Day 52: Doctor's Office 6 (Dr. Wilson) [Fourth Shift]

[oncological]

While Mr. Rousseau (or Brook, as he liked to be called), had been a bit... eccentric ("kooky" was the more accurate, but less PC word), he had also been more or less harmless, and the session had gone as smoothly as could be expected. More than that, it had ended in a timely manner, giving Wilson the chance to have a leisurely lunch out on the

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[oncological]

The man who walked in first turned out to be Arthur Kirkland, which Wilson was able to guess purely from his accent. Apparently, Arthur had some sort of complex where he actually thought he was an embodiment of a whole country -- the United Kingdom, to be precise. That probably won the reward for the weirdest patient for this week. Not that Wilson was keeping track (he would never!), but still, it did stand out.

It was clear from the start that Arthur wasn't interested in talking to him, but he wasn't giving him the silent treatment, so that was one good thing. He seemed willing to play along, but that was because he thought it was pointless. Wilson would just have to try and prove him wrong, or at least work him into a position where he opened up some more. He was pretty good at that, after being House's friend for so long.

"Arthur, right? If you hadn't noticed, my name is Dr. Wilson. But yes, I would like to talk to you, if you don't mind," he said with a smile and an open expression. "Or we can just sit here in silence for a while, but that tends to get boring pretty fast." If he presented it that way, most people found themselves willing to cooperate.

"Anyway, could you start with telling me a little about yourself? Whatever you're willing to share." He wanted to know if Arthur would be open about the whole England thing or not.

[oncological]

When it came down it, the file was actually rather sparse. That wasn't so surprising, though; even with his normal patients, all you were really supposed to know was what their medical history was (back a few generations, generally) and if they were taking any medication. Sometimes depression came up (more often than not, with cancer patients) and that could quickly get personal, but nonetheless, the files were supposed to be the bare bones.

Granted, when dealing with a mental patient, it was more or less inevitable that they would start to talk about one's feelings, fears, and maybe even aspirations. What Arthur gave him was instead a very emotionless summary of his life, but what was more interesting was that he didn't mention the country thing at all.

"So... you just think you're a normal guy from England, then?" he asked while raising both of his rather thick eyebrows. The two of them seemed to match, in that respect. He was asking a leading question, but he wanted to see if Arthur would bring up the whole country thing on his own.

[oncological]

"Some would argue there's no such thing," Wilson said with a small smile. And that was more or less the truth, wasn't it? He knew what House would have said. If someone seemed too normal, chances were they were hiding some deep, dark secret. Wilson would have called him overly cynical, though at the same time? He was usually right.

So the fact that Arthur here was playing dumb and acting like he was just another guy was pretty much a blaring siren. Especially considering he was currently in a mental institute. "Normal" people didn't get placed here, last time Wilson checked.

"That's strange, seeing how this file says something about you thinking you're the embodiment of a whole country." He wasn't trying to be arrogant or anything, but he also wasn't sure why the patient thought he could get out of here if he just acted like he was okay.

[oncological]

It looked like denial was the name of the game this time around, since even when presented with it as bluntly as possible, Arthur wasn't budging. That was fine, though. If he didn't want to talk about that, then they could easily move onto something else. Wilson closed the file casually and set it to the side, just to show the patient that he wasn't relying on that for this entire session.

What was strange, though, was how he had made a mention of generations in the same breath. Either he was passing himself off as a history buff, or he wasn't as good at hiding his own delusion as he thought. Wilson was going to brush it off rather than pointing it out, though, since he wasn't really looking to earn hostility from this patient.

"All right, so if you don't think you're here for that reason, then what is it? And let's go on the assumption that this isn't some huge misunderstanding that got you placed here by mistake." Because that was the reasoning he heard day in and day out, and he wanted to believe that this patients had learned better by now. Self-reflection was difficult -- Wilson knew that as well as anyone -- but if there was any time to do it, it would be while institutionalized.

[oncological]

Wilson had more or less been expecting an answer like that. If the patients here knew why they'd been placed in Landel's, chances were their recovery would be that much simpler. But the battle was getting them to see what was wrong with them and then work toward a recovery, and with this bunch, that was basically as good as pulling teeth.

Still, he'd gotten an interesting tidbit even from that lackluster response. Hearing about family members always made a case more interesting, both due to the genetic link and the possible psychological effects siblings could have on each other while growing up and developing.

"Your brother?" he asked while shifting in his seat and then clasping his hands on his desk. "Would you mind telling me about him?"

[oncological]

Just going off of that description, Wilson wouldn't have been surprised if Arthur's brother had some sort of textbook Narcissism going on. It felt like a ridiculous diagnosis to pin on someone who he was only hearing described in a few words, but considering the guy was currently considered deranged enough to be here, he didn't think it was completely out of hand.

Though what was more interesting was that Arthur then went on to mention another brother, but made it sound like he wasn't related to said brother. A half brother, maybe? It probably didn't matter too much, though, as they were focused on Alfred at the moment.

"It sounds like you two have had a tumultuous relationship," Wilson commented. "Had you seen him much before you were both placed here? And do you think you've been able to get along with him better here at Landel's?" Probably not, if the patient's tone was anything to judge by, but sometimes the strangest things could lead to mending a relationship. It was something to keep track of, at least.

[oncological]

At least their relationship wasn't at a point where they refused to talk to each other, then. Personally? He knew what that was like. Wilson was surprised to hear that Albert had already been released, especially if he had left his brother (younger or older?) here to try and heal on his own. It was possible he would come to visit when Sunday rolled around, but still, that must have been hard for his patient to hear.

"I'm sorry that you weren't told sooner. I didn't know anything about this, but..." Yeah, he was kept in the dark a lot. He was sure that was already obvious to most of his patients, and he always felt bad when they came to him with questions that he couldn't answer. It didn't seem like Arthur had expected him to know anything, though.

"How did you react, when you found out?" he asked, wanting to see if just getting a description of emotions would help him to better analyze the man's mental state.

[oncological]

While Wilson thought that the patient's comment about the nurses was a bit harsh, he wasn't really going to bother arguing with him about it. From his perspective, the nurses were overworked and were also probably being told to follow a certain criteria when dealing with the patients -- one that Landel most likely set, and Wilson was becoming more and more certain that the man was incompetent. He didn't know how to run a hospital properly, even if his security measures seemed top-notch.

But the answer that Arthur gave about his brother was pretty telling. He talked about it so clinically that it was obvious that there was more to it, something that he was trying to hide. And wanting to know where his brother was pretty much counted as being protective of him. But that was a good thing; caring about family was a natural response.

"Hopefully you'll get to see him again soon," he said with a small smile. "And was there anything else you wanted to talk about, or should we end it here?" He got the feeling that it would be the latter, but Wilson was surprised by his patients from time to time.