More than odd

It is almost one thirty in the morning and I am at work. I don't mind announcing that because my paperwork duties are done and I must stay awake for several more hours. It is quiet here, finally, with my evening patients all tucked in, and I can hear if one of them happens to get up. I consider myself lucky and/or blessed to have a job that allows me to work evening shift, 3 pm to 11 pm. It suits me to a T. Staying over to work a night shift is pushing things a bit, but I can handle it occasionally. I generally prefer to work with patients who have situational problems, but lately I have been on a unit where most of the patients are psychotic. Psychosis is an interesting phenomenon. I suppose the most common type of psychosis is what is commonly referred to as "voices." Maybe the next most prevalent, at least here now, is delusions. I can still quote the definition that I learned in nursing school: "Fixed false beliefs that cannot be changed by reason or logic." Back when I was a home health nurse and visited a delusional patient regularly, one whom I could not cure or even help, I decided that delusions may be developed as a twisted way to serve some useful purpose. Sometimes a demented person may see things that aren't really there. Manics can develop such an exaggerated sense of their own importance that they become totally off the wall. And there is of course paranoia and delirium that may be from something physical gone awry or the improper use of medications. Bizarre thinking results in bizarre behaviors. I can help take care of these folks by helping to meet some of their basic needs and see that they are kept safe, but I can't fix them. There are some good antipsychotic medications now, and if they are effective, they still may not cure but can ease the disturbances in the mind.