place along with faith, community, and prayer.