Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Psych

I've been on my psych rotation for the last week and a half--inpatient ward at the VA. Unfortunately being the VA there is not a lot of variety, the majority of patients are there for alchohol or cocaine detox. Here are some descriptions of the more interesting patients:

1) 63 yo man presenting with suicidal ideation x1wk. History of depression x30yrs, recent episode triggered by anger at overbearing 83 yo mother with whom he lives--she puts toothpaste on his toothbrush, sets out clothes for him, and "doesn't let him have a life of his own". He wants to move, but can't afford to--he only makes $900/mon and half of it goes to pay legal fees for the dozens of times he has impersonated a police officer and asked people to carry each other (he has spent a total of 11 yrs in prison and 10 yrs in mental institutions for this).

2) 65 yo man who cut his wrist the day before. Doesn't know why. Thinks he felt kind of sad. Wants to go home. Very jolly man w/ possible borderline personality disorder. Made comment at the end of interview that maybe now his wife will want to move to different state as he has wanted to for years.

3) 69 yo schizophrenic man brought in by police for disturbing the peace. The Bantu people of Africa apparently believe that he is Amen-Ra, he can see images coming out of electric sockets (due the actual 6 dimensions as opposed to the 4 described by Einstein), and today he had breakfast with Moses and Aaron. He is actually Jewish although he looks black, and people who say they are Jews but aren't are trying to kill him because he has kindness in his heart and kindness, as we all know, kills. In his spare time he builds $50 million battleships. He's a very pleasant man, and the way he talks I think he could easily start his own Eastern-type religion if he could just keep his story straight.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home