were the same for patients, regardless of the details of their case. Eve checked in wearing a shirt that tied in


A


the back. Upon arrival, Timberline provided her with a baggy t-shirt instead so that she couldn’t hurt herself with the shirt strings. Eve didn’t consider herself so impulsive that she would hurt herself, but other patients at Timberline had gone to the extremes. Some patients fought hard to find to ways


to hurt themselves, even with all the precau- tions in place. One girl cut herself with the bristles of a hairbrush. She had flipped each individual bristle so the sharp side faced outward and dragged the hairbrush down her arm. “It was [star- tling] because I never knew there were this many ways to kill yourself,” Eve said. “I thought ‘Wow, there are people out there who invest some serious thought into suicide. Tat’s crazy.’” As Eve stabilized, she was given more


freedom and more trust from the staff. With her doctor’s approval, she moved from constant supervision to 15-minute watches. Now she could go to the bathroom and take a shower by herself, as long as it was under the time limit. “Tey’ll sit there and watch the clock and make sure,” Eve said. Only when she graduated to 30-minute


watches did she get to sleep in her own room, which included bathrooms and beds, dresser drawers and a desk, but that was it.


the drugs


t Timberline, the staff also took pre- cautions to prevent any self harm. As with the nighttime check, the rules


But she didn’t spend much time in her


room. She spent her days in therapy sessions, which included art and dance, and she also took long walks and played volleyball. On one occasion, Eve found herself doing


something she never thought she would. “I do not dance,” she said. “But one day when I was kind of manic, I started singing and dancing. I would have never done that if I were flat-lined or depressed. It was just because I was feeling manic that I was able to push myself out of my comfort zone and let go.”


induced mood disorders.” A girl in the addict unit showed physical


“But I’d be sitting in the classroom and all of the sudden, these little bursts of pictures [would pop up].”


– Decatur student Eve E


ve lived in the mental unit – they called themselves “Te Mentals.” But the in- stitution didn’t just treat mental illness. Te other side of the building housed the recovery unit, which included the recovering teenage alcoholics and addicts. “Tey were more fun,” Eve said. “Tey’re more adventur- ous. When you’re a recovering alcoholic at 16, you’ve lived, and you have a lot to tell.” “I had some therapy sessions with them, and I ate all my meals with them,” she said. “It was really interesting how many people overlapped and did therapy for both groups, because [there were people with] substance-


manifestations of her addiction – her mouth was entirely decimated from meth. “Tey weren’t sure how to treat her,” Eve said. “Tey didn’t know if she had started meth as a way to self-medicate her mental illness, or if she had been on meth long enough that it had created the mental illness.” As Eve’s bipolar was treated, side effects of the disorder also resolved themselves. Before checking in, Eve had lost weight from her bouts of depression. Upon arriving at the institution, Eve gained the weight back, plus a little. “Te first day or two, I didn’t eat much, but once they got the right medica- tion and a mood stabilizer in my system, I went crazy in the cafeteria,” she said. “It was an all-you-can-eat buf- fet – the rule was you could only get one dessert – but


you could eat all you wanted for the rest.” And she gained the weight remarkably


quickly. “It shouldn’t be possible, and it’s disgusting, but it’s true,” she said. “I ate so much. Tey had the best food.” Towards the end of her stay, Eve was re-


warded for her good behavior with laundry room and vending machine access. “Te little things actually matter a lot when you’re somewhere like that,” she said. But other “little things” proved significant.


One day when Eve was in the gym, the main office radioed for her – she had special guests. Her youth minister and his wife had


Though the medications didn’t work out at first, Eve was put on medication as soon as she was diagnosed with bipolar. “Ninety-nine percent of the people who are diagnosed with bipolar are on medication,” Eve said. “The ones who aren’t are triathletes because you have to have a certain number of endorphins in your body at any given time to stay in a positive mood.”


ANTIDEPRESSANTS > Antidepressants work by blocking the nerves in the brain from taking back released serotonin, the “happy” neurotransmitter.


BENZODIAZEPINES >Commonly called “benzos,” these help calm down over- activated nerves and are used to prevent and treat mania.


MOOD STABILIZERS >Lithium, a salt, is used to stabilize moods. It works better on mania than depression. >Anticonvulsants also work as a mood stabilizer. They are thought to prevent the activation of nerve cells and stop the release of neurotransmitters which cause mood fluctuations. >Omega 3 fatty acids (such as fish oils): In clinical study, those who took fish oil in addition to standard prescription treatments for bipolar experienced fewer mood swings.


ANTIPSYCHOTICS > Atypical antipsychotics help treat symptoms of psychosis, such as hallucinations.


48


CARPE DIEM • DECEMBER 2011


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