The patients often rock back and forth,
or pace as if to move away
from their frustrations,
their situation, their self,
but the same always follows.
Their only task is existence...
yet such a heavy endeavor,
like moving through thick mud,
always messy and often stuck.
As long as they remain their same selves,
they remain a prisoner of themselves,
haunted by screams of unworthiness,
threats of unforgiveness,
and insistence of victimization.
Psychologists ask questions
and sometimes make suggestions.
Doctors dictate medications.
Many have chemical dependency
or a congenital chemical imbalance
and lack the physical capacity to be happy,
in the same way someone with kidney failure
would die without dialysis.
Patients regress into numbness,
an unintrusive seclusion
and an attempt to avoid
misery's self-abusing mind.
Some find an escape,
by God's grace,
faithfully willing their way
out of their mental detention and
the "Rehabilitation" Center Prison.
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