15 Minutes With A Bipolar
During our institution visit for our final project in our community service class, I experienced something that I haven’t done before… and haven’t thought of doing until now. That is none other than going to an institution who are taking good care of patients who have mentally challenged.
With mentally challenged I do not mean people who have the incapacity to well academically, mind you that these persons are academically in their own fields in fact some of them are lawyers, certified public accountants (and worked at SGV), justices and the list goes on. The keywords here are ‘genius’ and ‘individuals’.
To give you an idea on what their situation was, some of them had the disorder because of a very low (’very low’ here means between average) grade in one of their subjects, another one’s problem was triggered due to his or her being unable to retain scholarship.
The caretaker assigned to us one patient per student to ask some questions. At first we were kind of afraid while the caretaker is orienting us about our subjects, but we managed to turn fear into excitement and so here, my fifteen minutes with a bipolar began.
The one assigned to me is a law student who had conflict between a family member which ignited her disarrangement. I was hesitant to ask questions at first about here state of being. Through our discussion, what I noticed is that she wants to go to the clinic of Vicky Belo. She was asking me directions towards the clinic and I tried my best to be at help.
I talked to her about politics and she seems to have something to say on that arena, being a former political science student she is, she really knows a lot. She also already have some names in mind to elect during the polls “if ever” she could come out by that time.
Another thing that I noticed is that she often lose her attention. While we were talking, there are times that she suddenly looks away, to the left, to the right, wherever. We also talked about her family and previous relationships and it was fine. I don’t want to talk about her cousin that caused her to be like that though, I’m trying my best to avoid her to become hysterical.
During the final minutes of our discussion, I finally had the guts to ask if she realized her own ’state of being’, and thank god she didn’t react negatively to that. She even told me that people there are either schizophrenic and bipolar, like her. I asked whether she could do something to stop her from being emotional (which she obviously can’t) at times but she said that she was not conscious during those times.
I still want to ask some more questions regarding that but before we get to the exciting part, it was already time for us to go. Bid farewell to our subjects, whom with at least 15 minutes we were able to connect to and partially experience what they are going through now.
No, these aren’t the patients. It me and my group mates who did the visit to the said institution.
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7 Responses to “15 Minutes With A Bipolar”
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Thank God! For a few seconds there I was thinking “Whoa. Look how young and beautiful those mental patients are!” LOL.
I missed this kind of class trip! I remember we visited an institution much like this one back in… in… back when I was in high school (haha). I enjoyed talking to one patient too (who was also once a successful engineer or something), though at the back of my head, I was sorta wishing he wouldn’t suddenly go ballistic on me like some mental patients tend to do.
Oh I was like thinking “Why didn’t Darwin pixelized the last photo” yun pala kayo pala yun. Ano palang subject yan? Parang Health Care tuloy ng Nursing haha!
ahahah
yung nasa last photo yung guy na naka tayo, schizophrenic yun!
ahahahah joke!!!
wassup! see u on 3/31 ha!
That’s interesting. I’d probably hesitate in asking too personal questions too, just like you, in fear of offending the person or making her hysterical.
Interestingly, I also have some sort of same experiences whenever I’d visit a GK site and meet people. It’s not about being judgmental, I think, but just lack of empathy. I try hard to relate, but somehow I feel like the more I try to, the more I feel like I’m pitying them and I know they don’t want my pity. You know?
Last na! I personally think that we are the ones who get the most in these visits, not the other way around. They do appreciate our presence, but it’s the visitors who learn the most.
[...] they victims of the laws of Darwin? Did their choice of adaptive strategy help them clinch their ability to maintain a marine [...]
Now that’s an interesting trip. I wouldn’t mind going if that’s the case. But then, I don’t have to go far. I seriously have a lot of disorders to last me a lifetime. And I also recognize the fact that I’m a bipolar.
fascinating is the right word for this post.
(am staying away from darwin, now that i know he’s a shrink to be heh heh)