As much as I’ve loved Don’t Call me Crazy, I have been wondering if the McGuinness Psychiatric Unit is a female-only facility. Tonight I got my answer from Staff Nurse Pete who told us that there is a boy’s corridor, but there are only four beds compared to eleven for the girls. Tonight’s instalment introduces us to two of the unit’s male residents and looks at the problems boys face with dealing with psychiatric disorders, as well as the issues that occur when girls and boys occupy the same space.
The first of these male residents is seventeen year old Matty, who hears voices in his head that make him have suicidal thoughts. The voices tell him that someone is going to kill him on his 18th birthday and it seems he would rather finish the job himself than let somebody else do it. At the unit, Matty isn’t settling in very well and it takes him a while until he fully participates in the group sessions. Meanwhile, the voices continue to say with him and he realises that the staff at the unit could be the people he needs to help him get better. However, after he tells one of the staff members that he’s saving up money to buy a gun, Matty’s home leave is rejected and he gets more worked up. Luckily, he realises there someone he needs to talk about and confides in Pete over his feelings and his love of music. But, after four weeks at the unit, Matty is still hearing the voices in his head, with thee voices causing him to act violently. Though, it does seem as if Matty is making some steps in the right direction as he stays until the end of a couple of group activities. It is during one of these activities that Matty has a breakthrough when he realises he does have people in his life who can speak to. He realises that he used to bottle up all of his emotions but he resolves to speak up a lot more when he has a problem. Despite the breakthrough, Matty’s 18th birthday is approaching, and with it the dilemma that he’ll have to be moved into an adult ward. There are plenty of discussions regarding the move, and whether or not it’s a good idea seeing as Matty’s 18th birthday is the trigger for his psychotic episodes. But he is eventually moved during the dead of night and placed in an adult psychiatric unit. Thankfully, Matty’s story has a happy ending as he is eventually released from this adult unit.
The other male resident featured in this episode is 16 year old George. Essex boy George had recently received a rugby scholarship to a prestigious boarding school in Cumbria. However, he started to suffer from severe depression and, following as suicide attempt, he was taken to the McGuinness Unit. It was quite clear that George had support both from his schoolmates and his father Mark, who made the trip up from Essex to see his son. George tells us that he doesn’t feel himself when he’s angry but at the same time he’s frustrated that he can’t do anything about it. Like Matty, George often hears voice in his head and he starts to feel anxious all the time. It seems that part of his anxiety is around trying to please those close to him and the pressure he feels when stepping out onto the rugby field. Over a period of time, George starts to feel more secure in the unit and deals with his problems a lot better. He also starts to open up about his feelings towards rugby namely that he lost interest in it some time ago and now wants to find that interest again. He eventually decides that he wants to play rugby again, but doesn’t want to return to his boarding school as it is too far away from his home. Instead, he decides to search for a school nearer Essex which will give him the option of playing rugby while at the same time be close to his family. George is later transferred to another unit closer to Essex but only spends a short period of time there before being released.
During his time on the unit, George also starts to develop a close bond with our old friend Beth, who has now been at McGuinness for six months. Obviously one of the problems with having a mixed sex ward full of teenagers is that they start to flirt with another, but any form of romance is strictly forbidden. Beth admits that she and George ‘kind of like each other’, but realises that nothing can happen while they’re both in a psychiatric hospital. Thankfully, Beth’s condition is improving everyday as she is now starting to eat at meal times and is self-harming a lot less. However, she has a bit of a turn when the staff reveal that they’re altering her sleeping medication. Later, Beth is given some good news when the staff decide that she can return to dancing as it won’t affect her weight too much. It is also revealed that Beth is writing a book based on her mental illness and it seems that this is another way of her trying to come to terms with her eating disorder. As a discharge date for Beth is planned, she starts to get anxious once again and cuts herself. This incident costs her a trip home, but ultimately doesn’t contribute to a discharge decision and Beth is finally released from the unit after six months. The end of the programme informs us that Beth is continuing to eat well and hopes to return to her dancing in the near future.
This final episode of Don’t Call Me Crazy was another great look at how adolescents deal with mental illness and really made me sympathise with the young people involved. I liked how this episode was different from the other two we’ve already seen as it dealt with how teenage boys deal with mental illness. As we’re told by Nurse Pete, a lot of boys bottle up their feelings which makes their psychotic episodes all the more worse. Indeed, both Matty and George admit to keeping their feelings bottled up until things boil over and they try to end their own lives. It was interesting as well to look at the development of the relationship between George and Beth, and how each helped the other to deal with their problems. But, as we’ve followed her over the course of the series, it is definitely Beth that I’m most invested in. I was willing for her to be released throughout and was really saddened when she slit her wrists once again. My personal highlight of the episode was the scene in which she read her book out to the camera as I found this quite a poignant moment and it got me all emotional.
As a series, I feel that Don’t Call me Crazy has done great things to showcase the work that is being done to help young people who suffer from psychiatric disorders. I found the programme got the tone just right and also highlighted the great work that the staff on the unit do. To me Don’t Call me Crazy was a moving and insightful look at this teenage mental health unit and was yet another triumph for the BBC3 documentary department.
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