
From the film Requiem for a Dream
Harry - Does he give you pills?
Sara - Of course he gives me pills. He's a doctor!
Harry - What kind of pills, Ma?
Sara - Oh,...um....a blue one, a purple one, and a...
Harry - I mean, what's in them?
Doctor - Yeah, we can fix that.
From the film Running with Scissors
Dr. Finch - (taking out some pills) Would you like some of these?
Augusten Burroughs - What are they?
Dr. Finch - I just got some samples in the mail, so I don't know.
After forking over the initial consultation fee of $258.98, they have you sit in the lobby and fill out some forms - typical of any first meeting with a therapist, psychiatrist etc. One of those forms is a checklist of symptoms. This checklist usually serves as a very very loose outline of what your therapist has to look forward to in dealing with their new patient - you. This time however, really take note of what you're ticking off. That checklist will serve as more of a instruction manuel this time around.
15 minutes later she greets you with a weak handshake and a couple heavy blinks of her pale-purple-eye-shadowed-with-poorly-applied-liquid-eyeliner-ed lids. She takes you into a windowless room/office with your typical doctor's cabinet set-up, a roll-y chair (for her) and a leather black couch (for you). She sits underneath a plaque honoring her graduation from Vanderbilt.
A couple dozen questions followed by some "mmhmms" and "oh, yeses" and even a "tehe" later, and you have yourself a months worth of pills that should "treat" whatever symptoms you chose to check-off on your checklist this session.
Do what you will with them.



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