Positive Seclusion

My phone rang at 2 AM:

“Dr. Guterson, this patient Duane got totally out of control; he started threatening us and then got violent. It took six of us to get him into seclusion and 4-point restraints. And he’s still wild, yelling and spitting on us. Please, doc, we gotta give him something.”

“Gotcha”, I responded. “Give him a shot of Haldol 10 milligrams and Ativan 2 milligrams, both IM (intramuscularly). That should settle him down quickly and once he’s calmed down, get him out of seclusion and those restraints as soon as you can.”

The next morning I saw Duane and he was out of those restraints and out of seclusion, happily dancing about the ward. After first unleashing a few expletives at me, he smiled and said that the alone time forced him to think about himself, something he hadn’t done in years. “Thank you, Doc!”

Duane’s positive spirit reminded me of a comical scene in the 1980 movie “Stir Crazy.” There, the actor Gene Wilder is in prison and as he is placed in solitary confinement, the guard says to him: “Get in there….and I’ll see you in about five days if you make it.”

Five days pass. The security guard opens the door, Wilder pokes his head out and says:

“One more day. Please, one more; I was just beginning to get into myself.”

We all desire time alone, time for solitude, time for ‘seclusion’ (ideally not in a psych ward or a prison). The truth is that even when we feel alone, we really are not alone. This is because we all have a piece of divinity inside us and therefore we are all intrinsically connected to each other. We just need to shed all the grime that hides this. And once we access our own divine source, we subsequently are able to recognize it in others. And then we can light up the world.

What Is The Soul (continued from last week)

Dr. Guterson: you talk a lot about the soul. Maybe you can help me understand what the soul is?

A: As I wrote last week, the Bible says that G-d blew His essence into Man. His essence is our essence. And so, when we are truly in touch with our soul, we operate on an entirely different level.

In a talk I studied from Rabbi YY Jacobson, he explains that there are six essential features of the soul. The first feature is: Confidence.

Confidence means that the soul does not need approval from anybody to feel good. Nor does it get depressed with criticism. This is because the soul IS good, period. No external pretenses are necessary. All too many of us live lives with a cover up, always monitoring how we are perceived by others.

But if that is so, then I am not really me - I have become you looking at me! Which means my sense of identity is based on a mask , a shell. True confidence puts an end to all this. And subsequently - when I am I because I am I…..and you are you because you are you - then we can have a true relationship.

To be continued….

What Is The Soul

Dr. Guterson: you talk a lot about the soul. Maybe you can help me understand what the soul is?

A: Thank you - I’ve sort of been waiting for someone to ask this question. This is because positive emotional and mental health has to include embracing our soul.

The answer to your question will take a number of weeks. Let’s go step by step.

It starts out first with the understanding that humans are different from all other creations.

As I have written and said many times, we humans have a yearning for transcendence. We can’t help it. It’s intrinsic; it’s who we are.

This is because, as is written at the beginning of the Bible, G-d blew His essence into Man.

Even if you don’t believe or take this literally, anyone who opens their eyes knows that humans operate on a different dimension from all of creation. We have a restlessness inside of us, a spiritual something that finds itself inside a physical body.

We call it a soul.

To be continued….