Cracking up with Antisocials

[F0nzie]

Lately I have been cracking up with a few med-seeking Antisocials. I am not sure what it is but when they ask the question, they either look down at the ground or try to maintain eye contact and can't contain their laughter. Maybe it has something to do with my mannerisms or expression, having seen these behaviors hundreds of times. When they do crack up its hard for me to not laugh, so I've been laughing with them.

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[Ceke2002]

Lately I have been cracking up with a few med-seeking Antisocials. I am not sure what it is but when they ask the question, they either look down at the ground or try to maintain eye contact and can't contain their laughter. Maybe it has something to do with my mannerisms or expression, having seen these behaviors hundreds of times. When they do crack up its hard for me to not laugh, so I've been laughing with them.

Just thinking back to my not so honest days of med seeking, there were definitely times when you knew you weren't going to get anything from a particular Doctor as soon as you sat down and started your spiel, but you also knew they weren't going to crack a mental at you either, so you basically just ended up laughing, and have them laugh with you as if to exchange a sort of unspoken communication that went 'Yeah, alright, you got me there, Doc'...'Cool, don't come back, ok'. And yes there is always something about a Doctor's mannerisms or their facial expressions that lets you know pretty quickly that you won't be getting anything from them, or at least nothing you actually want at the time. I wouldn't class myself as an 'antisocial' though, even when I wasn't exactly living on the straight and narrow, so I can't comment as to how or why someone with ASPD would respond to the same situation.

 

[F0nzie]

I have a really ballsy case manager that started making funny faces to a patient that was threatening me. I was shocked. But the patient started cracking up and had to leave the room because he was about to bust out laughing. It was freaking hilarious. It's all fake!

 

[Ceke2002]

I have a really ballsy case manager that started making funny faces to a patient that was threatening me. I was shocked. But the patient started cracking up and had to leave the room because he was about to bust out laughing. It was freaking hilarious. It's all fake!

Haha, good on her! Yeah, fake threats comes in at around number 3 or 4 on the med seeker's check list, for women the equivalent is 'cry on cue'.

 

[Shikima]

Lately I have been cracking up with a few med-seeking Antisocials. I am not sure what it is but when they ask the question, they either look down at the ground or try to maintain eye contact and can't contain their laughter. Maybe it has something to do with my mannerisms or expression, having seen these behaviors hundreds of times. When they do crack up its hard for me to not laugh, so I've been laughing with them.

I wish they would do the same with me. I get them crying and carrying on with the girlfriend in the room vouching for him.

 

[smalltownpsych]

The ones who are laughing have a bit more awareness of the problem. The ones who are in tears really believe the lies they are telling. It is a good sign that they might be ready to move from pre-contemplation stage of denial to the contemplation stage. They might be a bit more responsive to suggestions at this point. "Maybe your medications would work better if you weren't chasing them with tequila" "I've been noticing that the pills you run out of are the same ones that can get you high. hmmm. " or "You might remember to take the meds if you weren't smoking so much of that all-natural herb mon (use of Jamaican accent can be a big risk if you are too anglo) " Humor can be a great tool in working with substance users, just make sure that you are laughing with them, not at them.

 

[Ceke2002]

The ones who are laughing have a bit more awareness of the problem. The ones who are in tears really believe the lies they are telling. It is a good sign that they might be ready to move from pre-contemplation stage of denial to the contemplation stage. They might be a bit more responsive to suggestions at this point. "Maybe your medications would work better if you weren't chasing them with tequila" "I've been noticing that the pills you run out of are the same ones that can get you high. hmmm. " or "You might remember to take the meds if you weren't smoking so much of that all-natural herb mon (use of Jamaican accent can be a big risk if you are too anglo) " Humor can be a great tool in working with substance users, just make sure that you are laughing with them, not at them.

There's also the possibility that ones who are laughing are also in the early stages of abuse, when things are still in party mode. Unfortunately in my experience a lot of people at that stage simply don't believe they'll ever get truly addicted to the substance they're seeking.

 

[smalltownpsych]

There's also the possibility that ones who are laughing are also in the early stages of abuse, when things are still in party mode. Unfortunately in my experience a lot of people at that stage simply don't believe they'll ever get truly addicted to the substance they're seeking.

True, except they would be less likely to be seeing a psychiatrist in that stage cause it's working for them. I occasionally will get teens in early stages because others are sending them to me, but very few adult addicts until a few more years down the road.

 

[Ceke2002]

True, except they would be less likely to be seeing a psychiatrist in that stage cause it's working for them. I occasionally will get teens in early stages because others are sending them to me, but very few adult addicts until a few more years down the road.

Good point, of course, and very true. There weren't too many of us who would try and hit a Psychiatrist up for anything in the early stages, unless we were trying to get something a GP couldn't prescribe. The Psychiatrists/Therapists/Counsellors et al came way later, after we'd already well and truly effed up. Definitely under those circumstances a bit of shared humour, at the right moment, with the right patient, can be very helpful - especially when it gets a patient to really 'hear' themselves when they're slipping back into old patterns.