“Ms. Smith wasn’t treating me like a problem to be fixed only with medication. She understood the language I was speaking. She knew me intellectually, philosophically, and even on some level spiritually. She was a huge barometer to judge my wellness and nonwellness.” After the visit, Naomi began taking Tegretol again. Perhaps if Naomi had encountered this kind of understanding years earlier—someone who grasped the different frameworks necessary to describe her pain—she would have had a different “career.” Her delusions might not have taken hold so firmly if she hadn’t felt so alone.
