The signs of spring

Having been buried under three plus feet of snow for weeks has made it rather difficult for us to imagine that the Earth was ever going to return to life. Winter in PA has been worse this year than usual with long periods of dreary days being the only reprieve from yet another snow storm coming to bury us even deeper. I used to fight winter, choosing to complain incessantly about every cold day until the first blessed day when the thermometer hit 70 and it was warm enough to wear shorts. The years have taught me to approach the winter in a more Zen fashion. To me, it is cold because it is supposed to be cold, and when it is not, it is a sure sign of global warming and I am more likely to worry then. Rather than complain, I accept that winter is cold and dreary and there is nothing I can do to change it. So I have a car with all wheel drive, a manual transmission and as many "cute" snow boots as I have "cute" shoes (Carrie Bradshaw would be so proud). I have plenty of reason to be happy with my life despite the snow and I enjoy it.



And I patiently wait for the inpatient unit signs of Spring.



I have seen a pattern of admissions that occur with rather consistent regularity every year on the inpatient units I have worked on that let me know that Spring is on its way. They may come early, they may come late, but they come. When they do I know that sooner or later the daffodils will be pushing up from the soil and the mountains in the distance will no longer be gray and dreary. There was still three feet of snow on my front yard when we got our signal this year, so it was a real boost to weary souls.



The First Sign of Spring: The Sale on Crazy: Some things that occur in psychiatry are predictable. People get depressed in the winter and fall. They get manic in the Spring. College freshmen get admitted in the early fall. There are causes for this that are easily explained. This one does not have an obvious explanation, but it happens, and it happens first. I do not know why, but I welcome it, nonetheless. For some reason, in the late Winter or very early Spring, there always seems to be a huge influx of admissions of really psychotic patients. The ones who think they are some form of Deity, carry on conversations with the fire extinguisher more than live people or who think that there dog is part of the FBI and is trying to kill them. There will always be a few schizophrenic patients being admitted to an average psychiatric unit here and there, but it is unusual to have 5,6 or even more really psychotic people on the unit at one time. These are the ones that really need treatment and providers actually enjoy treating as they are the one who inspired us to go into the field in the first place. They are far more interesting than the guys who pawn their wives' jewelry for crack, come home and beat them up and then expect us to feel sorry for them when they end up homeless. The delusional patient who thinks he has worked for Special Forces for the CIA and we are trying to assassinate him is much more interesting to work with. He may not really like us considering we are trying to kill him in his mind, but it is important to remember this guy is really very tormented and needs our help. Sure, the phone calls to various federal agencies do tend to cause some, well, complications. Like visits from the Special Service, which can be rather inconvenient, but it is a lot more interesting than doing paperwork and dictating discharge summaries.

Once we get about 5 or 6 of these guys on our unit, I start thinking about breaking out the Spring wardrobe. They are only the first sign, but I know better times are soon to come.

Next post.. The Second Sign.

P.S. For those of you that have not have had the privilege of a personal visit from the Secret Service, yes, they do dress like the guys from Men in Black. Minus the pug of course.