HuaQu Hospital Psychiatry unit"Ko!Ko!Ko!"
Outside an office at HuaQu hospital, someone was knocking a brown wooden door that had a dark name plate that read "Dr. Hu Beixing,Psychiatry"
"Come in!"
The door was pushed open to reveal three people walk into the office, where a woman presumably to be the doctor sat behind a desk.
"Good morning."
"Good morning Doctor."
An older couple and a little child walked into the office of a psychiatrist, a woman in white lab coat and brown rimmed gla.s.ses. Her dark hair was held in place by a white elastic ribbon.
The couple that came into the office was none other than Luo Fei and his wife, along with their granddaughter Sheng Liena.
Luo Fei wore a light brown s.h.i.+rt and dark pants and brown leather shoes, while his wife Luo Xue in a nicely styled wavy dark chin length hair was dressed in a pink pleated dress with a bow tied to her neck. On her feet was a white ankle strap heels, makeup was lightly applied to her face and each earlobe had a gold lopped pearl earrings. Manicure was done in the shade of nail black glitter polish, a huge contrast to the clothing she wore.
The little girl was dressed in a white ruffle sleeveless dress and sandals. Her shoulder length hair held by the side with a white bow. There wasn"t much emotion reflected on her face while her grandparents and doctor exchanged greetings.
"I"m Doctor Hu Beixing, nice to meet you."
"Luo Fei."
"Luo Xue."
"This is our granddaughter, Sheng Liena, she is the one that would be seeing you today."
Luo Xue was holding her grandchild"s hand, while speaking to the doctor.
"Please have a seat."
The couple sat on the dark office chair across from the doctor with Liena on her grandmother"s lap.
"What brings you to my office?"
Luo Fei and his wife both sent a meaningful glance to each other, before answering the doctor.
"You see...for some days now...my granddaughter Liena, has been having nightmares and we"ve tried everything from taking turns to sleeping in the same room with her, we even went has far as installing a video camera to see what could be the problem since she wasn"t opening up to any of us. I"m in charging of giving her her bath twice a day and outwardly there is no sign of any bruises whatsoever, I feel we are hitting a wall when it comes to her. My daughter Yu, her mother died almost three weeks ago and it could be she is taking it harder than us. Doctor I already lost my daughter, I can"t lose Liena too!"
Luo Xue began to cry, as her husband fished out an handkerchief of stripped blue to wipe her tears. The doctor noticed that the little girl was not making any move to console the woman that held her on her laps. That was a red flag to the psychiatrist, something really must be going on with the couple"s grandchild.
"Has your grandchild had any major changes like say, a new school?"
"Yes doctor, we recently had full custody from her father and she now lives with us for the time being."
Luo Fei spoke with much worry in his voice to the doctor.
"When you look at your grandchild, has she shown any recent changes in behavior like say, sudden outburst of anger? Not eating? Staring into s.p.a.ce? Peeing in bed?"
"Doctor, my husband and I know that Liena is already potty trained, she can use the toilet by herself, Yu used to brag about how good of a child she was when it came to that, she would clean up her plate when served her favorite meal. We noticed she doesn"t say a word and that"s what terrifies me, she is way too young to keep things bottled up and not tell any of us. At times she doesn"t notice when we come to her room, the TV is one with her favorite cartoon, but she isn"t laughing or showing any emotion. Doctor! I"m so scared, please help us!"
Dr Hu BeiXing was in her early thirties, one would consider her to be what people call "natural beauty" but behind it lay many scars which led to the profession she was currently practicing, Psychiatry! It was what she lived for day in and out. Looking at the couple, they didn"t seem to be feigning the concern and love they had for their granddaughter. She felt relieved that they chose to seek out treatment on time, unlike some who would wait till they were damaged beyond repair.
Instinctively, the doctor felt that the little girl may have witnessed something and it was hurting the relations.h.i.+p she had with her grandparents.
"When did the nightmares start?"
"Shortly after we brought her in to live with us, then we began noticing that she only ate a little. My husband and I had to throw the rest of it away."
"Has she cried since she moved in with you and your husband?"
"No, Liena did not cry throughout the time she had been with us."
"Mr Luo and Mrs Luo, you have a big problem in your hand. Liena is showing signs of childhood trauma, she must have witnessed something and that"s what is triggering the nightmares and bed wetting."
"Doctor! Please tell us how she can feel better! I know how she used to be, my husband and I love her so much! She is all we have!"
"Mrs Luo, I can see that you really want the best for Liena, but she has to want it herself. Despite the fact that she is still young, children can tell what they want and what they don"t want, unlike adults that know what they want, but still go ahead and choose what they hate."
"Liena?"
The doctor called softly to the little girl, who was looking downcast since the time the conversation regarding her began. During the interview, Dr Hu Beixing was making notes on the case note with a black ball pen.
"Liena, Dr Hu is talking to you."
Luo Xue gently nudged her granddaughter by the shoulder, but the little girl was not willing to answer back.
