Quote of the Day

The idea for the Nuthatch started with my giving friends and family the best line I'd heard from a patient that day. Here's today's: I was just, moments ago, talking to a patient who was telling me about the compelling thoughts she has of using just about anything she could find to hurt herself with. She held her head in her hands, cast down her eyes, and spoke with a quiver about her pain and hopelessness. I asked her if she would agree to go to unit staff if she felt like the impulses to hurt herself were too strong for her to control on her own. She was accomplished at this kind of conversation, and used the tricks of the trade well. She's not sure any of us can understand what that kind of depression feels like, she said. Going to staff won't help. What are they going to do? If a person wants to die, we should let them die, she said. She asked me if any of my patients had ever committed suicide. This went on for several minutes, and I kept at trying to get the safety contract.

Then something new. Something I've never heard before from any patient in this situation. "I'll make that promise if you go downstairs and get me some French fries and a Snickers bar."

After I said no she tried to bargain me down to a cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee.

Madeline