In this episode of Stories from the ER, Dr. Carrie shares a story about a mental health patient who was hallucinating and how she was able to validate his fears to make him feel comforted and safe.
Dr. Carrie greets the audience and names the segment as part of the series. This short opening frames the story that follows.
Carrie describes working in the locked mental health unit and asks a patient to return to his private room, where he refuses because of 'clowns.' She offers to accompany him to talk through the problem.
Inside the room the patient anxiously explains how clowns have followed and tormented him, including vivid, threatening incidents. Carrie listens and observes his distress despite not seeing the clowns herself.
Rather than dismissing him, Carrie spends a few minutes validating his fear, which allows the patient to open up, cry, and ask for help. She reflects on how this changed his willingness to accept care and the broader issue of medication compliance.
Carrie reflects on how everyone carries hidden fears—homelessness, finances, relationships, or family addiction—and reminds viewers to meet people without judgment. She urges simple validation as a powerful human need.
Carrie summarizes the wisdom she gained about compassion and presence, thanks viewers for tuning in, and closes with a blessing.
Hey Cadre family, Dr. Carrie here. You are tuning into Stories from the Part 5. I was working in the mental health area of the which was a locked area. And we had, you know, let the patients wander around to walk around. And at this point we were asking the patient to return to their room. And this guy said to me, I can't go back to my room. I said, okay, why not? And he said, because they're in there. And I said, who's in there? And he said, clowns. And I said, okay, let's talk about it. This patient was not sharing a room with anybody.
He had a private room. And I said, why don't I come back with you and let's talk about the clowns in your room. And so we go in there. He's really apprehensive. He's looking around and I can see that he sees something, right? And I'm obviously not seeing any clowns in his room, but I just said, tell me what's going on for you right now. And he proceeded to tell me how the clowns have followed him from his house to the hospital and that they are tormenting him in his hospital room. And he tells me how they've been coming into his house, breaking in, he doesn't even know how.
And one of them came at him with a knife when he was in the shower at home. And he's describing them with incredible detail, like their height, what they're wearing, their facial expressions. And to me, they sound like like demon clowns, but that's literally what he is seeing in his room. And he was so nervous to share this with me because I think he knew, part of him knew it wasn't real. Part of him knew what he was seeing wasn't real, but to him it was real. And I can imagine a lot of people that he's talked to probably rolled their eyes and said, yeah, okay, dude, there's no clowns in your room.
Like get a grip here, get on your meds. But it just took a moment of me giving him like 5 minutes of my time to validate what he was experiencing. And he began to really open up and just tell me how scared he was. And the second I validated like, yeah, that sounds really scary, he started to cry and he's like, I don't want to see them anymore. I want to get help. I don't want them to torment me anymore. And this had been one of our patients that was struggling to like take meds, struggling to like be compliant, because some of the times when patients have like psychoses and hallucinations like this, sometimes they're fun, they're, you know, exciting.
Like they kind of like living in their alternate reality. Sometimes it might be better than their actual reality. But this gentleman was like, I don't want to see this stuff anymore. And I just was so hit with just compassion for him in that moment of what his life must be like to go through life seeing things that aren't real, having people tell him he's crazy because they're not real. Part of him knows it's not real. But just in that moment, I was able to validate him and tell him like, I don't see the clowns, but I know you see them.
And I can imagine that that's scary for you. So I just was hit with just this profound sense of just compassion for what people go through in life. And I just think about that sometimes when I'm walking down the street and I don't know what somebody's going through or I don't know what's going through their head or what scenarios are playing out in their mind, what they're afraid of today, whether they're hallucinating or not. You know, like what is everybody's underlying fear, their greatest fear that they face every day?
For someone, it might be finding a place to sleep. For another person, it might might be a finance. For another person, it might be a relationship. For another person, it might be that their daughter is struggling with addiction. Whatever it may be, there's a fear that everybody is experiencing on a daily basis. And how can we just show up and give people compassion and meet them where they're at without judging them? Because that's really all any human being wants, is to not be judged and to just be validated.
So I just want to impart that wisdom that I learned from that encounter of just, I'm of that guy a lot. When I feel myself being judgmental, when I feel myself rolling my eyes at someone, just remembering that like every human being has a unique experience and a unique fear in life. And how can you just validate that and just show up for them today? So that's just the wisdom I wanted to share from that experience with you guys. Thank you for tuning in. God bless.
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