BlackMaster53
Posts: 4
Joined: 3/31/2006
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Greetings, All.
I'm new here, browsing the board, and found this topic. It sort of took me back a ways,
thinking of a different aspect to this issue.
In my younger days I was a psychiatric orderly, as well as a practicing Dominant. That combination can create some unique situations.
As is obvious, in that job the use of restraint devices, as well as psychotropic drugs, is a day to day occurance. And let's face it, people that tend towrd, or are actively IN the D/s community sometimes wind up in psych wards, just like anyone else.
There was one Lady who sticks in my mind. When I first met her, she had gone off of her meds (probably the most common reason for involuntary commitment), and was checked in for a 72 hour court ordered observation period.
It was obvious from the first moment that she found me attractive, tho she was in terrible shape; seriously slurred speech (a common side effect of long term users stopping thier medications, especially with Haldol, Librium, or the lithium compounds). As I was trying to settle her in an isolation room she was very affectionate... it was difficult to maintain professional distance and seperation.
In the following days, while her dosages were being adjusted again, she acted out several times, and her doctor ordered restraint to be used. On one such occasion I and another orderly had to struggle her into a body restraint (sort of a lightweight version of a straitjacket). It happened that I was the final one in the isolation room with her, making a final check on the arem restraint fastenings, and with just the two of us there she made it clear that she LOVED the jacket, and told me that when she got out I should grab one from work and call her to play! Interesting... but a scary concept.
After the 72 hours... she voluntarily stayed on the unit until she could be stabilized. She was a whole lot more rational, and getting more so as time passed. It was also clear that the comment in the isolation room hadn't been spurious talk from a confused mind... the Lady was QUITE SERIOUS with her proposal, and one day she told me that she knew damned well that I was a Dom. I suppose I was rather blatant back then; wore a lot of leather and sometimes fell into the habit of dealing with clients (patients) in exactly the way I dealt with a submissive!
Further... my submissive at that point was an LPN who worked on the ward. She and the client were similar in age and interests, and they'd become good friends. I suppose it's possible that they'd compared notes a little bit...
In a couple of weeks she was pronounced fit, given a supply of her meds, and released. The Lady kept close social contact with my sub and I... and sometimes hinted that she'd be interested in CLOSER social contact with us both.
Sounds like a great situation? Not really.
Even with meds, she was prone to wild mood swings, sometimes going into deep depressive episodes over little things. On one occasion she was readmitted when one of the depressive episodes got to the level of potentially suicidal. MORE dosage adjustment for a few days... and she was out again.
After several months my sub and I had to talk about her seriously... either play with her or not.
When her head was in good shape, she was a great prospect as a newbie subbie; she'd had a little exposure to R/L, and was eager for more experience. My sub had no objections to adding a third; in fact, she liked the idea a lot.
However, the cycles of depression were unpredictable and deep. You never knew what could set her off on a downward spiral or when it would happen.
We finally came to the conclusion that her interest in joining us had to be politely refused. We both knew that we would never dream of getting into a D/s situation with a known schizophrenic (and hopefully we'd get to know a partner well enough beforehand before even considering R/L play to realize his or her mental state!).
A relationship with her might well help her cope with her depression, but it might also have the opposite effect if anything were to go wrong.
Maybe that long ago incident made me sort of hypersensitive to the situation, but ever since I've always carefully considered the apparent level of mental health of ANYONE I considered entering into a D/s situation with. Anyone who has been in the situation knows full well that no one who hasn't been there can even conceive of the effect that a mental disturbance, even a transitory, situational one, can have on you. Myabe I'm being too harsh, but I've passed on more than one situation where a potential partner didn't seem to be completely stable.
D/s is a situation that inherently introduces stresses> I don't know just how much stress another can handle, or how she'll handle it.
I'd rather just leave the situation alone, both for her sake AND mine.
BlackMaster
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mental health - 
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. It would be like switching the mental pain to the physical pain..........but that's only me. 
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