Learned Helplessness

[wolf]

So, we admitted this guy to the hospital today ... late forties, has some stuff going on, etc. etc.

Not an overly unusual case as far as that goes. Sad. Depressed. Suicidal. Needs hospitalization.

So, he's being admitted.

His kid shows up ... the son.

Kid is very distressed over dad being put in the hospital.

I'm not dealing with his dad at all, the crisis worker is ... but I'm available, so I end up talking to the boy.

Why is the boy so distressed (other than the obvious reason of dad being locked in the nuthouse for the next couple days?)

"I'll starve. There's no one to take care of me."

Mind you, these things are NOT said in a calm tone of voice. The kid's bawling his eyes out.

Panicked.

Sogging up his tee-shirt level of crying.

Big, made-for-Lifetime-TV, you just ran over my puppy sobbing.

"Starve?" I say. "Isn't there any food in the house at all?"

"There's like TV dinners and stuff. But I've never been alone."

"Where's your mom?"

"She's down the shore with my sister."

Great, I'm thinking at this point ... I'm going to have to get children and youth services involved for this child who thinks he's going to starve and be eaten by tigers.

"What am I going to do?? "

"Kid, we'll figure something out here."

"There's no food and I don't have any money!!"

"Kid, how old are you?"

"I'm *sob* *sniff* *sniff* twenty-one."

Two thoughts resulted from this information. The first was, "Outstanding! I don't have to call Children and Youth!! They are a pain in the ass to deal with!" The second thought was, "He did not just say he was twenty-one years old and incapable of feeding himself, did he?"

It does indeed get better ...

"What am I going to do, I don't have any money!"

"Kid, you're twenty one. Do you have a job?"

"Yes."

"So then you have money."

"No, I don't. I bought an '06 car. So I don't have any money ..."

*sob* *weep* *wail* *sob*

I ran out of professionalism at that point and handed him off to someone else.