Psych!

2nd rotation of 12. Psychiatry. I'm working on the adolescent inpatient unit this week and have been very fascinated and saddened by the mentally disabling illnesses out there that affect our youth. One girl in particular was a well functioning, straight A 15 year old with only a history of bipolar in her family to be her downfall. So the combination of faulty genes and large amounts of cortisol building up in her brain from stress (she just broke up with her boyfriend) causes her to have her first "break". A "break" in bipolar disorder means a manic phase of this disease. (Bipolar being the combination of depression and mania). So after a few days of not eating or sleeping because of the heartbreak she begins to become hyperactive and hypertalkative. Her parents realize something is different with their daughter so they put her in the car to go to the ER. On the way to the hospital the girl gets out of the moving vehicle and precedes to remove all her clothing while walking out into traffic. (She has now "broken") At the hospital, the girl tells the nurse that she is 4 years old and has no orientation to where she is at or what day it is. From the hospital she is admitted to the unit I'm working on. She is now my patient. The doctor and I go in to talk with her. She is still undressing herself and so she is kept in an isolated room. She is wrapped in a blanket sitting on her bed. It is obvious that she is "checked out". She can't answer our questions. She can't remember anything past 1st grade and when we sit in silence she will space out and then be surprised to see the doctor sitting next to her. She reaches out to touch his shoulder to see if he is real. She can't delineate between reality and the hallucinations she's seeing. Thankfully this is bipolar and not schizophrenia. Bipolar is treatable with meds and people can function normally if they are compliant with taking them. My heart aches for her and her family. These few weeks will be some of the hardest for them. But there is hope. Hope that she will improve. Hope that our Father will come soon and restore us all with new minds.