Boiling Over

Once I had a patient who, as they all do when they are really crazy, denied any auditory hallucinations. In fact, he had only one problem. Inside his brain, something was dripping. He could hear it drip, sometimes loudly, sometimes softly, but it never stopped. He was convinced that this condition was extremely grave and a portent of his impending doom. I would agree - if numerous CT scans, neurological consultations, and possibly even an exorcist found nothing wrong with him. The dripping and bubbling were - pardon the pun - in his head.

We have medication for that, and, from what I remember, he got better and went home. But what about my brain? I don't hear any dripping, but I feel - I sense - so much bubbling and boiling over; so many ideas and thoughts that I need to write down but instead, I store away for later, for when the laundry is folded and the kids are grown.

Last night I made soup. Chicken soup, or "regular" soup as it is known in my house. First it boiled over, and I ran to the kitchen to turn the heat down, just as I write little essays like this one to appease the bubbling in my brain. Then I got distracted and I forgot it on the stove for a while. When I remembered to check, my big pot of chicken soup had reduced to something like Campbell's, requiring reconstitution. Will my brain require reconstitution if I neglect it? Is a brain full of ideas like a soup, which needs a delicate balance of fire to cook properly? Or, to return to my patient's intracranial dripping, will something inside dissolve if I neglect it for too long?

My work is interesting, and it requires some thinking. Maybe even a lot of thinking. But my audience is limited - everyone skips to the "Recommendations and Formulations" part, and then somehow they don't even understand that! I can't post confidential psychiatric evaluations on the internet - so what to do? I'm taking this first jump into cyberspace without a safety cord. I'll wait and see what happens. The worst that can happen is that my boiling brain will have an outlet for all the nonsense it accumulates every day. I know it won't actually drip. We have medication for that!