Week 9 Storytelling: The Blackfoot Psych Ward

Notes of Dr. Nina Hunt

October 12, 2015

Patient 3529

It seems that Patient 9's most recent delusions have revealed themselves over the course of this week's group therapy sessions. After reading the various Native American stories in the library during his free time over the past couple of weeks, patient 9 has convinced himself that he is the hero, Kut-O-Yis, calling himself Kut for short. For simplicity purposes, I will refer to patient 9 as "Kut" for the remainder of my notes. 

October 12, 2015 10 am Group Therapy Session

This week's session started off pretty normally: patient 6 began by explaining that 

"since I haven't heard the voices in FOREVER, I should obviously be released so that I can get back to my freaking life!" 

After I explained, once again, that she can't be released until she has completed her treatment and she subsequently rolled her eyes at me, I asked the usual Monday morning question: 

"How has everyone felt this weekend? Any changes you want to talk about?"

Kut immediately raised his hand and told everyone that he has discovered his "true self" and his "true identity" after a presence visited him. The presence apparently told him of a past life that he had been made to forget and the presence had placed him in this hospital for his safety. I decided that this might not be the best thing to allow him to ramble on about, so I told him he could continue his story tomorrow so that others could have a chance to share. He reluctantly quieted down and let others begin to talk.

October 12, 2015 7 pm Individual Therapy Session

I thought that now would be a good time for Kut to explore his delusions, without the others encouraging him, so that I can try and figure out what causes Kut's delusions and what I can do to help him face reality. It didn't take much prodding to get him started on his life story. 

"I was born of the blood, Dr. Hunt. I obviously dont remember the exact start of my life, but all I know is that my old father boiled a blood clot and there I was. My old mother pulled me out of the boiling water and no one knows how it was possible." 

He pauses and looks at me. I give him an encouraging nod that he can continue and he goes on.

"Soon, much sooner than it should have taken, I was a grown man. And boy was I strong. I learned that my brother-in-law abused my old parents and did not allow them to have any of the meat that my father helps kill! How can a man do that?! My father helped him kill it each time and my brother-in-law just keeps it all for himself! Well, obviously, I had to help my father; there are bad people in this world that do bad things and they need to be taken care of, Dr. Hunt."

He pauses again looks at me. I can see a true anger and betrayal in his eyes, but also a sense of power and self-assurance that I had never seen him possess before. I can tell that he truly believes that he did these things and that he made the world a better place. He continues with his story.

"I knew that my father needed to be the one to defeat him though; he needed to stand up to him like he had always wanted to. I took him hunting and once he had killed the buffalo, my brother-in-law made his way to the meat with a murderous look in his eye. I stayed hidden and coached my father through standing up to that evil man. Soon though my father became to scared that my brother-in-law would kill him so I stood up and I took care of him myself."

I decide to give into his delusions for a little bit to see where his feelings are at. I ask him, "How did it feel to avenge your father? To kill another man?"

He looks at me and with tears in his eyes says, "Dr. Hunt, I never knew that I was capable of something like that, but it felt good to balance the scales a little bit, you know? I knew the evil he had done and I knew that it was justified. But, I also knew that I had to keep going and make even more wrongs right for people who couldn't themselves."

He stops there and I knew that I needed to give him some time to tell me the rest; after all, these delusions are real things that happened to him and the feelings that he is experiencing are very real to him. 

October 12, 2015 General Notes

Kut has been a very different person today than in the past. He is much more caring (he is pulling chairs out for girls, helping the older ladies and gentlemen get things off the floor/high shelves, etc).

Maybe these delusions can be helpful until he comes to a point where he is ready to face reality.

Author's Note:

I wrote this story based of off Kut-O-Yis, The Blood Boy from the Blackfoot Unit. The original story tells of the old man who marries his daughters off to a strong young man who then asks him to hunt with him because the old man and woman have nothing after their daughters are gone. Soon though the son-in-law stops sharing his meat with the old couple and they begin to starve. The old man brings home a clot of blood from a buffalo after one kill and when he dumps it into the boiling water, a baby boy emerges; they call him Kut-O-Yis, or Clot of Blood. The next part of the story tells how when Kut-O-Yis grows to be a man he helps his old father kill his son-in-law. They kill a buffalo and when the son-in-law comes, Kut-O-Yis tells his father what to say to the son-in-law and they shoot arrows at each other until the father is too scared. Kut-O-Yis kills the son-in-law and punishes his sisters for turning away from their parents. 

I chose to write this story as if it is the delusion of a psych patient. I saw this on another story and fell in love with the idea and I loved how this story turned out! I wrote it from the perspective of the doctor taking notes on him because I wanted to add in her commentary on what he was saying to make him a more human character. I was going to write more of the story, he continues on a journey to kill 6 more bad characters, but I found myself writing more detail about just his birth and his first kill. I tried to write dialogue, but how you would see it in someone's notes, not necessarily being spoken out loud. 

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