The Bear Minimum

There are some few that aren’t treatable with psychology, but we try nonetheless.

I’ve been a psychologist for a long, long time. I’ve helped over a thousand patients move toward mental health and overcome a variety of issues. However there are some that I cannot treat. There are some that psychology cannot help, that medication will do far more for, if anything will help.

I’ve had a few schizophrenic patients and honestly, I’ve been greatly saddened by them. These poor patients who are constantly beset by phantoms within their mind aren’t suffering from something I can help them with. Yet the people who love them, who want to see them be happy and feel safe, bring them to me in the hopes that I can help. But really, I can help the carers so much more than I can the schizophrenics.

These poor people can sometimes be helped with pharmaceuticals, but in so many cases there’s little that can be done, and even when medications help, it’s very rare that a schizophrenia sufferer is completely free of their mental illness.

It’s very draining attempting to help people who are, really, beyond my ability to help. Not just my ability, but the ability of non-medicating health professionals. My wife helps me greatly when I’ve tried to help these patients. She’s a surprisingly strong woman who often knows just what I need to rejuvenate and refresh, whether it’s a good home cooked meal, a cup of tea on the back porch looking out over the back garden, or just sitting and talking.

I wish very heartily that a new wonder-drug is discovered, that some compound will be discovered that can reverse or erase the damage in the minds of serious mental-illness sufferers. I don’t think that will happen straight away, but I do hold out hope that research into this field will shed light on ways to eliminate this kind of disease.