Guest Blogger: RobinMSW on Heartbreak in The Nuthatch

Topic: The two most dreaded words...State Hospital.

No matter how much you dislike a patient, how annoying he is, how much he follows you around, how many times he asks to be discharged, how long it takes him to get a sentence out, or how many times he repeats the same word or phrase, everyone hates telling a patient the hospital is filing for commitment to transfer them to a state hospital.

Enter Joseph. He is all of the above, and more. Mention his name to any staff member at the hospital, and they will each give you the same smirk and eye roll...because they all know who you're talking about. Today, I was left with the dreaded task of telling Joseph he either had to sign a paper agreeing to be transferred to a state hospital, not signing it and going to court for commitment, or being discharged with services from Department of Mental Health with Program of Assertive Community Treatment. Most people would choose DMH and PACT. Most people also do not have delusions about the government conspiring against them and thinking staff at the hospital are actually FBI agents. (Allow me to clarify-most people outside of the world of mental illness don't think these things. We get our fair share at the hospital.) So if you do have these fixed delusions, there's no way in hell you're agreeing to receive services from the State.

React Joseph. Plead Joseph. Beg Joseph. Deny Joseph. Delude Joseph. Panic Joseph. Blame Joseph. Heartbreak social workers.