Stuff Learned at St. Elizabeths #1
Oh my goodness, I have learned so much in my seven days of rotating at St. Elizabeths hospital. But, as I have mentioned already, I am suffering from amotivational syndrome right now, so I will give a very abbreviated list tonight, and try and post more often in the future.
Here is a short list of what I’ve learned so far:
1) TONS about pharmacotherapy for schizophrenia and mood disorders including indications, side effects, contraindications, etc.
2) Capgras syndrome is when you think your family has been replaced by imposters.
3) How to classify various disturbances in thought process such as circumstantiality, tangentiality, loose associations, and echolalia. I’ve seen patients with just about every one of the various disturbances.
4) How the laws of psychiatric commmittment work in DC.
5) Some nurses can be a little mean at first, but once you gain their respect, they are incredibly nice and helpful.
6) The DSM criteria for many different psychiatric disorders.
7) How Freud had his research in cocaine as a topical eye anesthetic stolen from him.
8 ) How to distinguish between the different subtypes of schizophrenia, and that paranoid schizophrenia doesn’t necessarily mean that a patient has paranoid delusions.
9) My experience as a psych tech is incredibly helpful to me on the wards.
10) The difference between bizarre and non-bizarre delusions. For example, thinking that you are being followed by the FBI is considered a non-bizarre delusion, whereas thinking that your heart was removed and replaced with Jesus Christ’s heart, giving you supernatural powers, is a bizarre delusion.
More goodies to come!
My name is Kendra and I am a third-year medical student attending 
