Work and Sleep!

[foreverdawn]

Nothing much thrilling happening today--just a work day. Had a new pt with a very sad psychosis: she believed that she had done something terrible and wrong and that she deserved to be punished. Her family were all very supportive of her. They said other than her depression, she really was a healthy, loving person. But if you tried to explain this

Comments

[foreverdawn]

I've a coworker like that, too. She is sure this is a sign of the end of the world. She says "This world is just getting more and move evil everyday! We Christians are just persecuted more and more!"

I have pointed out, "Not really, we just hear about evil things more: I'm pretty sure rape and incest and child abuse happened in the '50's, too." and then I did leave her a little confuzzled when I said "Well, we don't feed Christians to lions for entertainment anymore so, it really IS a better environment for Christians now!" ;-)

[rainbow]

iirc, there was a study the past few years that showed that arguing based on logic makes most people dig in their heels and refuse to budge, no matter how many facts you can show them.

i suspect that those of us who do change our minds more easily based on new information might be the minority.

bright blessings to your patient. if one was taught young that one was bad and terrible, it can be very, very hard to get past that, i know.

[foreverdawn]

I read a little more about her past, and I found she has a military background and was in Afghanistan. She is a little older than you and I are, but she looks very young and fit. (In fact, I thought she was younger than I am)

I thought she seemed better last night--she came out of her room, but did not interact with anyone. When I asked her if she were feeling any better she just shrugged. I'm actually think she is hearing some voices telling her she is evil, but she is denying it.

The weird thing about the logic is that she will agree that the logic is correct, but disagrees with the conclusion. :-(

[rainbow]

she may very well have had to do terrible and wrong things if she served in war torn afghanistan, things she isn't able yet to forgive herself for or feels she doesn't deserve compassion for. ptsd from war time experiences is very common

[foreverdawn]

She could be hearing herself--but it is a continuing stream of negativity that appears to be coming from her internally. For many of our schizophrenics, they feel that this is NOT part of them, but something outside condemning them. I did not have her as a pt tonight, but she did have a little more emotion on her face and her speech was less flat when I spoke with her. This also gives me the thought that the meds are starting to work. If it were just an internal voice, the anti-psychotics we use these days would not make a difference.

and her guilt is over a sexual encounter she had when she was in the military. It was consensual but it was with a person of another race, whom she later found out was bisexual: she believes she should be punished for this. (and that she has been punished because she believes she has aids even though she is negative for this or any other STIs) There is more going on there, but that is what she will say she needs to be punished for.