People Confess The Scariest Thing Their Spouse Ever Said To Them
Reddit user i_like_purple_clouds asked: 'What is the scariest thing your spouse ever said to you?'
Content Warning: Mental Health, Suicide, Suicidal Ideation, Violence
It's so hard to know what someone else is thinking or going through.
Even when they tell us, it can be difficult to fathom the feeling without living it ourselves.
Because of this, sometimes a person can really surprise us by saying something we never expected, even the people we love the most in the world.
Redditor i_like_purple clouds asked:
"What is the scariest thing your spouse ever said to you?"
Absolute Nightmares
"'Look at all those snakes on the ceiling!'"
"It was the middle of the night. He was actually fast asleep. There were no snakes."
- morganafiolett
"My ex was an arachnophobe, and my son had a fever dream/nightmare and was very distressed, screaming that he had woken up and seen 'tarantulas' scuttling into the corners of the underside of the upper bunk of his bunk bed."
"I was doing that, 'Honey, you're very sick, and you've been asleep, and I know it feels very real, but I promise you that there are no spiders...' speech when my ex just ran in, scooped up the boy, and hollered, 'F**k that noise, woman! Call me when you've flipped the mattresses!!' and legit ran out of the apartment with kiddo, lol (laughing out loud)."
"This annoyed me to no end at the time, but my son later told me that my ex made him feel very heard."
- kifferella
Their Reason for Living
"'There are times when I only wake up because I know you're here.'"
- Foreveridosyncratic
"Very sweet, but it would break my heart to hear, which is exactly why I don't say it to my husband, even when it feels true."
- Silhouette_Edge
That Familiar Heart Stitch
"'I think I'm having a heart attack.'"
"It was her first panic attack. I broke every law driving her to the hospital. Thankfully she's doing better now."
- HyliaSerket
"I said this to my fiancé last winter after (being in the process of) getting diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia. I woke him up SOBBING in the middle of the night when he was dead asleep and said, 'I think I’m having a heart attack.'"
"Poor guy. It’s insane how a panic attack can mimic a heart attack. My arm even went numb/tingly!"
- SummerSunset8
Truth Mid-Session
"During our first marriage counseling session, we were asked about our goals for this session. She said, 'I don’t want this to work.'"
"And it did not work. That was the end of our marriage. At the time, it was the scariest moment of my life. Today, three years later, I can honestly say neither of us was happy and needed some help."
"Therapy works. Sometimes honesty hurts and revelations are hard."
- ATENFOOTTURD
Always, Always Ask For Help
"'I thought about hanging myself in the garage last night.' That was my husband when he finally told me how bad he was struggling with his mental health."
"I had no idea he was in such a dark place. Hearing that come out of his mouth both scared the s**t out of me and ripped my heart out."
- heyypeach
The Ultimatum
"'If this is what being with you for the rest of my life is going to be like, I want out right now.'"
"This was said six months into my second marriage."
"I finally heard it: that I was damaged and that I needed help."
"I immediately found a therapist and went steadily for 10 years. It was hard as f**k. Lots of uncomfortable times."
"But it changed me. We are together now pretty f**king happily, 23 years with now two amazing kids. S**t doesn’t have to last forever."
- um8medoit
What's with the Lights?
"'All the lights downstairs just went on. There is someone in our house...'"
"I was on a business trip and my wife called me at 3:00 AM. Never felt so helpless in my life."
"She called the police and they searched our home from top to bottom but we never found out who switched on every single light on the ground floor!"
- GnOeLLLmPF
"Our basement was like this. My husband kept blaming me for leaving the light on, but I had stopped going down there because I was pregnant and didn't want to do unnecessary stairs."
"When he, quite upset at me for continuing to do what irked him so much, told me, 'Can you stop leaving lights on, I'm the one who has to pay the power bill,' and I was like, 'Actually, I haven't been down there in weeks.'"
"I assumed the basement was haunted or we had someone secretly living down there (unlikely because we have security set up... And dogs). But it turns out one of the light switches (the type with a dimmer) was just broken. You'd turn it off and leave the room... But then a few minutes later it would short and turn back on."
- evange
Undervaluing Themselves
"At her lowest point of depression, whilst out shopping, with no apparent trigger, she deadpanned, 'You'd be better off if I didn't come home.'
"Fortunately, she got out of that rut, but doesn't remember saying it and how much it terrified me."
- takesbribes
A Secret Life
"I discovered he was addicted to cocaine. It was completely out of the blue. I would have never found out if I hadn’t stained my shirt and had to go home to change and walked in on him snorting a fat rail at 1:39 PM on a random Tuesday."
"I gave him an ultimatum: my support during rehab unconditionally, or we completely part ways if you want to continue snorting coke all day."
"He said, 'The coke, I don’t want to talk to you.'"
