Batan

Right, lots to update lets do it fat shall we:

• am now 18
• have finished january modules
• am still in love
• am still looking to do psychology
• still partially doing CU

other things have changed but they're not realyl important enough to talk about, yes i am aware that i never finsih stories but my current created character i like more than any other os hes a new new story.
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I’d met him before, in the same post house, several years before, the man they called Batan; his real name was lost, even he had forgotten it and Batan seemed to fit the lean young man with his well kept beard who hid beneath the hood of his long coat never showing all of his face.
It had been a cold winter’s night, a blizzard blowing outside the snow whipping at the faces of travellers. We had both been forced to stop on our travels and rent a room by ferocity of the elements. He had sat hunched over a tankard at the bar, his finger sliding round the rim, snow still sat on the shoulders of his coat. I approached the bar; set down my bag unbuckled my short sword and sat on the neighbouring stool. I greeted the bar man and nodded to him, he grunted a reply sat back and drained the contents of the tankard. He looked at me as he set down the mug, ‘another?’ he nodded and a half smile crept onto his lips,’Batan’
He held out his hand, his voice matched his appearance low and intense, I took his hand; as we exchanged is pleasantries I ordered a second tanked for him and one of my own with a little bread and cheese.
The Blizzard kept up for threes days when none when came or went from the post house, Batan and I built up what you could almost call a friendship in those three days, we discussed old times he his time with the army and I of the great city on the lake where I had once worked as a merchant before the hordes came and I was forced to pedal my wares from town to town. Dark days we lived in and it took hard men like Batan and the other wild men who lived in the mountain passes to protect the rest of us citizen from the continuing rampage of the horde. The second time I met him I was again travelling the high mountain paths when I passed the post house we had spent our three days in, it had become some what of a tradition for me that I stop at least for a small meal and a drink at the post house before travelling on, for three years I’d come back but this year I entered to see him sitting in the same old green coat, his long sword by his side, but now his eyes seemed darker, gone the happy mocking look replaced by one of loss and fear. I sat beside him we embraced and then he began to sob, then he told me the story of his past three years.

Psychology In Action

Yes, once again I digress from the point of this page which is my stories, but I need to share this to get it out my head.

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I've literally just got back from spending a day with a mental health nurse, while most of the day was irrelevant to what I want to do with psychology (Back ground info: I'm in my last year of secondary school, hence the lack of stories due to way too much work, and I'm looking to do psychology at university then become a clinical psychologist.) but three things were useful.
the first of these was a Q&A session with a psychiatrist which highlighted what the team does and how they help 'service users' (patients to you and I) and the differences between psychiatrists and psychologists.

Next was a Q&A with a Psychologist who gave me ideas for routes into the job and has volunteered to act as a contact for me in later life, which is majorly cool.

The last useful thing is what has been plaguing my mind constantly. My nurse had to do some ward visits, which due to patient doctor confidentiality, so I was left in her office with a pile of files to read. Honestly it was the most eye opening and genuinely interesting experience of my life. Most were basic accounts of service users that that has one or two psychotic episodes and I was given details of their condition and how they were treated. It was amazing to see the psychology I've been learning about put into practice. There were cases of bipolar disoders, schizophrenia and a few depression. It was amazing to see the small things that caused extreme disorders and the major things that caused small things.

The most interesting case was two folders full and it was of a girl who at 16 had been raped( I won't go into detail about anything personal if I can help it) and had then suffered depression and attempted suicide. She had failed and was then referred to the NHS for treatment. It went well and she seemed to be gettign over her depression, but she was then raped again this time by some one she trusted. Her condition then deteriated and she became bipolar and paranoid and believed people were watching her and had bugged her house. She began to exercise to much and go days without eating or sleep. It was fascinating to read so much about this person I'd never met and have insights into how they thought and see tests they'd written. It was oddly humbling, but strange because i began to feel for this woman who at only a few years older than me had been through so much and had so little support and have so many people take advantage of her and not help.

The file went up to March this year when the woman had just bought a flat and had a good full time job and seemed to be doing ok. The last entry however was dated two weeks ago and she had seen a man who was the brother of the second rapist and that had sent her into a downward spiral.

It made my goal of being a psychologist seem all the more worthwhile, if I can make a difference to one person like her and let them lead a normal life, then I'll have done something to be proud of.

This experience had also given me new prospective on my life and my problems, and also given me some solutions for my own psychological problems like my insomnia and my occasional minor depression. Problems those around me have or have had too have become more real and not just stories and I can empathise more with them and understand more of what they felt.

All in all I'm so glad I went today and can't wait for my return visit in January.