I understand about the previous review above me, but in any profession, there will be rumors, immaturity, and what not. I could tell the people there that had sympathy/empathy for the patients. Sometimes people don't exactly understand what the patients are going through because they've never felt it or suffered the emotional/physical pain. I think that sometimes I could be a smart ass and I pissed some of the staff members off. Some of the staff members are there only once a week at a time and in rotations between day shifts and night shifts. However, I think the most thing that helped me was relating to other patients like I was looking through a looking glass. It really hurt to see someone cut themselves, have bad hygiene etc. if you have experienced it yourself disregarding the cutting myself part.
Even though I was on three mood stabilizers, and a sleeping pill which I thought was still unhelpful because the increased dosage of the sleeping pill helped the most. My main reason for being there was volantarily and mostly because I didn't sleep for days. Anyone that doesn't sleep for days will start to hallucinate/or be delusional. The problem was that I was on an anti-depressant and a mood stabilizer and still depressed. Once on another mood stabilizer, even taking one anti-depressant didn't help me and the anti-depressant was doubled which is a tremendous change due to the dosage and the body's ability to adapt to the medication and also because some meds don't work with my brain chemistry. I've been on many anti-depressants in the past and not matter what, lexapro, prozac or whatever have very similar functions.
I also understand that psychiatry is a hard science/field and that it is hard to diagnose patients based on the information that patients give, the brain chemistry of the patients, and also because some of the medications are fairly new so it is kind of like an experimentation in a way. I think that a lot of antipsychotics actually affect the brain a lot and somehow screws up the function of some areas of the body. Furthermore, I like to be unceraint about things and not make a complete diagnosis/hypothesis or whatever.
However I liked hanging out with the patients and trying to understand them so I could understand myself. It was really interesting and the place was filled with different artwork that I enjoyed looking at and a lot more room for patients to roam around rather than being locked up in a mental institution. I understand that I was all over the place and forgetting to put my clothes in the dryer or to turn the stove off when boiling water, but I kind of felt like everyone in there was treated like they were five years old. I learned how to organize myself and how to manage time better.
There are also different personalities when it comes to some patients. Some patients are violent and some are sensitive. Sometimes people tend to make generalizations and think that every single client will be violent and have to be locked up in mental institutions, jail, etc. I think that doing that actually makes people worse. Being isolated for a long time is really tough and having no social interaction. People tend to forget how to reconnect with others. Also some doctors misdiagnose the patients with different disorders and make classifications of them. I'm glad that the DSM V is coming out. Maybe it will be more easier for doctors to help patients better.
I think that it was good that the staff let me cook because I had fun and I know that I used ingredients that I shouldn't but I tried to use left over things. It's good that they stay within their budget though.
I hope that the members of the staff will learn a lot from this program and that they can gain experience to do their own thing and be successful in what they want/like to do.
-Thank you, sakuranokoe
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