"He chose coke and we divorced, and I have no idea whether he is alive or dead. Frankly, the man I married never actually existed. I have such a bad picker I’ve decided to just give up."
- Glldinkiering
"Honestly, bless him for being straightforward and allowing you to get out quickly. He could have taken you through multiple years of hell of trying to get clean and relapsing over and over. Staying home to do lines alone on a random Tuesday is pretty deep in it, so it's a blessing you caught him that day and got out."
- anoidciv
"He also did me a solid by insisting we have a prenuptial agreement which protected me when his @ss was sued into oblivion by his business partners for embezzling money for coke."
- Glldinkiering
Terrible News
"'I've been in an accident...'"
- Ok-Detective-1721
"I’ve been that guy, she happened to call me as I was being lifted into the ambulance with my head smashed after being hit by a car. I had regained consciousness only seconds earlier."
"Somehow I had the presence of mind to phrase it, 'I’m okay, but I have to go to hospital because I’ve had an accident.'"
- lilgreenrosetta
Bad Dreams Love Company
"'Who’s that standing in the corner?' she said at 2:00 AM while sitting up in bed and pointing towards the corner."
"I was still half asleep but freaking out and then she just laid back down and continued sleeping like nothing happened. No one was in the corner."
- futbo2
"One time I got out of bed to use the bathroom, and as I crossed in front of the bed my wife sat up and started screaming like nothing I’ve ever heard."
"I had an injury that has had me sleeping with extra pillows to position my body comfortably since I was early twenties. The pillows made it look in the dark like I was still asleep next to her. So when she saw me crossing in front of the bed, she thought someone had broken in and was in our room."
- PerfectionPending
Unwelcome Houseguests
"She was filling our water bottles before coming to bed and I was just on my phone in bed. I heard her come up the stairs almost like she tripped on the last step because she usually misses that last one."
"Just as I’m getting up to go see if she’s alright, she comes flying through the bedroom door closing it behind her. I never saw her scared like this and I was confused until she said, 'Something just followed me up the stairs.'"
"I nearly s**t myself, that type of fear where tears spring to your eyes and your stomach knots."
"I’m not sure what I would have done if it was just the two of us alone in the house. (There were others, but they were in their room and asleep.)"
"At first, I thought it was the dog, but she confirmed it was very much not. There was nothing there. She claims it was a large black mass behind her that she could hear. We both had a bit of trouble going to sleep that night."
- MonsterMontvalo
"My best friend was at a friend's house and had a dark mass behind him, over his shoulder, and looking down on him."
"In the middle of the night on the way to the restroom, he felt it. He paused for he didn’t know how long, 10 seconds or 10 minutes, he couldn’t say. Then he looked up and saw it in a mirror at the end of the hall. He sprinted to the restroom and stayed there until the sun came up."
"His friend said he looked terrible in the morning and he responded by saying he saw something last night."
"His friend said, 'Oh man, talk to Mom about it.'"
"He told the Mom about the experience, and she asked, 'Was it the light one or the dark one?'
"Dark one. 'Ok good, the light one is mean.' And that’s all that was said."
- M_n_Ms
F**k Cancer
"'I’m tired and want to go home.'"
"He died six hours later, after only fighting cancer for six weeks."
- Bulky-Tomatillo-1705
"She told me, 'I want to die at home.'"
"She had been battling cancer for five weeks and wanted to be home. She had a few weeks with me and died eight weeks after the inital diagnosis. F**k cancer."
- kazz-wizz
Talk... About What?!
"We need to talk when you get home."
"Folks, I spent the next six hours going over every possible thing I could have done wrong to warrant that response. We were in the middle of buying a house and planning our wedding and I thought everything could possibly be crumbling."
"Turns out my darling wife, the love of my life, and my best friend missed the f**king memo of what 'we need to talk' means in a relationship and wanted to talk to me about CARPETING FOR THE HOUSE."
"That conversation happened over a dozen years ago at this point and I still remind her from time to time about how she almost gave me a heart attack."
"To this day, she thinks it's hilarious."
- Trendsa
Brutal, To Be Honest
"Good god, I have to stop reading these. So much heartbreak here."
"It’s good to be reminded to not take things for granted in good times."
- slaphappypap
This conversation was a great example of how little we might know of what's going on in someone's head, even if it's the person we love the most in the world.
But at least in these Redditors' cases, their partners were willing to share this information with them, which gave them an opportunity to make the situation better.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
People Confess What They Saw As A Kid That Actually Gave Them Nightmares
Children are very impressionable. They're also little humans, remember, and all quite different. Some are more afraid of some things than others. When I was a kid, some of my classmates were utterly terrified of Chucky, the killer doll.
I think he worked the best in the first film and to a larger extent in the second, but after that? Those movies got a bit ridiculous, wouldn't you agree?
Well, the memories linger, as you can imagine.
