A psychologist has opened up about their decade-long career working in maximum security prisons, including one of the most ‘unsettling’ moments with one of their patients.
If you were left as bamboozled as I was after watching Shutter Island, but also intrigued as to whether any similar institutes really exist in real life – and well, you didn’t necessarily want to have to visit one yourself in whatever capacity it be – thankfully, a psychologist took to Reddit to reveal an insight into their 12-year-long career as a psychologist working in maximum security prisons.
Reddit user u/Life-Goal7745 took to the thread r/AMA to explain they’ve ‘dedicated’ themselves to a career ‘in treating severely mentally ill patients, both men and women’.
The post continues: “Ranging from extreme psychosis to personality disorders and all in between – however horrifying their crimes are most people are open to conversations about their mental state (and more importantly: how this influenced their crimes).”
The user noted they’re from Europe so there may be differences between their work and how it works in the US, before inviting others to ‘ask them anything (AMA)’.
One user commented: “What was the scariest thing a patient said to you?”
To which the original poster responded: “Scary? I’m not so sure, but being a psychologist you have patient confidentiality. This means that they can tell me whatever they want to tell me and I cannot speak to anyone about it, unless they A: intend to harm others or B: intend to harm themselves.”
And a few times this has proven pretty unnerving and tricky when patients have confessed crimes that are ‘unsolved’ or ‘for which other people got a prison sentence’ handed to them for.
In one incident, the psychologist recalls: “It’s kind of unsettling because every year the ministry of justice hands out this thing called ‘cold case calendar’. And on one of those pages, there is a woman who disappeared roughly 25 years ago, and was never to be found.
“A patient I used to have in treatment confessed that he murdered her. And every year I look at this calendar and feel bad for relatives who still do not know what happened.”
They note they technically still ‘do not know what happened’ even with ‘some vague descriptions’ from the patient, resolving: “I try not to know these things – as it is not my main focus in therapy.
“If he did it, or did not do it: issues maintain in his life and he needs therapy for this.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 to reach a 24-hour crisis center or you can webchat at 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
