THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SMILEY FACE
YOU’VE HEARD OF R&R (Rest &Recuperation) WELL HERE’S MY R&V (Rant & Vent)
What prompted me to do this ‘alternative’ post was thinking about a patient I was working with a couple of weeks ago. He was working in a computer session and decided to put his heartfelt emotions down onto the screen. He did this in a very large font size and in a bold print (as if he was shouting!!) It left nothing to the imagination as he described some of his fellow peers, staff members and his consultant psychiatrist in a less than flattering light. Now I know this might seem unprofessional of me, but I could not help but laugh when I read it (bearing in mind this was not in the presence of the patient or any others, as another staff member had saved it and printed off a copy for me to read and for me to act on).
I initially thought it was perhaps inappropriate and disrespectful, but then as I heard from the staff member that the patient had been laughing to himself as he typed away on the computer... and no-one had been physically hurt, I began to think that maybe this had acted as a form of therapy for him!! As I was aware that not too far away, another patient was ‘kicking off’ quite aggressively with the potential of hurting himself and many others...hmmm! so which was the better way of the two options to vent frustration?
So here goes with my official Rant & vent ....
