The Doctor is In

Back

Hello again. I'm back from holiday. Nice time. It's very refreshing to get away and have a break in some friendly company. It's kind of a normal thing to do. That's one of the reasons that having one's freedom curtailed goes against the grain. Either in prison or in hospital. But with the medics, there really is a sense that it's for your own protection. Or at least, you get to realise that after a while. It's the old idea of sanctuary. I must admit that most folk are pretty horrified the first time around. In some ways, the shock of being admitted is part of the treatment. It kind of puts a stop to all the nonsense that's been going on before. Suddenly, everything becomes regular and generally inoffensive. It's a tough way of dealing with people in distress but I think it's not as unfair as it's often made out to be. After all, most people have had the experience of being made to go to school and it's kind of similar except you stay in after the doors are shut(!) Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good today. The sun has been shining brightly; summer is on it's way; and (if only) all's right with the world.

Schizo-affective disorder - it doesn't sound so bad once you get used to it. I still have mixed feelings about who I ought to talk to about it. This country's newspapers still run scare-mongering stories about axe-maniacs and horror situations. Of course for 99.9% of the time, as we all know, things go on quietly day by day. There's a lot of good which gets done imperceptibly over a long period of time. The backbone of the whole health service is probably patience. And innate trust that everyone is working for improvement, even though sometimes it seems like we have to go back a few steps to move on. Whatever, I hope things are good with you. See you soon, Alan.