Today was the day, I would say, that unexpected things happened altogether. I started the day by looking through all of my patients’ cases, most of them being students from my school. Two beautiful young students, Grace and Cheyenne, were so sweet and completely sane that surprised me. However, if I had not approached their case objectively, I could have put myself into trouble.
Ever since I began working at this school, these girls have piqued my interest. Cheyenne and Grace were lovely ladies from very distinct backgrounds. Grace was raised in a wealthy, predominantly white neighbourhood with her family and was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. Cheyenne was from a lower-middle-class family, and she lived away from her parents. Despite their differences, they quickly became best friends.
However, one day, I noticed a secretly hostile relationship between the two. Cheyenne started to suspect that Grace was talking behind her back, not only with her friends but also with faculty members. Apparently, Cheyenne was overly suspicious. Grace was simply reaching out for help due to her time-to-time depression. Clearly, I concluded Cheyenne might be having a paranoia that has been left undiagnosed.
After a few days, Cheyenne’s delusions exacerbated. Grace was in the middle of a life-threatening circumstance. Cheyenne snapped Grace, threatening and attempting to hurt Grace with her cutting knife. Grace turned wild too, but she was pale in shock. Witnessing this violence, I felt the strong urge to escape, but since I was a faculty member, I reluctantly stopped the fight by separating them.
After the incident, the two ended up in very distinct ways. As I theorized, Cheyenne was an undiagnosed patient with a delusional disorder, so she was sent to the hospital. While Grace continued to live her life as usual, some people worried that she was going through more severe mental illnesses than before.
If I were able to change their genetics and personalities, I would have freed both from the mental disorders, and not let the incident occur. However, this is a very “controversial” thinking process. This is because diseases or disorders do not end up all bad: they simply affected Cheyenne and Grace in a different manner. Still, as a psychiatrist, I hoped to completely cure both ladies from illnesses.
By: Sooyoung Seo