Eye of the Tiger

A.F. and R.H. showed me how to play pitch, a tedious card game involving what I like to call "telepathic" communication between each player and their partner. One afternoon, another staff member and I challenged A.F. and R.H. Pitch was the only card game that patients actively played at the LRC, so I had no choice but to embarrass myself and participate. A.F. and R.H., two mental patients, one of whom suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and believed he worked for the U.S. government and was sworn to secrecy, spending hours in his room "preparing documents," gave me a better rundown of the rules of pitch than my own girlfriend's family.

There's not much more I can say about R.H. He attended group therapy, participated, and never caused trouble. He was eventually discharged when the state arranged for him to live in an apartment in a different town.

More on A.F...

I liked A.F. He wasn't much older than me. He'd been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and antisocial personality disorder. According to his chart, eight warrants had been issued for his arrest. All of this confidential information he shared with me himself. Drug rehab was the next stop on A.F.'s road trip to recovery. We talked about women. He told me about his girlfriend and his favorite music. I think he was impressed that I'd heard of most of his favorite bands.

A.F. wanted me to watch him shave one day. His girlfriend was to visit him that evening. Staff had to monitor this aspect of personal hygiene because a razor is a sharp object and mental patients love sharp things. While A.F. wasn't necessarily a psychopath, he had a history of criminal and antisocial behavior. He'd been in and out of jail before coming to the LRC.

I told A.F. that I couldn't watch him shave and he handled it fine. Other staff were aware I hadn't been fully trained to restrain a patient and, had A.F. decided to attack me with his razor, a good portion of the blame would've been dropped on the state if I were injured and the state found out about it. Take that, MANDT! Predictably, A.F. argued he had no intention of hurting me. The truth will never surface.

Now that I think about it, deception and manipulation are two personality traits of psychopaths. More conclusive evidence is needed for me to make any assumption.