remember, they might actually be truly mental

I used to swear people were mental when I was full-time at my retail job.

I used to think there has to be something seriously wrong with them, beyond what we were seeing.

Sure, the fact that they were on Abilify, Seroquel, and other similar meds gave away the fact that they has issues, but it seemed like it was worse sometimes, as if the meds weren't working.

Then I started working in a mental health facility.  I thought "okay, now I'm going to see what a really mental patient looks like."

I was right.  I did get to see what they were like.  What did I find out?

They are exactly the same.

The only difference is at my full-time job, that's all we see.  At the retail job, it was a percentage of the customer list.  A large percentage, but not all of it.  Retail gives you more diversity in that you get your pain management people, your diabetes people, and so forth.

Here, it's more you have your people with a couple issues, but nothing that can't be managed by meds, people who need a few more to keep under control, and those that are so far gone they shouldn't be left alone ever.

I've listened to people admit to having multiple personalities, scream uncontrollably, forget what they did 30 seconds ago, and so on.  I've watched as ambulances and police cars pull in because someone's having an emergency of some sort.  I've seen confrontations, heard accusations,  and had kids pull on the fire alarm more than once.

It fascinates me seeing people like that.  It makes me wonder what happens to cause them to fall to the level that they're at.  Most are unemployed, most are lacking in family and friends, and you wonder if their condition is caused because they lost everything, or if they lost everything because they were that way to begin with.

I've seen that there is no specific age group for these things either.  Sure, a lot of them are late 30's, 40's, and 50's, but there have been a few elderly people and a lot of younger people, even kids.  Most of the women that come in often have a small child with them as well.  That's been the thing that's stood out most to me; the number of single mothers who come in for medications and counseling.

It reinforces the idea that some relationships just go straight to hell sometimes and it's usually the guy that makes life difficult on the woman.

It makes me wonder how much people are struggling behind closed doors though.  A lot of these people seem like normal people.  Sometimes they can hide it even when you talk to them.  But you can usually spot when something's off about something.

One woman would pick up the waiting room every single time because she was OCD about the room being clean.  Another would appear fine until her son did something she didn't like, then the wrath of hell was unleashed upon the child, who appeared horrified.  Even the woman's mother sat in a manner that indicated she wasn't proud of her daughter.

The kids are the ones that are the saddest to me.  You wonder what they're seeing at home that's making them need therapy.  You wonder if the parents they're sitting with are part of the problem.  I've heard more than enough arguments in the waiting room between parents and children to indicate it's a combination of issues with both.

In the end, it ends up being sad.  A lot of the people that come here don't want to come here.  They want to think they can manage without their meds and often will try to tell us in the pharmacy they aren't taking certain ones anymore.  One recently tried to get herself off the Invega Sustenna injection, only to have the nurse come out and tell her she had to get her shot.

We want to do our part to help, but we can only do so much.  Some people are always going to stop taking their meds because they believe they don't need them.  Some are going to abuse their meds and take more than they should.  It's a part of life when you're in any pharmacy, even more so when you're in the type of facility I'm in.

So while I may complain vehemently about some of the people I come across and things that go on, in the end, I do this because I want someone to have a better life.

In the end, I love what I do.