JACKIE: Psych Wards

To be honest, I thought the inpatient Psychiatry ward would sort of resemble “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Alright, I didn’t really think that, but I did expect my experience on the ward to be much scarier than it has been thus far. It appears that psych patients, for the most part, are relatively gentle, despite their severe depression and hallucinatory psychoses. They are interesting people with intriguing stories and fascinating minds. No matter how many schizophrenic patients I encounter, I still find it hard to believe that people can “hear voices”, have full awareness that no one else can hear these voices and that the voices are only in their own heads, and yet the mind continues to produce these voices. Why does the mind insist on creating hallucinations when the patient knows they aren’t real? And why is there such a drastic difference in the insight patients possess? Some completely understand that they are psychotic, others resolutely believe that what they are hearing and seeing is real.

I didn’t think I’d be interested in Psychiatry, and I am not yet convinced that I am. Still, this is the only second clerkship I have done thus far, and I am entirely convinced that there is something to be gained from every moment I spend on the wards. Interacting with patients, learning the practice of medicine, pondering the depths of the human mind, examining my own response to hierarchy and stress and expectation- what could be more exciting…