When I finally got into a psychiatrist, one of the first things he told me was that he wanted me to spend some time in a Psychiatric hospital.
A thousand thoughts started running through my mind at once. Was I going to have to quit my job? How long would I have to stay? Did I have to sleep there? Was I allowed to leave? Why did I have to go there? Was I crazy?!
I started thinking to myself, “no, I’m not crazy,” and before I even finished the thought, I remembered that “crazy people don’t think they’re crazy.” That worried me even more. I was fully aware that I had already begun to lose touch with reality for short periods of time, but I was terrified that I was even further gone than I’d realized.
“It’s the best way to get a clear diagnosis,” he told me. He assured me that I was still psychologically stable enough to make my own choices, and he therefore couldn’t force me into anything I didn’t want to do. He couldn’t admit me to the hospital against my will.
My next thought was, “okay great, so I won’t go.”
He wasn’t about to give up that easily, though. He listed reason after reason why it was a good idea for me to go. And eventually, I agreed – not without reluctance, however. This all took place on a Thursday afternoon, and my bed at the hospital was reserved for the following Monday. I was to stay two weeks.
I left my appointment that day feeling like I had failed myself. I never imagined that anyone would think it necessary for me to stay in the psych ward. I had never pictured myself in the situation I was now finding myself in, and I didn’t like the way it felt. I called up Nick and I cried on the phone to him, telling him everything that had just transpired. As always, he was supportive however he knew how to be, and assured me that the doctors knew the best route to take.
That didn’t ease my mind. Although I knew that at this point my visit was voluntary, I managed to convince myself that they’d find something seriously wrong with me and I’d never be let out. I was going to spend the rest of my life locked up in the loony bin.
Hello, anxiety. Hello, paranoia. Hello, delusional thinking.
My mind was a roller coaster. My thoughts were strapped in, looping around and around, up and down, shaking me up as they went.
By the next day, I was in a full-blown depression. I was dreading the trip to the hospital, and I couldn’t focus on anything else. I came home from work that Friday evening and decided to go for a walk to try and clear my mind. I didn’t take anything with me – not my phone, not my keys, not even a jacket. It was just me and my crazy roller coaster mind.
I don’t know how long I was gone. I wandered aimlessly for hours. I stood on the bridge overlooking the river, then walked down, staring at the water for far too long. I must have faded away from myself for a while, because the next thing I knew, I was sat at the train station near my house, just watching the trains go by. I was sat at the end of the tracks – I always did that, because if I ever got the courage to jump, I wanted to be close enough to do it before I changed my mind.
Thankfully I never got the courage.
I don’t remember much from that night. I remember being at the subway station, and then I remember standing outside my apartment building, reaching up to ring my own bell. I was buzzed in, and I slowly climbed up the stairs. Nick was running down them, panic-stricken, asking me where I had been, what I had been doing, what I had taken.
“Out. I don’t know. Nothing.” Zombie-toned responses, expressionless face.
Although I was completely out of it, I hadn’t actually taken anything that night. There was an open bottle of ibuprofen on the counter, and Nick thought I had gotten into it. I hadn’t. I had learned by that stage, through trial and error, that ibuprofen was just not going to get the job done.
Nick brought me inside, questioned me some more, and told me he had been so worried that he had been asking everyone if they had heard from me – he even had people on their way over to help look for me.
I was mad. Furious. How many times had I told him not to tell people things about me?
I went into the bedroom, and Nick retreated back to the kitchen. His senses were always on high when I was in a state, so it’s no wonder he heard me opening up the window, and was back in the room with me before I managed to climb up into it. He stopped me well before I even attempted jumping.
I stormed out of the bedroom, probably en route to the kitchen for a knife, and I screamed bloody murder when I saw a friend in our living room. He had just come in – he was already on his way over when I stumbled home. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be there with us, and it shocked me so badly that I was sent into a sort of panic attack. It also sent my anger over the edge, and I was instantly determined to do something, I just didn’t know what.
I can’t begin to describe the thoughts that were going through my mind at this stage, because I sincerely do not remember. I can’t put myself back into that moment of time, because I wasn’t there with myself. That person was not me.
I closed the bedroom door, claiming I wanted to just be alone, and when I thought no one was listening, I opened up the window again. I climbed into the window sill, stood on the ledge, looking down four stories, as the bedroom door swung open behind me. Nick bolted in, got me down from the window, and begged me to stay away from it.
He told me the bedroom door had to stay open now – I had proved to him that I couldn’t be trusted.
He said he’d leave me alone, but he’d be in the next room, with plain-sight view of the two windows.
I told Nick that I wanted the friend gone. He said okay. He left the room, I heard the door, and that was that. I calmed down. I got into bed.
I was just coming back into myself when I saw two men walk into my bedroom. I didn’t know them.
I sat straight up, bewildered, and they spoke to me, in German, asking if I was okay.
Paramedics.
I told them I was fine now. I knew I had to admit what had happened, because I was sure they already knew. I told them I had had a bad moment – that yes, I had attempted to jump from the window, but I wouldn’t do it again; that I was calm now; that I was okay.
They stayed there and spoke to me for a while, suggesting they bring me to a hospital in Nussbaumstrasse – the very hospital that had a bed with my name on it reserved for two days later. I told them I was going there on Monday, and that I would be okay at home until then.
All they had me do was promise them that I wouldn’t hurt myself. I promised. I could have easily been lying.
23, broke and happy 