Time to Rend, Time to Mend

Ms. Krishnamurthy was a Hindu woman whose family had fled their native Pakistan and moved to Britain during her childhood. She was a testy character, currently in Israel working for the UN investigating Israeli war crimes, and had been quite nasty in my office when she came in demanding a prescription for her ADHD meds the previous month. Part II

I wasn’t surprised to see Ms. Krishnamurthy back in my office. Plenty of people storm out of mental health treatment and come back at some point in the future, prepared to hear the painful truth, ready to accept treatment, willing to do the work. Their defenses down, they’re calm — even relieved — and open to working with their therapist. As a team, we often see great success. In fact, these are often the best patients to work with, as there is much room for optimism. A patient who’s had time to think about often-elusive personal goals and is willing to come back demonstrates the necessary motivation to succeed.

So I was feeling pretty positive when I saw Ms. Krishnamurthy on my schedule for the day. But that didn’t last for more than ten seconds once she entered the waiting area, sporting her trademark irritable scowl and a fury that left me wondering why she’d bothered to follow up.

Ms. Krishnamurthy had made it clear from the outset that she despised frum Yidden and the idea that they were actually living in Eretz Yisrael — both of which made it all the more peculiar to find her yelling once again into her smartphone in my waiting room. There were plenty of secular psychiatrists to choose from and even a few non-Jewish psychiatrists she could have worked with. And yet here she was a few feet away, screaming at some poor UN intern for “failing to submit the T.P.S. reports.” Whatever that meant.