While in the adolescent mental health ward of a hospital a few days ago, a calm and reasonable 14-year-old, about to be discharged, approached the nursing staff. He was concerned about a fellow patient who was curled up on the floor shaking and crying.
When the nurses assured them they were looking after her, he said, "No, you're not. You're walking past her talking and laughing and singing. Nobody's looking after her."
He was asked to go back to the waiting area where, after a moment, he apparently decided to follow his heart instead of the rules. Without hesitation, and without aggression, rudeness or defiance, he returned to sit with the young woman and comfort her.
I had just witnessed an honest expression of compassion and concern for another human being, and thought I had never seen any clearer evidence of mental health.
But apparently, in this hospital, compliance, not caring, is the measure of mental health, and the nurses responded accordingly: They called security.
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