Psychologist

MEDICAL STAFF
Ship Psychologist	Access: Medbay, your office, Medbay Storage Qualifications: At least 30 years of age, PhD from accredited university in applicable field, 5+ years experience in related field preferred. Employers: Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals, Nanotrasen, The Private Military Contracting Group Supervisors: Chief Medical Officer Duties: Solve everybody's problems, go insane yourself. Guides: Guide to Medicine

As the Ship Psychologist, you are tasked with identifying (and solving) personal and mental issues within the ship's crew. This is a job that you may or may not be able to accomplish successfully. If need be, you have the power to deem someone mentally unstable and, with the approval of the Chief Medical Officer, strip them of any authority they might've had. Ultimately, you are responsible for the mental health and well being of the crew.

How to Play A Psychiatrist

From a mechanical perspective, you have almost nothing to work with. This job is very roleplay-oriented, and it can be very boring if not played correctly. More often than not, you will be spending your time listening to your patients and then talking to them. Most of the players who will approach you already have something in mind, and because there is no easy, straightforward way to treat psychological issues, it falls to you to make your patient's roleplay experience an enjoyable one.

Pharmaceuticals

As the Ship psychiatrist, you can prescribe a number of anti-depressants, sedatives, painkillers, and other pharmaceutical drugs in order to help your patient in recovery from various disorders, trauma, and other such mental illnesses. Generally, you'll be prescribing medication for specific psychiatric traumas with the aid of the Pharmacist. A list of different medications and what they treat can be found here.

Hypnosis

One of the few semi-mechanical implements you get, the mesmetron pocketwatch is a hypnosis aid, which can be utilized by a canny psychiatrist to help a patient open up, both to you and to themselves. In the interest of roleplay, creating a safe and private environment is a good idea, such as in your office. From the mechanical side of things, click the patient with the watch and wait until they fall asleep. Activate the watch in hand by clicking it and type in words of encouragement. From there it's up to the patient to decide if they're effective or not. It's important to remember that you can release the patient from the trance by activating the watch in hand again, though the patient can wake up on their own if you neglect to do this.

Mental Trauma and Policy

• All characters with a Medical Doctorate degree are capable of diagnosing mental disorders, as well as prescribing medication for their diagnosis.
• Surgery trained Medical personnel are fully capable of Neuro-surgery where necessary to treat mental trauma, though this has no mechanical effect.
• Pharmacists are fully capable of synthesizing mental medication, but they cannot diagnose mental trauma.
• Psychiatrists/Psychologists are the foremost experts on this type of illness, they are the only ones capable and trained in advanced treatment and they should be the first to treat mental trauma when available.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy centers around identifying a problem and setting up a plan to fix it step by step. It focuses on developing coping strategies that can help with the current problems with cognitions, behavior, and emotional regulation. For roleplay purposes, BCBT, or Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, can be used following a step by step plan.

Orientation

• Have the patient declare a commitment to their treatment.
• Plan for crisis response and safety.
• Restrict the patient's access to problematic objects, such as substances in case of addiction.
• Put together a little survival kit of items that can help your patient through episodes.
• Establish a reminder, like a card or a piece of paper with their motivation or reason to live on it.
• Set up a treatment journal.
• Make note of any lessons the patient has learned.

Skill Focus

• Make a worksheet about how the patient is going to develop their skill to cope with their problem.
• Give the patient reminders of how they are going to solve their problems. Like a sheet of paper or cards with suggestions printed on them.
• Demonstrate how they'd use them.
• Practice their usage with the patient.
• Refine their skill at solving their own problems.

Preventing Relapses

• Have your patient apply the solution frequently to themselves once they are good enough at it to do it on their own.
• Have your patient find ways in which the solutions you've reached would work even better.

Treatable Afflictions

Lesser forms of depression and anxiety, PTSD, tics, substance abuse, eating disorders, borderline personality disorder, OCD, major depressive disorder, and psychosis. It may also help with conduct disorders.

Psychosis & Violent Patients

So let's face it... not every patient you treat is going to be coming into your office ready to talk politely about their problems. Sometimes, you're going to be dealing with people who simply aren't thinking straight, or who are even outright violent.

Hallucinations can be caused by drugs, poisons, and radiation. You'll see them on a large scale if the supermatter goes critical, and on a small scale if the Botanist or Pharmacist has been producing recreational substances. Additionally, some medication withdrawals can cause hallucinations, meaning you should keep an eye on those with prescriptions. People who are hallucinating will see things, hear things, and sometimes believe things that aren't actually there.

You will also deal with severe mental illness and trauma, including everything from the effects of having found out that one has nearly died to the garden-variety schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety every psychologist encounters. Most of the time, people who are mentally ill are not violent. Some people who are hallucinating due to drugs or radiation--especially if they've experienced it before--will know that they're hallucinating and try to stay safe. But it's entirely possible that a patient with psychosis will throw a punch at you, believing you are trying to harm them. Your main goal when dealing with a hallucinating patient is to keep them safe until the hallucinations wear off, or the doctors can treat them for whatever is causing the hallucinations.

Occasionally you will deal with a patient who is homicidal or suicidal. Depending on how bad it is and how clearly they are thinking, you may be able to simply talk them down, which is the preferred option, or you may have to restrain them in some way. If the worst happens and your patient commits suicide, remember to arrange for their post-mortem instructions to follow.

In order of increasing urgency, treatments for psychiatric emergency can include:

• Antidepressants. These work slowly and are of the most help to people who are already somewhat rational. If a person is just barely in control, this can help.
• Soporific pill or injection. A sedative will make your patient sleepy and help them calm down.
• Straight jacket. This keeps your patient from hurting themselves, but it is uncomfortable and can even be traumatic. Only use it if your patient is in immediate danger.
• Muzzle. This keeps your patient from speaking or biting--only really useful if they are desperate enough to try to chew their own hands off. Like the straitjacket, a last resort.
• Polysomnine. This is a very strong sedative that causes overdose starting at only 15 units, but its strength means it can be put into an autoinjector and be effective at stopping anyone without armor on (ask the pharmacist to make you one). Once the chloral hydrate has taken effect, the patient can be more easily restrained, and its effects can be reversed with Dylovene.

Working with Security

• Some of your patients will be criminals who happen to also have a mental illness. Others will be people who have come to Security's attention because of their erratic behavior. Either way, you may need to coordinate with Security to get these people treated.
• Remember that the people you see as patients, Security may very well see as criminals. Advise Security as to the nature of the crisis and stress that your patient is hallucinating, depressed, confused, etc. Explain to them any particular triggers your patient may have.
• Ensure that any physical injuries your patient has are taken care of first.
• If Security has been unnecessarily rough with your patient, do not hesitate to make complaints. In many cases, you will be the only one speaking out on behalf of your patient's welfare.
• Handcuffs are an effective way of restraining a patient while you speak to them, but just like a straitjacket, they are uncomfortable and can cause a patient to panic. If they're necessary for your safety, use them, but don't just slap them on your patients willy-nilly.
• Don't be afraid to ask for a guard on a particularly violent patient. Letting your patient beat you up is not approved clinical practice.