Having recovered from a psychotic episode, the 32-year-old single man already quoted above, talked about the importance of being treated as a fellow human being:
I
'I found it interesting that you said these trainee nurses that came in treated you as equals, as not someone who is sick, but just as a fellow human being.'
P
'Yes ... as trainees they were more like people who were not exposed so much to this kind of environment. ... [they were] able to blend with us and not look at us as patients, but look at us as fellow human beings, because they were able to learn from us as well and we were able to learn from them. And they were able to take the knowledge that they got from us and utilise it to better their careers, I think.'
I
'It sounds as if they approached you in a very open way, not with preconceived or preformed ideas.'
P
'Exactly.'
I
'And that was very meaningful and helpful.'
P
'In a big way ... in a big way. It really meant a lot to me because they were not judging us, yeah ... they were there asking us questions like normal people, not like people who are mentally ill or something like that, but normal people. ... They respected us.' (Int. 5)
The same patient valued being able to teach a staff member something; it valued him as a human being:
'I even taught one male nurse basketball. There was a basketball here, so I'm a very big fan of basketball and I play basketball a lot. So, I even taught that one guy how to score and he managed to be able to learn from me and he said to me, he's going to try and practice as he goes home; whenever he gets a ball he's going to keep on practicing. So, for me it was an eye opener that somebody can take something like that from me, it was good to ... it was more like a highlight as well.' (Int. 5)
Building a personal, therapeutic relationship will take time. The same patient is again quoted, describing the lack of therapeutic relationships with registrars - if someone really wants to know a patient, he or she must be a psychologist according to the patient:
P
'They [the registrars] lack certain things ...'
I
'Like what?'
P
'... With the doctors, they don't have enough time ... some patients they have a lot of stories to tell, or they need to be asked certain questions ... the time that is given probably is small ... and that would be not enough for some people. I guess that I think, that is lacking to the doctors. I think ... whatever the doctors are trained for, they're quick in doing things, like as I'm talking to you right now, I'm open, I'm speaking to you, and to me you sound like a psychologist, somebody who wants to know me, like, more.' (Int. 5)