E li was back.
One of my favorite patients — the attorney with the history of panic attacks and the difficult in-laws whom I’d written about previously — had run across town again and was banging on the office door yelling my name.
I was still in session with another patient who was initially startled to hear someone screaming “Dr. Freedman! I need your help!” Luckily I was able to reassure the patient that it wasn’t anything dangerous and that I would be back in a moment after addressing the issue.
“Eli ” I said calmly opening the door and patting him on the back. “It’s all good. Just grab a chair in the waiting room and pour yourself a cup of ice water.”
When Eli opened his mouth to object to my inability to drop everything and prioritize him over my other patient I was forced to shush him lovingly. I’d known him for enough years to be confident he would survive and as I had to return to the individual in session I told him “Take a few breaths and remember the mindfulness strategies we’ve discussed.”
