The following is excerpted from an actual letter given to me from one of my client/patients at Eastern State mental Hospital in Lexington, Ky. The passion and tone seemed vaguely familiar to me, but I couldn't quite place it, then-VIOLA! It reminded me of the Book of Psalms! This patient's cry seemed exactly the same as the distress that fueled David's plea to God for relief.
The mental duress many people carry with them is an awful load and for the most extreme cases of mental illness their delusions--be they vampires or witches swirling about, strangers attacking with clubs, evil spirits filling their bodies--are REAL, it is their honestly held REAL beliefs, from which they can find no relief. Medicines help in varying degrees but many resist. As one of the fine cadre of psychiatrists told me such diseased people--who are BORN with the illness-- are on a natural "high" and it takes the medicines to bring them down, which is a state they don't like in comparison with their normal (to them) state.
Be thankful, EXTREMELY thankful, for your mental as well as physical health. That you have the ability and freedom to read this and go and do as you please. Being able to leave the hospital at the end of the day gives me such a great appreciation for what I have and did not realize I had!
And to those who you may meet that seem a little off, consider the burden that may theirs alone. Their disease may not have reached the degree of severity that requires hospitalization but many, many among us labor with mental distress, depression chief among them.
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The Psalm of a Psych Patient
A fervent cry from God’s humble servant …
"Oh God
I am under severe attack by patients
I am under extreme pressure
I am under sever threats everywhere on this ward.
LORD, get me a Holy Ghost attorney,
A Holy Ghost judge, a Holy Ghost jury,
A Holy Ghost friend.
In Jesus’ name, in Jesus’ name.
Glory to the Father
Glory to the Son
Glory to the Holy Ghost.
HELP ME LORD!
I have been unfairly treated
I have had horrid racial slurs heaped upon me
I have been attacked by my persecutors and fellow patients
God you have healed me before and delivered me
May God of the Heavenly Heavens bless you.
My sisters are greatly insane and do bad to me
Lord, where will my help come from, who will come to my rescue?
God, please get me help."
Amen. In Jesus name
Your servant, Gertrude (not her real name)
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