psychiatry

Thanks to the greatest high school psychology teacher ever, I've always been kind of fascinated with psychiatric disorders and modern psychologists. So, I was kind of excited to hear about Y's psych rotation.

Apparently all I took away from my psychology class was the tragedy of baby monkeys clinging to wire mommies and the fun, harmless vibe of the Hawaiian shirts my teacher wore day after day. I apparently forgot the horrifying nature of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which we watched in class. All I remembered was a lovable group of psych patients -- one of whom was a large Native American man -- who became great friends and lived happily ever after and got front row tickets to Lakers games.

Well, we watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest the other day, and without my funny teacher and her Hawaiian shirts there to distract me, I realized something: psychiatric patients can be, um, dangerous. So dangerous, in fact, that the medical students are advised not to show the patients their names.

As it turns out, the psych ward is a mildly depressing, potentially dangerous place whose purpose is bigger than merely to provide me with interesting stories. And One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a disturbing movie. Duly noted.