What do you think?

[Guest guest]

It's been really hard to get Joei into the shower lately. When I picked her up

tonite and told her that I needed her to get in the shower as soon as we get

home, she started having thoughts about razors cutting into her skin.

This fear of showers is going to affect her socially, her hair gets oily, skin

is breaking out, etc. Right now she doesn't really have a lot of tools to

confront these thoughts.

This all then led to her examining her body in the shower and finding red

spots (just normal stuff ya get when ya scrub your body) and constantly calling

me in for confirmation that they were normal.

She rarely asks for her Atarax, but she asked for it tonite and is now playing

on Toontown to calm herself down. This shook her up bad enough that she was pale

and shaking.

I wish she would let herself cry! She told me tonite she wants to, but just

can't make it happen.

I know the therapy will be confronting the thoughts. Would it be harmful or

bad for her to use an electric razor for now though?

I'm having a rough day. I've been on auto pilot since this all started earlier

this summer. I " ve worked a lot of hours this past two weeks due to making up

some time missed and another co worker being out because her son was hit by a

car.

Today I have been holding it together until I get off work tomorrow. I feel a

major pity party coming on! lol I feel like reality is finally hitting me and

that I am exhausted mentally and physically. I'm working hard on keeping it

together spiritually.

To add to the mix, I am an addictions specialist and work in a women's

recovery home. We get a lot of women that are dually diagnosed. Wouldn't ya

know that this week I got my first client that has OCD! She is struggling. I've

also had another client have a psychotic episode (while I was working a shift

alone) and she is now hospitalized. There is another one with major mental

health issues that are coming to a boiling point as well.

It's been really interesting to say the least. It is not normal for us to

have this much stuff going on at work with women and their mental health. I have

a house full of it right now though. All of these women gravitate towards me to

talk to about this. It's been hard to keep my thoughts on a professional level

and not let my personal feelings enter into how I help them.

Anyway, what do you think? Would it be harmful to let her have an electric

razor for now?

~~Kathy

gkathy40@...

http://www.myspace.com/clearingachannel

Courage is not living without fear.

Courage is being scared to death and doing the right thing anyway.

-Chae