513 SelfWork: Inside A Psych Ward: A New Book by JaKob Williams, Chock Full of Nuts

You may never have been on the inside of a psych ward. In his new book, JaKob Williams takes you there.

Or at least, he takes you to his version of a residential psych ward.

He’s an interesting guy. Brilliant. Sarcastic. Successful. Driven. Creative. Funny.

And he has bipolar disorder, which sometimes gets the better of him. He becomes manic, and even psychotic. As he says…

“You talk about PHD. Perfectly hidden depression. I’m POM. Perfectly obvious mania.”

 

Life in JaKob Williams’ psych ward…

JaKob Williams shares his firsthand experience navigating the psychiatric care system after being admitted to what he darkly refers to as “summer camp” — a modern-day psych ward – but one that he describes with both dark cynicism and light humor. He’d pushed himself far too hard to meet a deadline for an art show – and psychotic thinking (seeing and hearing things that aren’t real) appeared – and made him dangerous to himself until it cleared.

Through vivid storytelling, Williams exposes the disturbing realities of institutional mental health care, including controversial treatments like electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), while exploring what it truly means to live with a mind that sees the world differently.

All through the book, his respect and pathos for his fellow patients is very clear, as he describes their very real struggles, the external traumas that have created them or the internal traumas that their illness has created within them. His own bipolar disorder’s impact is also obvious; he challenges “the way things are” almost constantly, in ways that actually are quite good ideas. But are not necessarily welcome ideas.

As he says, “Someone once called me the flea that makes the whole dog itch. And, and I, and I wear that, um, label with honor.”

The psych wards I’ve personally worked within…

I’ve worked and seen my own patients when they’ve needed to be in residential treatment or a “psych ward.” As I explained in the episode itself, I’ve not referred someone to inpatient treatment where there was not a significant amount of therapy, assessment, and meetings with both a psychiatrist and a psychologist.

Someone can be referred for ECT treatment. And that can be done as an outpatient or as an inpatient, dependent on the circumstances. So that might seem like the only thing being considered is or was ECT.

And I’ve referred people to the hospital he’s referring to, as he calls it Mr. Clean. So I admitted to him being perplexed when I heard his story.

What you can learn from this psych ward description…

The very important thing that JaKob wants you to hear however is that the current mental health system may be failing the very people it claims to help. And that’s why I chose to interview him.

Just recently, here in Arkansas, a psychiatrist and the hospital staff illegally detained several people in the psych ward of the hospital. They are all being sued and I doubt that he has retained his license. But these types of things should never happen.

More than a memoir, the book is a conversation starter about creativity, stigma, innovation, and the urgent need for reform in mental health care.

And here’s some of the feedback from mental health professionals he’s received?

One psychiatric nurse told him it was the best book on the subject she’d ever read.

So I asked JaKob stated.

“She just said it was because I dealt with a very serious subject in, in such a humorous way – uh-huh. That she could get through the book, and yet at the end of it, she understood what I was doing, right? Exactly. I mean, that, that I wanted people to, to have, you know, a respite as they’re going on their journey. It’s like the World Cup, right? All of a sudden they, they now have the, those hydration breaks, you know? And it allows the, the players to, to, you know, I keep going at a high level, and I wanted the reader to get through it without feeling exhausted.”

And that is what it feels like. It’s a very human story about a very human situation – which needs our close attention. And innovative ideas.

He goes on to say… “First of all, let me say I have great respect for the mental health community. I mean, they do unbelievable work and, and it’s almost like Sisyphus. You know, the guy that rolls a rock up and comes down, and, you know, a lot of people can’t be helped….”.

 

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