People took us on a trip down memory lane after Redditor teacatpeng asked the online community,
"What’s something you saw (as a kid) that gave you nightmares for a long time?"
"Specifically..."
"The movie Signs. Specifically the scene where they are recording a home movie and catch the feet under the fence or something. Greetings from my nightmares extraterrestrials!"
Okenthusiam509
Oh Lord, this movie. I don't think it has aged well but it did pack a punch when I was younger.
"My young mind..."
The Fly (1986). My young mind was not ready for that movie.
thenightcrew88
To be fair, who is? Thanks, David Cronenberg!
"There was a TV movie..."
"There was a TV movie (Fire in the Sky?) I remember watching and all I can remember is a scary red sky and the guy laying on a table. Terrified me as a kid!"
Jefz
You are correct! The movie is indeed Fire in the Sky and it appears to have successfully traumatized an entire generation!
"My whole class..."
"I was around like nine or ten? My whole class saw one of the alcoholics in our town viciously beat his girlfriend right next to the school grounds. It was… a little bit traumatising."
UngusBungus
We're sorry you had to see that. This is devastating. Hopefully you were able to get some help afterward.
"I saw..."
I saw a car crash when I was about 7. I don't know if it is a result of that but I still have a phobia of driving and don't have a driving license at 26."
Lord-AG
Possibly? You'd be surprised how much is rooted in childhood fear!
"If you know..."
"Event Horizon. If you know, you know. If you don't know, you'll sleep better not knowing."
stx06
Oh, I definitely know. That movie was creepy. The final act loses its way a bit but wow, is the rest of the film effective.
"Scared the hell out of me..."
"The Exorcist - watched it during a sleepover at my friend’s house when I was 9. Scared the hell out of me and couldn’t sleep right for weeks afterward."
VictorBlimpmuscle
Who could blame you? It's amazing that this film continues to attract more fans each year. It's exceptional.
"Nightmares for weeks after..."
"I was about 7 or 8 years old when The Poseidon Adventure aired as a late night movie one evening when my parents were out and we had a babysitter. Nightmares for weeks after, and I wouldn't swim in pools that whole summer."
AmishH*eFights
Come to think of it, the 1970s disaster movie craze no doubt made some people think twiice about boarding a ship... or being in a high rise... or an airplane...
"I remember seeing..."
"I remember seeing a commercial for a horror movie when I was younger and it featured a scene where a woman's face was melting. It terrified me and gave me nightmares for weeks."
staffs-burglaries
Now I need to hunt this movie down! What could it be?
"My bedroom..."
"Poltergeist III. My bedroom had a wall of mirrors in it at the time. I still have a hard time looking in a mirror if the lights are off."
willowgrl
The scene you're mentioning is probably the most effective one in the film and by then the series had definitely overstayed its welcome.
Are some of these posts bringing back some unsettling memories? We apologize in advance. You probably saw more scary movies than you remember, come to think of it.
Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
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Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
Life can be pretty frightening sometimes.
And anything can happen: Accidents. Deaths. Other traumatizing experiences.
Believe it or not, everyone has a story. It's worth remembering that when you deal with total strangers.
But it's difficult for some people to open up compared to others. We get it though—why would you want to remember some horrible memory?
Nevertheless, people were kind enough to share with us after Redditor relaxito asked the online community:
"What is the scariest thing you have witnessed with your own eyes?"
"I woke up..."
"I woke up and saw a shadow man run then jump at me while I was in bed. I was so struck with fear I was unable to move but he disappeared right before he landed. The memory was so terrifying I still remember it nearly 30 years later."
BW_Bird
Wow!
The things we see as kids, real or imagined, can really traumatize us.
"One night I woke up..."
"One night I woke up to yelling and crashing and walked into the living room to see my dad fistfighting a complete stranger. He beat the absolute sh*t out of him and threw him down the stairs into our unfinished basement and locked the door since that was the only way in or out of there and called the police."
"Guy thought nobody was home and decided to try to burglarize the place and walked around the corner and bumped right into my dad in the dark who was half asleep on his way to the bathroom."
Victor117
Thankfully you all survived!
Having an intruder walk in is scary.
"I just thought he was worn out..."
"My fiance of 14 years dying in front of me, while I stroked his hair. I just thought he was worn out from trying to get up after tripping over his sweatpants, as his lower back had been hurting. Horrifically tragic, heartbreaking beyond all reason, he just went limp. I'll never be the same."
MrsEECummings
Sorry for your loss. There is no taking away that shock or pain.
"I was trying to nap..."
"I was in a bus that crashed into a house. I was trying to nap after a late-night flight when suddenly the bus shook, so I opened my eyes and saw us going off the road, knocking down a small tree and then colliding with a house."
"There was a strong smell of gas, so we thought the bus was going to explode. We all had to get out through the fire escape window, and I cut my hand on broken glass when I landed. Thankfully the bus did not explode and everyone got out with only minor injuries."
