I had an adventure going to a new group therapy,for people like me with mood disorders. I figured attending a group session that my therapist runs couldn't hurt since I admit I do need a refresher course on how to cope and deal with things in a positive way. It also doesn't hurt that I find my therapist to be one of the few decent people left on Earth.
The adventure started as I waited in the lobby for group to be called back into where patients go for treatment,a series of little offices where doctors work and therapists try to help the broken souls that come stringing in. I already had a rotten feeling about it,since the people who were waiting smelled like cheap cigarettes and heavy amounts of equally cheap colognes/perfumes to cover up the smell of the cigarettes.It's a nice gesture to attempt to cover up your stank,but it truly does not work.
As we filed into the way too small group therapy room,I noticed to smell of cigarettes and cheap perfume are getting to the point of almost unbearable. The group room was crowded,stuffy and uncomfortably hot basically a perfect mix for tempers to rise and moods to bottom out. As we are about to begin a horrible alarm from the telephone starts to tell my therapist we have stragglers waiting to come in,and not even two minutes later it happens again for more stragglers.
I am pretty anal about being on time for appointments and other things,so of course this bothers me. My head is already swimming from the stench of my co-attendees,and the stuffy conditions of the room. My irritation was radiating,lucky me the theme of the session was how to deal with anger. The previous week,they covered the front page of the double sided hand out so we were reviewing the last 10 ways.
I could understand why time had run out when covering helpful material. The others seemed medicated out of their minds,low functioning and disrespectful. I can understand that yes some medications make you feel like a zombie and can barely function but disrespect has no excuse. I could be considered crazy as a loon,yet I still have manners.
Disruption is something I never could deal with easily,in school I hated the kids who just blurted answers or what not out and even when I am in the work place I cannot stand the people who have to be center of attention for some reason or another. I read the Tolerance portion of the hand out a hundred times between fanning myself and trying to be a part of the group, I just could not find it within myself to tolerate these people.
My therapist kept looking over at me,I could see that he could see how miserable and anxious I was. I was so anxious by the time group ended I practically sprinted out the door to my waiting ride. While I got some useful information,I just can't see myself attending it again without stuffing Vicks Vaporub in my nose.
Just shower and change before you attend anything in an enclosed space!
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