{"id":5613,"date":"2014-03-25T22:57:47","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T22:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=5613"},"modified":"2014-12-20T04:50:39","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T04:50:39","slug":"one-writers-vacation-in-a-psychiatric-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/one-writers-vacation-in-a-psychiatric-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"One Writer\u2019s \u201cVacation\u201d in a Psychiatric Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Mon\u00adday, March 17, I said that I was going on a lit\u00adtle \u201cvaca\u00adtion\u201d because I had exhaust\u00aded myself while fin\u00adish\u00ading the nov\u00adel. The nov\u00adel had<\/em> exhaust\u00aded me, but con\u00adtrary to what I and oth\u00aders might have sug\u00adgest\u00aded, I did not<\/em> go to a cab\u00adin in the woods, nor to a remote, sun-dap\u00adpled island.<\/p>\n

The truth is, I have been in a psy\u00adchi\u00adatric hos\u00adpi\u00adtal for the past week.<\/p>\n

\"It's

It\u2019s amaz\u00ading how quick\u00adly you become used to hav\u00ading this on your wrist all the time.<\/p><\/div>\n

I have had bipo\u00adlar dis\u00ador\u00adder (man\u00adic depres\u00adsion) for over 25 years, and have been diag\u00adnosed with the dis\u00adease for about twen\u00adty. For the past two months I had been expe\u00adri\u00adenc\u00ading what\u2019s known as \u201cultra-ultra-rapid-cycling\u201d\u2014extreme<\/em> swings in mood from low to high that include sob\u00adbing, irri\u00adtabil\u00adi\u00adty, impul\u00adsiv\u00adi\u00adty, anger, laugh\u00adter, etc., with changes in mood com\u00ading some\u00adtimes with\u00adin time spans as short as an hour.<\/p>\n

These mood swings are trig\u00adgered and\/or exac\u00ader\u00adbat\u00aded by peri\u00adods of intense stress, lack of sleep, poor eat\u00ading habits, or, in my case, all of the above, cou\u00adpled with work\u00ading to exhaus\u00adtion on mak\u00ading my new nov\u00adel as per\u00adfect as I could make it.<\/p>\n

The hos\u00adpi\u00adtal I went to lured me in with pho\u00adtos of a fine\u00adly-appoint\u00aded par\u00adlor, fire\u00adplaces, swim\u00adming pools and walk\u00ading trails; but once I got there, I dis\u00adcov\u00adered that those ameni\u00adties were for the celebri\u00adty-cen\u00adtric detox pro\u00adgram, not the \u201cAcute Care Unit\u201d with its 24-hour lock\u00addown, which is where I was put.<\/p>\n

For a week, I was giv\u00aden new med\u00adica\u00adtion and observed around-the-clock by psy\u00adchi\u00ada\u00adtrists and nurs\u00ades. My only com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion with the out\u00adside world was via a pair of mon\u00adi\u00adtored tele\u00adphones in the hall\u00adways; I had no access to the inter\u00adnet or any elec\u00adtron\u00adic devices.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, I col\u00adlect\u00aded some great mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal for a future book. I learned a lot about myself and came to respect my fel\u00adlow patients for their brav\u00adery and sup\u00adport. We watched The Shaw\u00adshank Redemp\u00adtion<\/em> (\u201cGet busy livin\u2019 or get busy dyin\u2018\u201d), plot\u00adted coups involv\u00ading TV usage, played chess and Scrab\u00adble, strolled the euphemisti\u00adcal\u00adly-named \u201cdeck\u201d (an Alca\u00adtraz-like exer\u00adcise yard in minia\u00adture), ate meals togeth\u00ader, debat\u00aded the mer\u00adits of var\u00adi\u00adous med\u00adica\u00adtions, took side bets on minu\u00adti\u00adae includ\u00ading when the kitchen would open, gave each oth\u00ader nick\u00adnames (like \u201cGreen Lantern,\u201d for a guy who wore only<\/em> a Green Lantern hood\u00adie) and shared our expe\u00adri\u00adences in group dis\u00adcus\u00adsions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A typ\u00adi\u00adcal room in the psy\u00adchi\u00adatric hos\u00adpi\u00adtal where I stayed\u2014albeit a lit\u00adtle bit more nice\u00adly fur\u00adnished.<\/p><\/div>\n

The pho\u00adto shown is of a typ\u00adi\u00adcal hos\u00adpi\u00adtal room. Alexas described the hos\u00adpi\u00adtal in gen\u00ader\u00adal as \u201ca Trav\u00adelodge with nurs\u00ades, full break\u00adfast, group meet\u00adings and 15-minute bed checks.\u201d The rooms, as well as the entire hos\u00adpi\u00adtal, are designed to be low-stim\u00adu\u00adlus, low-stress. Mirac\u00adu\u00adlous\u00adly, how\u00adev\u00ader, I did man\u00adage to get a lit\u00adtle writ\u00ading done at the desk in my room.<\/p>\n

While I was in the hos\u00adpi\u00adtal, I debat\u00aded whether or not to tell every\u00adone the truth about where I\u2019ve been and why it\u2019s tak\u00ading me a lit\u00adtle longer than I\u2019d hoped to release One Hun\u00addred Miles from Man\u00adhat\u00adtan.<\/em> And then while inside I met a remark\u00adable young woman (she\u2019d just been diag\u00adnosed bipo\u00adlar; she had been rapid-cycling; and she was mature, tal\u00adent\u00aded and intel\u00adli\u00adgent beyond her years). It was she who con\u00advinced me to \u201clay it out there, Chris.\u201d She said I should do what\u00adev\u00ader I can to reduce the stig\u00adma. So, that\u2019s exact\u00adly what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n

\"Thumbnail<\/a>

Thumb\u00adnail of the cov\u00ader of One Hun\u00addred Miles from Man\u00adhat\u00adtan (cov\u00ader by Elis\u00ada\u00adbeth Pinio).<\/p><\/div>\n

How\u00adev\u00ader, my doc\u00adtors\u2019 orders include sleep\u00ading, eat\u00ading bet\u00adter, and not dri\u00adving myself as hard in my work. So, please be patient with me as I work (gen\u00adtly) to release the new nov\u00adel. I just want all of you to under\u00adstand why it might take me a lit\u00adtle longer than I orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly promised. The hos\u00adpi\u00adtal stay helped, but I am by no means \u201ccured,\u201d and I need to learn to take things eas\u00adi\u00ader.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your con\u00adtin\u00adued sup\u00adport.<\/p>\n

\u2014Chris<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Mon\u00adday, March 17, I said that I was going on a lit\u00adtle \u201cvaca\u00adtion\u201d because I had exhaust\u00aded myself while fin\u00adish\u00ading the nov\u00adel. The nov\u00adel\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,75,77,78,7,13,14],"tags":[81,82,83,84,85],"class_list":["post-5613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chris-orcutt-books","category-memoir","category-novels","category-one-hundred-miles-from-manhattan","category-personal","category-writers","category-writingexperiences","tag-bipolar","tag-hospital","tag-manic-depression","tag-nervous-breakdown","tag-writing-exhaustion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5613"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6333,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5613\/revisions\/6333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}