"Nobody was home in the house either."
Lewa263
It's good to hear that no one was seriously injured or killed!
"My grandfather's..."
"My grandfather's seemingly lifeless body as he was dying from stage 4 cancer. Never was the same when he left."
HolyRamirez
Cancer sucks. So devastating. Sorry for your loss.
"Forty years ago..."
"Forty years ago I got home very drunk late at night. The police had my house staked out waiting for me and tackled me in the driveway and took me to jail for burglary that they accused me of."
"Spent three days in jail before they figured out that I was innocent and just cut me loose about an hour from my home without my wallet which they still had at the county jail that I was originally booked into. Didn't have a cent on me but I was sure happy to be out."
This is terrifying.
The feeling of powerlessness must have been immense.
"It took me years..."
"When I was around 9 years old, I was on vacation with my mom. The hotel gave our room key, in the middle of the night, to some random man claiming it was his room. Luckily the chain was drawn, but the man was very drunk and stood there yelling into the room."
"It took me years before I would stay in a hotel again."
ChocoboToes
This must have been so scary to experience as a child and I can't say anyone would blame you.
"Arrived at an accident..."
"Arrived at an accident about 30 seconds after it occurred. A friend of mine was driving and rolled the car, she was thrown clear (no seatbelt - wear them FFS!) and hit a tree."
"I found her, did first aid and helped the paramedics lift her onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. Her body stopped functioning about a week later but it's pretty obvious she died there (massive brain trauma), it just took a while for the end."
Flight19Navigator
Sorry for your loss.
Thankfully you were able to be there for your friend.
Wearing a seatbelt saves lives.
"Was so strange."
"Saw the aftermath of a teenager who fell at a skate rink and hit her head on a concrete step that surrounded the skating surface. Dead right there. Ambulance came, carted her off. Then everyone started skating again. Was so strange."
9600_PONIES
Surreal!
I think I would have left after seeing something like that.
"Within 15 minutes..."
"Saw an old man slip and die at a bus stop in Portland early in the morning when I was a teenager. That was sad, but what really shook me was the way he was picked up by an ambulance, the sidewalk was washed off, and they left. Within 15 minutes people were occupying that space waiting for a bus, and it was like it had never happened."
Oozie_Nahs
Life goes on.
It's wild to think about.
It's a bit unnerving to know that something terrible could happen and life would continue with most people being none the wiser.
"At a job I used to work at..."
"At a job I used to work at, my boss had a heart attack in his office and died in the middle of the shift. The office lights were motion activated so we thought he left to go something as it was dark. I went into the office to get a new radio and there he was, leaned back in his chair with his eyes wide open. Scariest thing I've ever seen."
PunchlineHappy
That must have been so horrifying to witness, especially once the lights turned on.
"I was living..."
"I was living in Naples, Italy and got off a train to see someone shoot a man feet away from me. I’ll never forget the woman who was with them screaming."
Itsconosciuto
Horrifying.
I can only imagine and admit I am curious about the aftermath.
Everyone around you?
They have a story.
They've SEEN some stuff. Remember that next time you're out in public. You never know what others have experienced.
Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
I am very much a night owl. I quite like being up at night.
For one thing, it's quiet.
There's no one to bother me. If I want to watch television and vegetate, I can just do that.
If I want to do some work, I can get my work done without interruptions. It's pretty sweet.
Nothing particularly scary has ever happened either... yet. My fingers are crossed.
But others haven't exactly been so lucky.
They told us their stories after Redditor citric_acid asked the online community:
"What is the scariest thing you’ve witnessed in the middle of the night?"
"Driving through an abandoned section..."
"Driving through an abandoned section of Baltimore at 3 in the morning, my CB radio turned itself on and crackled for a bit. Out of nowhere some voice over the radio said in a deep southern drawl, 'I ain't got no panties on.'"
"I could see up and down the interstate for miles and saw not one set of headlights..."
THREEkoalas
What in the world?
No, thank you.
"It was a bright moonlit night..."
"I stepped in and fell over a cow carcass on a night hike. It was a bright moonlit night but I didn't see it in the shadows. Thankfully it was mostly dry."
Phantomtastic
I would not want to stumble into that late at night!
No thanks.
"Turns out..."
"When I was around 8 I woke up to hear my parents whisper yelling. Turns out someone was beating on the back sliding glass door with a baseball bat. Turns out he was drunk and mistook our place for his ex's."
cigarmanga
Imagine something like this happening to you because you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"I cut down a tree..."
"I cut down a tree in my backyard one afternoon. The tree was in front of my backyard slider so at night there was a lot more light coming in from the neighbors lights and street lights."
"I get up the next morning before sunrise to make my coffee and I saw a shadowy figure down the hall. I yelled what the f**k?!"
