Leather Restraints

In the psychiatric hospital, there are times when we have no choice but to put an intensely violent, out of control patient in seclusion.  Sometimes we may also have to tie their arms and legs in strong leather restraints.  I will then order shots of medications, like Haldol and Ativan, to try to calm them down.

This whole scenario is abhorrent, but necessary.

I have wondered what thoughts and emotions one goes through when one is restrained, or stuck, in solitude. An extreme example comes from Herman Melville’s epic novel, ‘Moby Dick’, when a cabin boy named Pip falls into the sea and finds himself surrounded by the open ocean where  “the awful lonesomeness is intolerable.”  Pip ultimately is saved, but the damage has been done and sends him into “madness.” 

Certainly we all need moments to embrace solitude, the beauty of quiet and meditation, the time for internal work.  Private time.  We all need that.

But we would go mad if there seems no hope for interaction, if we were tied up, if we were left forever in the bobbing waves of the ocean.

This is because we all crave connection…

Let us pray for the hostages in Gaza. 

And bring them home - now.

A Personal Sharing

This coming week will mark 49 years since I almost died. 

In January of 1975, when I was 20 years old, somehow the blood supply to my appendix got cut off.  As a result, my appendix ‘died’ inside me and in no time my body went into septic shock.  The doctors told my parents that they were not sure if I would survive surgery.

Sure enough, my blood pressure fell to zero during surgery.  And then, post surgery, I developed ARDS (Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome), a condition in 1975 that 80% died from.

But, thank G-d, I was given the blessing of life, and now it is 49 years later.  Obviously, there is much to write about all this, the details and miracles that happened during those days in 1975, but I will leave that for a different day.

The gratitude that I have for the doctors, for my parents, my siblings, my friends, during this time has never been forgotten.

When one comes close to death and survives, the question to ask is: what am I needed for?

I believe this is a question we need to ask ourselves every day, and then put the answer into action.

The Smelly Home

They are the forgotten of the world.

They are the ones who live in old smelly homes with twenty others, four people squeezed into each room. Everyone smokes cigarettes.

They watch TV all day.

They reek.

They are Schizophrenic. And they are beautiful. 

Having been afflicted with this devastating illness, usually starting in their early 20s, these delicate souls have become the outcasts of our world. They hear voices, sometimes with haunting themes; they are convinced that a strange someone is coming after them; they neglect their hygiene; they don’t pick up on normal social graces;  they are not able to multitask; their families often have little interaction with them. 

We see them often, sitting on the sidewalk, asking for a quarter, and most of us pass them by.

As a rookie psychiatrist in training, I was assigned to one of these schizophrenic homes - and, admittedly, not knowing much at that time about the condition, I was quite freaked out.

But as I got to know them more and more, I found myself absolutely delighted. Yes, they invaded my personal space.  And yes, they would ask me intrusive and inappropriate questions.  And yes, they gave off quite an unpleasant odor. 

But through their innocence, they were precious. They had such a childlike joy about them.  There was a pure goodness. Their brains were without filter: a raw brain, with eyes wide open and hungry for spirituality.  All these lonely people, so unaware on the one hand, yet living with shining souls.

(Now, please know that not all Schizophrenics are shining light.  There are those, tragically, who have done horrendous things in society and who need to be forever in a state mental hospital.  But fortunately, they are few and far between.)

So…as you’re walking down the block or heading to a big sports event, you may well see the homeless, the disheveled.

Try saying hello.   Maybe bring them some food or hand them a quarter or dollars.  Know that they have a soul, that they have their unique reason for being here in this world - and know that perhaps it is for YOUR benefit to do a kindness to them.

Don’t forget them, the forgotten of the world.