"Liena your grandma wants you to speak with the nice doctor over there."
Luo Fei joined his wife in coaxing their granddaughter to talk to the doctor, but the result was still the same.
"It"s okay Mr and Mrs Luo, I will speak to her later."
"Okay doctor."
The couple chorused back in response.
"Mr and Mrs Luo to make the treatment of Liena more effective, I want to know the medical history of her mother."
"My daughter Yu in the last three years or so, had become more depressed, at least that is what my husband I concluded when we saw they way she was living at her husband"s house, to us she was lifeless and only lived for Liena, when little Xi came along she now had more zest towards life. I"ll now tell you more in details of everything regarding Yu"s health."
Luo Xue opened up to the doctor of all she knew regarding the illnesses and surgeries that her daughter had undergone from birth until adulthood to the best of her knowledge.
"Yu became more secretive and this is all I know about her, I could authorize her health records be pulled, so that you can look at them. All I have here with me is Liena"s health records."
Luo Xue reached into her mint green hand bag to pull out a brown envelope with "ShuPei medical" printed on them and pa.s.sed it to Dr Hu Beixing. The hospital that catered to the rich and wealthy.
The doctor tore off the flap to look into the contents of the envelop, from the looks of it, the girl came from a rich family, she had a few minor illnesses here and there a.s.sociated with most children, from sore throat to ear infection.
Hu Beixing thought the couple looked somewhat familiar to her, but took it to mean that they were one of those faces she must have seen at the hospital, not knowing that they were also important people that made the headlines on few occasions.
"From what I read, your grandchild is in good health physically."
"Doctor are you trying to imply she may be seek up here."
Luo Fei pointed to his head, as a way to say that his granddaughter could be mentally ill.
"In a way yes, Liena is not in a good state of mental wellness, but that"s why we are here, to make sure she is mentally healthy.
"How would you go about treating her?"
"First and foremost, I need everyone to have a positive mindset. Secondly, staying focused on the end goal which is full recovery. Thirdly, no shortcuts! If you all keep this in mind, you gain back the granddaughter that you may feel is lost to you."
"When would she be receiving treatment? Is it going to affect her terribly?"
"Mrs Luo it all depends, every child responds differently. I"m not going to sweet talk you by saying therapy is easy, it is not, but be rest a.s.sured, it is worth it as long as neither of you gives up before the treatment is complete."
"Would she be taking any drugs, because she has school to go to, I don"t want it affecting her studies."
"Mr Luo, I get you are concerned about the possibility of Liena taking medications while in school, but as health professions especially those in the field of Psychiatry, medication is always the last resort once other measures have been tried and found to be ineffective."
Luo Fei sighed audibly, his felt his heart finally calm down when the doctor told him that his granddaughter would not be taking any medication for now. He had heard stories in time past about people that were on drugs who went crazy after taking them, or became worse than they were.
"Thank you doctor."
"For now, I want to try putting her to sleep to find out what she isn"t willing to tell any of us. If you don"t mind, it would take several minutes, because I have to question her almost like the way I am talking to you."
"Can I stay with her while you carry out the treatment?"
"Mrs Luo, I know you want to be there for Liena, but this is one type of therapy that has to be done without anyone present, except the person who is need of the therapy and the one administering the therapy."
"Okay doctor, my husband and I would wait outside while we leave Liena to your care."
Luo Xue stood up and gently placed the little girl on the seat where she was, her husband followed suit and rose up from his seat.
"Thank you doctor."
"Don"t mention."
The three shook hands, before leaving the office to take a seat outside, closing the door firmly behind them.
The office of Hu Beixing was a decent size, a tan leather upholstered recliner chair was at the other end of the room, a lamp stand was to one side of the chair. The doctor pulled out her top drawer by the desk to take out a pendulum, tucking it into the front pocket of her lab coat.
Smiling at the child who sat looking straight at her, she said, "Liena, would you mind following me to the seat over there?"
The girl continued to look at the doctor without responding back, but Dr Hu Baixing took no offense rather she left her desk to where the child sat.
"Liena?"
With her hand stretched out towards the child, the doctor waited until several minutes later Sheng Liena hesitantly placed her hands into those of the doctor"s.
Hand in hand the two walked to where the chair was, as the doctor gently lifted the little girl and placed her on the leather seat, where a strap was placed across her waist to secure her in place.
"Liena, this is only to keep you from falling out of the chair. I will be right here with you okay?"
The doctor smiled warmly at the little girl, who had an expressionless look on her face.
"Liena, I would have the lamp on, while I pull down the blinds. I will be right back."
The purpose of calling her name is each time was to make a patient feel "connected" with their doctor, creating a sense of belonging, knowing that they are a part of the decision making.
Hu Baixing turned the lamp on and went to draw the blinds by the window down, this make the room to be very dim, which was what she was going for with the therapy she had in mind, hypnotherapy. To induce in or put her patient "Liena" in a trance-like state, almost as though they are in a sleep, where they are able to open up and reveal things about themselves, which they may not do if they are awake.