"At the moment I didn't realize that now more light was being let in by the lack of tree it cast my shadow on the wall. So basically I was a 37 year old dude that was scared of my own shadow."
lookssharp
It happens to the best of us.
Fear of the unknown still gets us, no matter how old we are!
"Don't know who it was..."
"When I was in high school I was out late (around 2-3am) with a friend chilling in a park. We are just chatting on a bench and after about an hour there I noticed a silhouette in the distance move slightly."
"To my horror I realized there had been a person staring at us from the same spot for almost half an hour or more. As I told my friend and we started to run back to their place, they started chasing us."
"Don’t know who it was or what they were planning but probably the most freaked out I’ve been in my life."
Skytorn7
This is horrifying.
Thankfully you got away!
"Last week..."
"Last week I saw a shooting in the middle of the street while having a pint outside a bar, probably that."
Much_Committee_9355
That is terrifying.
Hopefully you've been able to see someone after seeing something so horrific.
"She had her own nightmare..."
"I once woke up from a nightmare about a demonic little girl to my little sister hovering above my bed. I freaked out and punched her in the nose."
"My sister had her own nightmare and was standing over me because she was debating whether or not to wake me up. I have a history of waking violently so she was weighing whether it was worth it or not. We spent the rest of the night watching Disney movies."
lizzyote
You must have been sleeping very deeply!
But Disney cures all ills.
"Remind you of a movie?"
"My daughter, 4 years old, black hair, pale skin, came into our bedroom in the middle of the night. Hair in her face. Middle of the bed by our feet. And started climbing up towards me and my spouse. Remind you of a movie?"
mutalisken
I've definitely seen this movie before.
Has your daughter ever emerged from a television?
"The police banging my door..."
"The police banging my door at 3am looking for a missing teenage girl... even though I knew my daughter was safe in her room. It still freaked me out."
Wshrig
Terrifying!
Thankfully she was okay and hopefully you were able to rest easy.
"Thought he was drunk..."
"My downstairs neighbour walked into my apartment at 1:30 a,m. I was only dressed in underwear and didn’t have my glasses on. Thought he was drunk and managed to convince him he was in the wrong apartment. He backed his way out, closed the door and went down the hall carrying something."
"A week later I run into him downstairs and laugh about how drunk he must’ve been. Turned out he’d been away. That wasn’t my neighbour who’d walked in."
tangcameo
This would creep me the hell out.
The last thing I want is anyone uninvited in my space.
I think I'm just going to lock my doors and never leave the house after reading these.
Or maybe not stay up so late. Not be a night owl.
What I don't know won't hurt me.
Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
Being a doctor is an extraordinary job. Everyday you are in life and death situations and when the stakes are that high you never forget. Sometimes it is often similar to 'Grey's Anatomy'.... danger and adrenaline are running rampant. And sometimes, sadly, the patient is the enemy.
Redditor u/inlovewithspace asked doctors to share about the times that may have gotten them a little nervous by wondering..... Psychiatrists/psychologists/therapists/doctors of reddit - what was the most dangerous moment you have lived through while with a patient?"ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI!! HOLY CRAP!! WHAT AN HONOR!!"
GiphyTherapist here. This happened to a mentor of mine.
He was working in a community clinic in another city. He was getting ready to head out for the day when the secretary pulled him aside, asking him to do an emergency intake for a client who came in claiming to be in crisis. Mentor agrees and heads to the waiting room to call the guy back.
Mentor said as soon as he opened the door to the waiting room he had a weird feeling. He brought the guy back to his office and made the decision to sit behind his desk for the intake, something he never does.
Mentor asked the client what brought him in. The client screams, "I am St. Francis of Assisi and I am destined to die!!!" He rips open his shirt to reveal cuts all over his chest, then pulls out a knife and says, "And you are destined to die too!!!"
I honestly don't know how my mentor thought of this, but he immediately slammed his hands on the desk and screamed, "ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI!! HOLY CRAP!! WHAT AN HONOR!!" This caught the attention of the secretary who cracked open the door, saw the knife, and called the cops.
I guess my mentor spooked the guy because he took off down the hall and out a back door. The cops had a manhunt on their hands for several hours and eventually found him. Never recovered the knife.
The lesson my mentor wanted me to take from this event? "Never be afraid to be crazier than your clients."DrivingSharkBait
Michael Clarke Duncan
Wow so many stories come to mind. I've worked in both male and female prisons. One comes to mind where I (24f) was meeting with an inmate in his forties. He was double my size at least. For reference looked a similar size to Michael Clarke Duncan. He had sever anger issues and we had been meeting so I could provide psych testing. He has developmentally delayed and because of his size when he got mad he could pick up and throw a whole metal trash bin.
