tarraingmobod

I fooled McLean Hospital for two solid years. It's not hard at all, actually.

Psychiatrists tend towards big egos. The minute you understand that, manipulating them is very, very simple.

For a period of two years, I was brought in once or twice per month for a variety of reasons. I knew my symptoms were those of schizophrenia, but that also I did not have schizophrenia. Because I didn't want to be nailed with that diagnosis, I mimicked borderline personality disorder and as a result was always released within a day or two and sent off to partial, which I generally skipped.

It was also easy to decide which ward I wanted when I was brought in; depending on my behavior I could go to one of three different places on their campus; the short term ward being by far the easiest from which to escape.

I didn't trust them to catch the right diagnosis, and I didn't think they'd believe me if I told them. Even if they did believe me, the only unit available for people with my correct diagnosis at the time, at McLean, was women only.

Why did I keep going to McLean and not somewhere else? Insurance wanted me there or they wouldn't pay.

You should talk to your collegues at McLean. They've had weirdly positive success with a number of clinical techniques for Bi Polar disorder--- partially because they've gotten really good at separating it from schizophrenia and the dissociative spectrum.

Huh, and here I spent my life really believing that Denmark was more evolved than most.

Disappointing.