The other day, a patient at the inpatient hospital gave me a Christmas card. I was very touched when he made a point to make me a personalized card. This particular person is known to be hostile towards others and not very friendly. Ever since I've worked at the hospital, I've always made sure to speak in a kind tone towards him and say hello whenever I saw him. He always says hello back, even when he's listening to music with his headphones. Sometimes he asks my name when he forgets it, and sometimes he talks to me randomly. He has never been hostile, aggressive, or unfriendly towards me.
When he gave me the card, I told the unit Psychologist. She said something along the lines of, "That's so great for him! He likes people when they treat him like a human being." This broke my heart and reminded me how some of the staff members talk to the patients. Just the other day, a staff member said something to him in a very rude, loud tone, basically giving him some sort of direction related to a rule. He responded with a loud, "Fuck you, bitch!"
Patients can sometimes seem scary when they are symptomatic and/or delusional, but most of the time it is not directed towards people in the environment. I think another contributing factor is how symptomatic people can be, and how that tends to create a dividing line between psychiatrically healthy people and people diagnosed with a psychiatric illness. There are several people on the unit (both my own individual therapy clients and other residents) who have a reputation for hostility, but are kind to me. I have met so many amazing people who have a psychiatric illness. People who have a diagnosis are no less human than those of us who do not. Unfortunately, not everyone feels this way, and some very disrespectful people end up working in the mental health field. Treating people with respect and dignity is very important to me in my work (and of course, life in general). How you treat others can go a very far way, and I have witnessed this first hand.
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