He told me he goes into rage blackouts and didn't want to hurt me if he ever got mad. He told me he likes roses and fake ones worked too. I bought some at a store and kept them on me. Sure enough one day another staff member kept coming in the office to interrupt us. Eventually asked us to terminate the session early. I saw him boiling up about to blow. He stood up and clenched his fists. I handed him the flowers and he sat back down sort of petting them till he calmed down.
I've been working with inmates for years. Been in between inmates fighting, been around pepper spray, severe self-harm, threats, those moments where you realize the person across from you is a psychopath who truly wants to hurt you, but I never felt like something really bad was going to happen to me or someone else then if I hadn't have listened to him and had those flowers. xxDr-Beckyxx
The stories are endless.
Oh boy. The stories are endless. The story that sticks out the most right now is:
New therapist, still in graduate school/in training. I was working at an inpatient facility unit, my job was to basically "interview" patients upon arrival. Keep in mind, most patients do NOT want to be there and are there against their will. I'm the first face they see. I was working overnights where I am the only staff in the entire wing until patients are ready to move to the unit.
So one night I have a list of who is coming in from the hospital. I meet with one person, mind you I don't remember much about this person. Every door you walk through locks with a code behind you. I go into the room with this patient. We talk, I give them paper work or whatever. For some reason I completely blank on the code to get out. Absolutely cannot remember it, trying to keep my cool I tell them I'm going to sit with them for a little while until whatever reason I made up to seem fitting. The more anxious I am the further I blank. I try numerous codes, patient knows what's up but is cool enough about it despite my embarrassment. Eventually I figure it out.
Next client on the list? Repeated offender, anti-social diagnosis (previously known as sociopath), real rough around the edges antagonistic individual. All I could think is wow, if that had happened one person later I would have been in a really bad spot.
Not long after I switched to day shifts where we had two employees working the "interviews" and staff all around. throwaway242577
Next Ward Please....
I've been the subject of erotomania in my patient with psychosis.
Erotomania is listed in the DSM-5 as a subtype of a delusional disorder. It is a relatively uncommon paranoid condition that is characterized by an individual's delusions of another person being infatuated with them. (...) The object of the delusion is typically unattainable due to high social or financial status, marriage or disinterest. The object of obsession may also be imaginary, deceased or someone the patient has never met. Delusions of reference are common, as the erotomanic individual often perceives that they are being sent messages from the secret admirer through innocuous events such as seeing license plates from specific states.
Apparently I look like his ex-wife - who he tried to strangle. He was staring at me, completely fixated, during the admission interview which is not uncommon. I started to be the only person who could convince him to take his medication, de-escalate aggressive episodes, etc. Then all the love letters started to be slipped under the door to the nurses' station.
He was moved to the next ward, and required restraint and seclusion because he choked a nurse to try and steal his keys to get back to my ward. Last I heard, he was offering money to other patients who would be discharged soon to hang around the car park between 6 - 7 PM to figure out which car I drive. manlikerealities
Intern Days.
I (22F) was an intern in the internal medicine area, I entered a triple room (one room, three patients) and greet the first patient (about 55M), who had just arrived from ER, to recover from a heart attack.
Without any notice, he got up and started to beat the crap out of me, ripping his IV lines and monitor in the process. I tried to defend me and the family members from the other beds and nurses came to help me and submit him (with the help of a dose of diazepan).
Turns out, he had had an massive stroke a year which damaged his frontal lobe and cortex leaving him extremely aggressive, (that's also why he didn't had any family with him).
Another time, also as an intern (in a public hospital from one of the most dangerous Mexican cities, in 2012 just where the drug war was at it's height) a senior lady came for a breast tumor, but upon seeing it, we decided it was far too advanced for any surgery or treatment, palliative care was all we can do for her. Her son, while carrying a gun (prohibited by law and only carried by mafia) threatened the oncologist and me that he'll come to us if anything happened to her momma. I finished my term in that hospital a few weeks later, and vow never to return (these and other motives). AnaPaulinaSantos
"Oscar"
I used to have an elderly patient we'll call Oscar that started offering me a dime to sit in his lap when I was 16, it was a bit uncomfortable and I would weakly laugh it off until he took that as license to start offering me money to do some seriously messed up and dirty things. I didn't laugh anymore when they would say stuff to me anymore after that, just ignored it completely. WordsAsWeapons79
"Sucker Man"
I worked housekeeping fora nursing home for a while. There was a guy in there we called "Sucker Man" because he would always ask us to hand him a sucker. He was known to go into rage fits, and the only housekeepers he would even let in his room were me and Shelby (not real name). I had seen him get physical with a couple nurses, but fortunately the one time his rage turned towards me it was an easy fix. He dropped one of his suckers on the floor (which I had not yet cleaned) so I swept it up.
Sucker Man asked me to give it back to him and I told him I wouldn't since it had been on the floor. He grabbed his sippy cup and was about to throw it at me screaming "God damn it, you son of a b****!" but I took a step back towards his bookshelf— where his suckers were stored. I handed him another one and it was smooth sailing from there. bardicly-inclined
"it's still here!"
