Behind the Locked Door: A Psychiatric Nurses's Story

One man, not sure where his next job would come from, is employed by God where he will compassionately care for society's least fortunate--the mentally or emotionally ill, when they transition into the psychiatric hospital system. I am that man. This is my story of working in the psychiatric system, usually in a hospital setting.

This volume is a telling of twenty-nine years of caring for and about people who, but for the grace of God, could be me or my family. It is a telling of surviving and thriving in often difficult circumstances. Starting as a mental health worker in 1988, I received my registered nurse license in 1993 and continued as a psychiatric nurse until I ended compensated employment in 2017.

This is a telling of covering the naked and treating the self-inflicted wounds of the bloody. The whys and logics of many of the disorders encountered are addressed in caring and often wry commentary. The actual workings of the psychiatric hospital, and my observations of that environment are presented.

Life as it is actually lived, often at its most visceral level, is on display here. I frequently make reference to a person's WIIFM (what's in it for me) as a dominant factor motivating the behavior of people, both the patients and the hospital staff. I do not spare myself when addressing WIIFM as a behavior motivator. There is caring for wounded hearts and how to manage those whose hearts are beyond either wounding or caring.

The legalities, as well as the realities, of how the mental health system works and the protections for those who are a danger to themselves or others or unable to care for themselves are presented here, and I deal with the realities of psychiatric hospitalization and dispel the nonsense of a seventy-two-hour psychiatric hold.

There is triumph and tragedy presented here in a uniquely engaging style by a true storyteller.