Psychward Summary

A Review of Psych Ward a Year Behind Locked Doors

Psychward was written by Dr. Stephen Seager. After completing 9 years in the ER working in a fast-paced environment he decided he had enough. Once he decided to leave the ER, Dr. Seager went into psychiatry. On his first day on the floor, he had no idea what to expect. Doctors were asking questions in rounds he didn’t know the answer to and he felt like he made a terrible mistake. After going back, the second-day things became easier. Dr. Seager even began to enjoy what he was doing. He got into the swing of things and could start meeting with his patients. These patients would teach him more about life and how to care for someone not only physically but mentally too.

Question 1

The book psych ward started off with a man named Dr. Seager. He worked as a doctor in the ER for 9 years

One that stuck with me was the 7-year-old boy who came in screaming that something was crawling on his face and nose. It turns out his child got into his parent’s stash of cocaine. This really upset Dr. Seager because he couldn’t believe a parent would leave cocaine in an area that a child could get to. He also was upset by how often this happens. Another part of the book that stuck with me was when a mother came in asking for help to get her children back. Dr. Seager knew she was a drug addict and wasn’t happy about her coming in for help. He sat down and listened to her story anyway and it turns out she sold her children to a man called “the baby man” (Seager, 1991, p.) She sold them for drugs but now she wanted them back. Dr. Seager ended up yelling at this woman and leaving his shift at work. Finally, the last point that stuck out to me was an overall tone in the book. I was surprised at how many of these patients could harm themselves or others. Multiple times in the book a patient could harm themselves or another person. One patient was even able to shoot himself in front of a