Social worker here. At one time I had a job as a clinical case manager on an adolescent residential unit at a psychiatric hospital. One of my clients had visit with his mom, who lived a couple of hours away. The was the first time in about six years he was allowed to visit her. It was a big deal. Per the plan, I drove him to her house (where he grew up), but when we get there we find out she's at the methadone clinic. So we drive to the clinic, getting lost along the way (this is pre smart-phones) and end up driving through a seriously sketchy neighborhood, eventually find her waiting outside the clinic, and then go back to her house.
We're all in the front room, and my client is pacing around, checking stuff out, and then out of nowhere walks to the sofa, reaches behind it and pulls out a rifle. He's got a big smile on his face, and he says "it's still here!" Then he looks over at me, says "it's not loaded" and looks at his mom and says "is it?" She says something to the effect of "Jesus Christ, give me that," like he was playing with the remote or something, and casually puts it back behind the sofa. He's smiling and mumbling to himself, she's checked out and looks bored, and I'm about to jump out of my skin.
I suggested we continue the visit at the local McDonalds... my treat. Which we did. Afterwards we dropped her off, and headed back to the hospital. My client was eventually discharged into a transitional living program for young adults. I never forgot him, or that visit. gregorja
Strangled.
I work in addiction medicine. Had a schizoaffective patient that would come in every so often after going off his meds and going on a cocaine and heroin bender. The last time I saw him, he was off his meds, high as a kite, and actively hallucinating that there were monsters in the room. He told me that's what he saw and he was watching them while he talked to me.
Everything was ok at first, but the second I put my stethoscope on his chest, it was like a switch flipped. I saw muscles clench and he stopped answering questions and got this thousand yard stare. I immediately got a sinking feeling in my stomach and had the clearest thought that, "this dude is going to strangle me with my stethoscope."
I stepped back and said, "ok, we're done," and he got up and walked out into the hall. Stat dose of haldol and all ended well, but he scared the shit out of me in that moment. unoriginalnames
It's All Flawed.
I worked in an ER once with a secure mental health unit. Serious design flaw however, there was an access point into the ceiling in the bathroom. Dude climbed into the ceiling and tried to escape the hospital however made it a few feet and crashed through the ceiling into the clinicians write up room. To say we were somewhat startled was an understatement. Luckily we had security in there at the time who pounced on him before he could get up. craycraxy
The Break.
I worked in an Emergency Department. A psychiatrist was seeing a patient in her office when the patient snapped and started stabbing the hell out of her. An off-duty cop in the waiting room heard her screaming, ran into the office and shot the patient. They both arrived in the ED at the same time. She lived (barely) and he died from a GSW to the head. That was a bad, bad day. chaosoneactual
"brush the bugs off"
I used to do psych rehab in the community and had a couple scary clients.
One was EXTREMELY ill. He was about twice my weight and had 1.5 feet on me (5'2" 115 pound female) he was sitting next to me and kept trying to "brush the bugs off" my upper thigh and then told me he was "gonna cut my arms and head off and watch me rot in hell" I called 911 and he was taken to the hospital and released that night, I called his provider to report he needed care and the hospital released him and he refused to even adjust his meds.
I had another client that HATED me. He was on house arrest for attempted murder and I would DREAD his visits because he would fly off the handle for absolutely no reason, like if I wouldn't let him use my cell phone or drive him somewhere.
I quit.
"home & community"
I did in home work family therapy. I had a parent who lived in a remote area and sessions usually ended in the early evening. They had some pretty significant mental health issues and had identified me as the primary cause of a lot of their current stressors (communicating with child welfare services/crisis services when there was a risk of harm). One evening they were pretty agitated and started telling me how much they hated me, and to prove it they described the very specific dream they'd had the night before of decapitating me and throwing my body parts into the local river.
I immediately left (of course it was winter and icy and dark) and they screamed at me from their front porch that I couldn't abandon them while I drove off.
Honestly, I really believe in the "home & community" therapeutic model - but one of the main reasons why I left is that it felt inherently unsafe. I worked with women with abusive husband's who absolutely knew I was helping them plan to leave. Parents who knew they were going to lose their children based on the work we did/ what I reported. You get a lot of work done sitting at someone's kitchen table, but the trade off the safety and security of working in public space. littledinosaurtickle
"get my phone"
I was a mental health tech. I quit after a client, a man in his 40s who also was way taller than me, cornered me in the library and tried to "get my phone" from my back pocket, wouldn't let me leave. I had basically no support there and was left as the only one working the floor. He followed me everywhere and made sexual comments toward me for the entirety of my 12 hour shift. I was 19 and in school. He actually fled the facility after I left, and is still in the city somewhere which always scares me. He was fresh out of prison and was actually supposed to go back if he didn't complete the program. wolverineismydad
stuck in his leg....
