Personal Narrative: Mixed Feelings Of Psychiatric Units

I woke up in my bed at the Stephens Adult Psychiatric Unit in Joplin, Missouri. I had dreamt of being back home the previous night, so it was crushing to wake up and realize where I was. It was my 2nd day there, but it felt like much longer. Most psychiatric units have a similar structure. During the week, there are group activities that preoccupy you enough to make the day somewhat bearable. The weekends are worse, because there is nothing. You can either sleep or watch television in the day room with the other patients. The lack of activity constantly reminds you that you’re trapped. That all of your belongings have been taken away. That you are not allowed to go outside at all during the duration of your stay. That you are virtually entirely isolated from the outside world. The only thing I had to look forward to during those days was the hour of visitation with my parents twice a day. You’d think a psychiatric unit would be the one place on

I’ve always been passionate about understanding others; stepping into their shoes and seeing, thinking, and appreciating the lives they live. I think it is important to take that extra step and see things from a different point of view. It is the only way to achieve a true understanding. I believe in this philosophy so much so, that it’s one of the main reasons I have this blog; to give others a glimpse of a life with mental illness. I’ve been in treatment for 2 months and 26 days and I think it’s time for another peek into my brain.

It’s a struggle to get out of bed sometimes, I often just sit there struggling to comprehend the sequence of events which have taken place over the past year. I mean, I’m used to this now, its normal to me, but the fact that this has happened and that I am now ‘disabled’ as people would put it is hard to get my head around. And every time I look down I’m reminded of the pain and the struggle I faced, it’s a physical scar which links me to my grueling past, a physical and emotional journey.

As I await the therapist in the waiting room, my mind is racing, heart pounding, and palms sweating. I’ve been waiting for three years to meet with him, but of course, Dr. Johnson was completely booked until now. Each night I have been taunted with an atrocious dream and ready for the affliction to cease. Finally, he appears in the doorway and calls my name. Instantaneously, I stand up and shuffle behind the therapist to the cubicle.

Bob is in a cop car going to the mental hospital for the 100th time. Bob is asking the police officer Aleck.

If I read your mind, what would I find? Would you be thinking about your plans tonight or all the havoc your puppy is causing at home while you are away? Perhaps you are dreading your in-laws’ annual Thanksgiving visit, or reading another graduate school essay. More importantly, if I asked what you were thinking, would you answer me honestly?

Today in clinical, I offered a male patient to perform a full bed bath. It was my first time performing a full bed bath on a male and the thought of this made me feel a little nervous because I had only practiced this task in the simulation lab and the thought of performing peri-care on the male gender was intimidating. I began to gather my items and throughly think about how I would normally perform a bed bath on a female and the difference of genital areas. As I brought the items into the room, my patient was friendly and helpful in directing his preferences of which areas he wanted to be washed first. His friendly personality made me calm down in a situation where I would normally be on my toes, as I was not thinking about my

Over the course of my internship, I have attended additional trainings and received certifications for my anticipated career in Mental Health Counseling. I have had the opportunity to attend a training and become CPR certified, become a Suicide Prevention QPR Certified Gatekeeper, in addition to registering for a Mental Health First Aid training. Within the agency, I was provided trainings on Credible, our documentation database, EVS to run client’s state funded insurance, and Navinet to run commercial or private insurance for clients. Human Services, Inc. provides one hour of training on Credible, which I believe should be improved. Also, more training should be provided when it comes to insurance because knowing and understanding insurance

I loved your post. I completely do this all the time and I hoped your dinner turned out awesome. I do think didn’t think it was as humorous, some steps you could have taken to help with your preoccupation is responding, and being mindful of your coworker. You were off to the right start by asking her questions but I think you should have responded to her and it would have helped your mind not to wander. “Mindfulness is being fully present in the moment” (Wood, 2016). Even though you were hungry and dinner sounded wonderful, I don’t think you were fully present in the conversation. Great post.

As I progress through the clinical, I am becoming increasingly comfortable and better. Consequently, as a provider, my confidence in providing hands on patient care has increased exponentially.

High school is a hard experience on its own, but going through it with a mental illness makes it ten times as hard.

During my clinical experience today, it was filled with knowledge and a bit of sadness. This morning I got paired with Nurse Rachel, she was ready to go about her day and so was I, when we do rounds with the previous nurse we both notices a patient crying and very upset to the room across from us. As we enter the room to see what was going on she told us to go away. The nurse that was there that night told us she was very demanding and cried for everything. Rachel told me after she gets the report from the previous nurse, we would go in that room first. As we enter the room once again Rachel introduced herself and as did I, the patient say she was in extreme pain and no one had given her medication. As the day when I researched her history

Darryl: I continued smoking and sexing, it’s a wonder the police never caught me. I frequented places I would have never gone to before using crack. I quickly ran out of money and both my mother and father were sending money to help pay my rent and I was using that to support my habit. I finally came to a moment of clarity that I could not continue on in this manner and I needed help. I contacted both my parents and told them what was happening, neither one of them were happy about hearing that I was addicted to crack. My father sent me a plane ticket to return back to Detroit. After arriving back in Detroit my father had me admitted to an inpatient drug rehab at Henry Ford Hospital. I went through a four-day detox and hospitalization for 28 days. During treatment I was required to attend AA and NA meetings on site, I was given a therapist to help me overcome and face my depression. I attended an outpatient program for over 6 months and attended NA meetings everyday until I was successfully clean for one year. I think my biggest challenge was facing my depression; I had never been to a therapist before because I did not want family and friends to know that I was suffering from mental disorder. I still to this day

I must say I was confused, I ‘liked’ you and ‘liked’ me, I write and no reply. I thought I said something awful. Apology accepted 

My uncle explains to me that she left without a warning and got on a plane. She left the house in the early hours of the morning which awoke the housekeeper. She refused to answer any of the housekeeper’s questions and quickly shut the door. She decided to call my mother seconds before the plane departed to briefly tell her that she was leaving Switzerland for good.