Weekends at Bellview

I heard a book review recently on Science Friday. The author was Dr. Julie Holland who wrote Weekends at Bellevue, Nine Years on the Night Shift at the Psyche ER.

Somehow, this doctor lasted for a long time working one of the most bizarre environments a Psychologist or Psychiatrist could ever see.

I'm sure the book is full of specific strange and wacky stories, titillating anecdotes that fascinate the average "sane" person. However, the interesting part of the interview was the conclusions that she drew from her experience.

They discussed how some people would fake mental illness in order to get off the street. I've always heard that most of the homeless people you see out there are mentally ill.

She talked about how to maintain your personal mental health. There are three things she recommends to stay sane:
Go outside
Exercise
Meditate

This seems so common sense to me, that it makes mental health sound easy.

What was really interesting was when she started talking about drugs that could be used to enhance therapy. She just mentioned that she was interested in Medical Marijuana, but she did not really say what she thought the benefit to marijuana could be. She just talked about how the legal environment does not allow for any research.

She said that low levels of the drug MDMA (which is usually known as ecstasy) can be used to enhance psychotherapy. I found this very interesting, as you don't think of ecstasy as a drug with any medical purposes, given its club drug reputation. I have heard that it burns out the pleasure centers of the brain. She seemed to think that low levels of the drug lowered people's resistance to change and allowed them to be more receptive to suggestions.

She also said something else very interesting. She recommended that psychedelic mushrooms be used for people facing death. You always hear people say that if they knew they had a few days to live, they would take drugs or get really drunk or start smoking again, mainly because at that point, it just wouldn't matter. You don't think of the drugs as having any therapeutic effect.

All in all, it was a very interesting interview, but I have not yet checked into getting the book to read.