Connemara
Stylish Dinosaur
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2006
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I'm sorry for the long post, but I need to get this off of my chest.
This past weekend, I had the extreme displeasure of witnessing a full-on psychotic break.
The ill person in question, a girl I've been friends with for about 2 years now, is now in a mental institution and (I hope) receiving the help she needs. The circumstances surrounding her breakdown are kind of odd. It began on Saturday. She hosted a BBQ at her house, and I stopped by around 6 PM. She seemed absolutely fine...she was cheery, goofy, and ultimately in a good mood. She hadn't been drinking that day, nor was she on drugs of any type.
After the BBQ, we walked to another party with a group of people. At this point, I thought she was acting a bit weird. The stuff she was saying was just plain silly, but I attributed it to the half-bottle of Mountain Dew she had pounded earlier in the day. None of us really gave her behavior a second thought.
So we go to this party. She's mingling, being her loud usual self, and taking a bazillion pictures. All was swell until we left. Our group got back to her house, and she came downstairs crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I feel weird." She told me she wanted to go to her boyfriend's house, so I said OK, we'll take a stroll there. It turns out that this guy wasn't actually her boyfriend...she made all of that up (beginning about two days prior), which I'm guessing marked the beginning of her episode.
I took her to the house, but he was gone for the weekend. She was acting absolutely loopy at this point...just talking about odd things ("I made everyone beautiful today") and smiling like a half-wit. She asked me to walk her to her sorority sisters's house, so we trekked there and went inside. Within an hour, the two girls that live at the house were in hysterics because this girl was acting so strangely. She was crying in 5 minute intervals at this point, over nothing, and was continually making bizarre statements. She constantly called herself fat, said "I wish I could eat again, but I can't, too many calories" and "I can't go to sleep, I won't wake up." At this point I was also fairly frightened, but the three of us sane folk decided to give it until the morning and see how she was. We laid with her and she eventually fell asleep around 4 or 4:30 AM.
I woke to her singing around 10 AM. We chatted, and I realized she was acting in the same fashion as the night before. There was the frequent crying, shaking, strange comments, etc. I was genuinely worried at this point so I took her back to her house because all she wanted was her camera. I told her housemates what was up, and they witnessed first hand the chaos. She began insulting them, very harshly, and made both of these girls cry. She would then apologize profusely and start crying herself. I took both of them aside and said if she's not "normal" after some rest, she needs to get to the hospital.
So at this point, I went home. I get a call around 4 PM from one of her housemates. They had left her alone for about half an hour, and when they came back to the house they found: a bottle of shampoo emptied all over the walls, the contents of the refrigerator spilled on the kitchen floor, and most frighteningly, the girl had covered herself in peanut butter. She was apparently laughing maniacally and just staring into space. They called an ambulance, and she went to the hospital. I guess the doctor saw her for 3-5 minutes and told the girls she needed to go to a mental hospital ASAP.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. The memory of that night/morning is kind of blurry...I don't feel weirded out by it, but I do feel sort of scared. I find it baffling that the human brain can "malfunction" like this. You see it in movies and on television, but witnessing a psychotic break in person is just some next-level ****. Makes you feel just numb after the fact.
This past weekend, I had the extreme displeasure of witnessing a full-on psychotic break.
The ill person in question, a girl I've been friends with for about 2 years now, is now in a mental institution and (I hope) receiving the help she needs. The circumstances surrounding her breakdown are kind of odd. It began on Saturday. She hosted a BBQ at her house, and I stopped by around 6 PM. She seemed absolutely fine...she was cheery, goofy, and ultimately in a good mood. She hadn't been drinking that day, nor was she on drugs of any type.
After the BBQ, we walked to another party with a group of people. At this point, I thought she was acting a bit weird. The stuff she was saying was just plain silly, but I attributed it to the half-bottle of Mountain Dew she had pounded earlier in the day. None of us really gave her behavior a second thought.
So we go to this party. She's mingling, being her loud usual self, and taking a bazillion pictures. All was swell until we left. Our group got back to her house, and she came downstairs crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I feel weird." She told me she wanted to go to her boyfriend's house, so I said OK, we'll take a stroll there. It turns out that this guy wasn't actually her boyfriend...she made all of that up (beginning about two days prior), which I'm guessing marked the beginning of her episode.
I took her to the house, but he was gone for the weekend. She was acting absolutely loopy at this point...just talking about odd things ("I made everyone beautiful today") and smiling like a half-wit. She asked me to walk her to her sorority sisters's house, so we trekked there and went inside. Within an hour, the two girls that live at the house were in hysterics because this girl was acting so strangely. She was crying in 5 minute intervals at this point, over nothing, and was continually making bizarre statements. She constantly called herself fat, said "I wish I could eat again, but I can't, too many calories" and "I can't go to sleep, I won't wake up." At this point I was also fairly frightened, but the three of us sane folk decided to give it until the morning and see how she was. We laid with her and she eventually fell asleep around 4 or 4:30 AM.
I woke to her singing around 10 AM. We chatted, and I realized she was acting in the same fashion as the night before. There was the frequent crying, shaking, strange comments, etc. I was genuinely worried at this point so I took her back to her house because all she wanted was her camera. I told her housemates what was up, and they witnessed first hand the chaos. She began insulting them, very harshly, and made both of these girls cry. She would then apologize profusely and start crying herself. I took both of them aside and said if she's not "normal" after some rest, she needs to get to the hospital.
So at this point, I went home. I get a call around 4 PM from one of her housemates. They had left her alone for about half an hour, and when they came back to the house they found: a bottle of shampoo emptied all over the walls, the contents of the refrigerator spilled on the kitchen floor, and most frighteningly, the girl had covered herself in peanut butter. She was apparently laughing maniacally and just staring into space. They called an ambulance, and she went to the hospital. I guess the doctor saw her for 3-5 minutes and told the girls she needed to go to a mental hospital ASAP.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. The memory of that night/morning is kind of blurry...I don't feel weirded out by it, but I do feel sort of scared. I find it baffling that the human brain can "malfunction" like this. You see it in movies and on television, but witnessing a psychotic break in person is just some next-level ****. Makes you feel just numb after the fact.