Working in the ER one day a guy came in with a fork or some utensil stuck in his leg. I've seen way more crazy crap come through so i didn't think twice about it. About 20 seconds later a car comes screening to a stop just outside the doors and a young lady runs in and yells "don't give him pain medication, he did that to himself!" Truth is she didn't have to do that because narcotic seekers are always flagged in the system, but it was a great show. Point is, people will do seriously crazy things to get high. Weiner_Queefer_9000
Gravel Pit Jim."
Used to work 911, had a frequent flyer who we affectionately called "Gravel Pit Jim." Jim was crazy as hell and a felon, and lived out of his car at an old gravel pit (hence the name). I can't remember what his deal was but he checked all the behavioral-disorder boxes that started with schizo. A part-time drug addict, he called pretty reliably with the inside scoop on the local dealers. Literally every call I took from this guy stared "So I got this intelligence" which would lead to him tattling on his dope man. This was actually pretty useful, and our units learned a lot from his leads.
Jim and I got to be somewhat familiar, he'd call the suicide hotline who would aggravate him or simply hang up, and then he'd contact us in a rage. We talked enough that he decided he liked me, and he'd typically call around eleven or midnight, almost on a schedule. I can't say I was ever personal with the guy, he'd talk and I'd listen, but we'd go around for a while and then we'd move on with our nights. I treated him human, if nothing else. If he called and got anybody different, he'd ask for me, and then dutifully wait while I cleared up whatever crisis and got to him. Not friendly, but cordial.
He and I did this for around a year, then one night he drove off a bridge with me on the phone. For whatever reason he decided to come into our jurisdiction (a large bridge led into it) and he aimed for the guardrail. Don't know why, he didn't say anything different or special from what I can remember, he just checked out. I always kinda had the suspicion he was coming to see me, maybe it was for the best that way, probably he realized that. He wasn't the first guy who died on my line or even the most graphic, but he was definitely the one I knew the best. CSPANSPAM
"fist-fights"
Therapist, worked in a severe behavior school, lots of "fist-fights" with teens, sometimes a foot taller than me.
By fist fights I mean, me dodging their punches and trying to get them in the state legal restraint that assumed you would be bigger than the person you were restraining. Very stressful job while I had it, but never boring and very rewarding as these teens respected the shit out of me and would really listen to my advice, barring black out rages. ThaJourneyRing
Must have been quite a sight.
When I was working at a care facility as a nurse aide a giant man came in with alcohol induced dementia (these patients are always high risk for being extremely aggressive and violent) he had plenty of issues the first day he came. Attempting to run away harassing the women trying to start fights with the men. The average age of people I cared for was mid 70 but this man was in his late 50s so we had to keep a close eye on him.
As the strong woman of the team I was always the one called to help manage him incase he got violent. After about a week he decided he has had enough of me impeding on his life in such a way and decided to go for me. So there I was a 23 yo girl 5'10 at 145 lbs trying to keep a 6'5 250 lb muscular man from strangling me with a belt and the only support I had was a 5' tall scared girl tugging on his shirt the best she can in an attempt to pull him off of me all while a bunch of elderly people stood around us screaming. Must have been quite a sight.
Fortunately I was able to get out of the hold he had on me and some other men who worked in the facility were able to keep him from harming others until he calmed down. The next day he was transferred to a better equipped facility but goodness that was a rough week. koalabearsrus
9 stories up.
My dad was a social worker / case worker for a very long time in SF in the 70's, and as the story has been related to me by him, by my half brother's mom (his wife at the time), my half brother, and my dad's best friend, he got a call saying one of his cases was having a break and had locked herself in a hotel room.
So my dad finds the room, can't get in, goes to the room directly above it, climbs out of their balcony, and lowers himself onto his case's balcony - 9 stories up. 9.
He then gets inside, just as she cuts both of her wrists and starts coming at him with the knife. He gets the knife, dunno what he did with it, bear hugs her, and carries her into the elevator and then out onto the street where an ambulance was waiting. The police finally showed up about 5 minutes after the whole thing ended.
Comes home covered in blood. iph0ne
"they.... are telling me to stab you"
This monster of a man (easily 2 meters tall and 200+kilo) with the emotional intelligence of a baby. He was told there were no activities for the day and couldn't cope with that and started smashing the place up. Police were called, thank god he did not attack any staff or residents. He looked like he could squeeze my brain out with two of his fingers.
Co-worker had some resident face him with a knife and say "they (the voices in his head) are telling me to stab you". Co-worker told him that was not true and to put the knife away, which he did.
Please note that people with a schizophrenic disorder are waaaaay more likely to be the victim of violence than the perpetrator. In this case, there was no violence. VloekenenVentileren
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