A DIFFERENT OUTLOOK ON BIPOLAR DISORDER- UPS AND DOWNS TO BUDDHA STATE CHAPTER 5 Coulommiers Following my dismissal from Dupre, I vaguely remember landing in a big, terrible psychiatric hospital. It was full of elderlies wandering about; they had been left there. My parents got me out quickly and I was hospitalised near their home in Coulommiers. It was much better. I was shocked by the recent events, but I was not doing too badly. The doctor was smart. It was in the countryside and I was free to go out in the park, I even wonder if it was enclosed. Very quickly I had my own room, with a TV! Yes, that’s right; it was quite a lot of comfort. During interviews, I quoted some well-known authors and I quickly felt better: I mean, even better than in Dupré, almost back to a normal and in a recognised mood. There was also a psychoanalyst who came on Wednesdays and whom I had to see. I must say that I think I was considered a bit of an isolated case by the doctor. I was a young, brilliant man if one can say so, cultivated and a foundation degree student, and he took special care of me. The psychoanalyst did not bring much to me and yet it is him that I saw later in his Paris office. It is difficult to describe a psychiatric hospital because in reality none are alike. It was big, bright and in good condition, and patients were mostly chronic ones. I took a liking to some of them. There were fans of Johnny Hallyday - there are often fans of Johnny Hallyday in psychiatric hospitals, I will not draw any conclusions… - new sufferers of Alzheimers and also a man named Robert, who was a heavy smoker. Robert was most of the time in solitary confinement, but every morning he was allowed to go out. He was entitled to a pack of cigarettes, Gauloises I think, which he smoked continuously for about half an hour, sitting on a chair and lighting each cigarette with what remained of the previous one. He smoked incessantly, one by one going through the whole pack. He spent the rest of the day asking for some more cigarettes from the other patients or visitors. He did not utter a word, but just kept on mimicking the gesture of smoking to all those he came across. That was his life. I don’t know how long he’d been there, many years maybe. What was his condition? A mystery. What was his life? A mystery. He must have been in his early fifties and was in a pretty good shape. I also remember Marie- Louise. She was the lift girl, she was constantly asking others to walk her to the lift so she could to go to the upper floors. Once on top, she came down using the stairs and reiterated her request, and that, she did that all day long. We ate in the dining room; the food was not great, but it was ok. I rather liked the atmosphere. I felt more like a spectator than anything else. There has been some misconduct, one day I was attacked by a patient that I knew quite well and with whom I had become quite close friends. He had been out for a few days and when he came back and saw me in the hall he had wanted to jump on me. He had thereafter no explanation for his actions. I also remember a young black man who whispered to me one day that he wanted to kill someone. But the most important incident according to me came from a night nurse who had wanted to be zealous. There had been some incident and some were sent to solitary confinement. The next day, the doctor listened to everyone, including me, and it was the nurse who was finally called to order. He was a good doctor, still quite young and I think not too damaged by the system. I think I stayed there a month and a half in all. At the end, as I was feeling well. I even asked to stop taking the antidepressants, and the doctor agreed. It was nice outside, I was often in the park, and I got out under good conditions. IF YOU READ IT ALL PLEASE LIKE IF YOU WANT TO DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE BOOK WATCH THE VIDEO: bit.ly/1gMf6Rx Thank you for reading
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 16:33:23 +0000
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