Flying Among the Eagle and Erotica

Noncompliance is a serious problem within the walls of any psychiatric hospital. Patients with paranoid schizophrenia, for instance, may see the use of psychotropic medication as evidence of a plot to harm or poison them. Some mental patients envision any form of therapy as an intrusion, an invasion of their beloved autonomy. Meet David C., a fairly young man with paranoid schizophrenia.

I observed David C. in Building 10. He paced the ward nonstop. He usually wore a grimace on his face. He liked to listen to loud music. He also abandoned personal hygiene. Not once did I catch him speaking to anybody. Then, before the start of group therapy one day, David C. erupted, like a volcano. He screamed obscenities. He refused drugs. And he shouted at staff, "Don't you see? I don't fucking belong here! I don't fucking belong in this place! Get me out of here!"