How I met the prime minister of Grenada

Today the Prime Minister of Grenada kissed my hand – at the mental hospital that is. As part of our behavioural science class, field trips were planned to visit the mental hospital. I had no preconceived ideas of what I thought it would be, but it was definitely nothing that I would have expected. When we arrived, the guards let us in to the grounds. There were many people wandering around outside – some staring at us, others grinning and waving hi. We were brought indoors, and a nurse (wearing a completely white uniform) explained how things were run around there. There were approximately 3 males to every female, there are roughly 3000 patients that come and go from the hospital in Grenada (the only mental facility, so they are grossly understaffed).
We were first shown a ‘solitary room’ where a young patient was being kept because he was very confused about everything and needed some time to sort things out. Next, we were brought to the women’s room, where there were a number of females with bipolar disorder. A few that we met were constantly in the manic phase (the nurse informed us), and it was very amusing to interact with some of these women. It was very sad to see the conditions under which they had to live though – I suppose it would help being manic in those facilities. The doctor took us to an area set up with chairs in a circle, and then brought one of the patients in to interview. The patient entered the room, and took a seat in the circle in a rather regal way (his head was held high, he peered down his nose while he spoke, and his lips were slightly pursed - he was sitting very straight with his legs neatly crossed and his hands nicely folded in his lap). When he began to speak he would often unfold his hands and his fingers move around while he was talking (they call it 'pill rolling'). I could barely understand anything he was saying as he spoke very quickly, even when the doctor asked him to slow down a number of times. From what we were able to gather – this man truly thought he was the Prime Minister of Grenada, and that God had told him to smoke crack and drink alcohol. He recommended that we should all smoke. He then proceeded to tell us how he extricated Satan from his body, twice. He was also married a number of times, and had children with the Queen of England. He also described his wife/marriage as an abscess which he removed. When asked why he was in a mental institution, he said that it was his home, and was being temporarily used to accommodate some of the mental patients of Grenada. After we thanked him for speaking with us he started to leave, and then he walked over, and kissed my hand (there were 10 other people there with me) – it was very bizarre. He wasn’t classified as schizophrenic, but the doctor him described as having a schizophreniform disorder with some mania. He was also on a number of antipsychotic medications, but none of them seemed to be helping him.
In class we learn about many disorders, and characteristic symptoms of certain illnesses, but it is an unbelievable experience to actually meet people with these problems.