her for months.’
‘She’ll be glad you’re here,’ Margaret said in a tone conciliatory enough that Grace, correctly, took it for an apology.
‘How is she? How long has she been here? Is she taking her medications?’
‘Come in here and sit down,’ said Margaret, leading her into a small, dark, windowless room lined with institutional green chairs. ‘I can give you her recent history, at least what I know, then we can go to see her.’
COTTAGE PIE
(Serves 8)
INGREDIENTS
450g minced beef
1 tablespoon oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 sprigs fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
275ml chicken stock
1 tablespoon tomato puree
Salt and pepper
900g potatoes
25g grated cheddar cheese
50g butter
Seasoning
Preheat oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.
Heat oil in a frying pan, add onions, sauté for around 5 minutes, until slightly brown. Add carrot and celery. Cook for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and set aside.
Turn up heat, add more oil, season beef well before adding, then cook, breaking up with spatula, until brown. Return onions to pan and add rest of vegetables, cinnamon, thyme, and parsley.
Stir in flour, then stock and tomato puree, mixing well. Turn heat down to low, cover, and cook gently for around half an hour.
While meat is cooking, peel potatoes, dice into roughly even-sized cubes and add to pan of cold water. Do not add salt as it breaks down the starch in the potatoes. Bring water to boil and simmer for around 25 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked.
Push potatoes through a ricer, or mash with a hand masher, but do not use a blender or the potatoes will turn into a sticky mess. Add butter and salt and pepper.
Transfer meat to casserole dish, cover with potatoes, sprinkle cheese over the top. Bake for around half an hour, or until top is golden.
Eight
S ally, it seemed, had recently been in a housing and treatment programme. She was calm, not drinking, neither agitated nor unhappy. If you didn’t know better, you might even think her entirely normal.
The hostel was very familiar with Sally, said Margaret. When Sally was in a programme, or in a psychiatric hospital, as had happened before, they didn’t see her for months. But her pattern was always the same – she would seem to be normal, before mania would strike and everything would go wrong.
Lithium was the accepted medication for people like Sally. She had taken it sporadically, but complained of feeling ‘flat’, the drug making her lethargic, tired, lazy.
‘People don’t understand medication for manic depression,’ said Margaret. ‘They think that people start to feel so good they think they must be better, and that’s why they stop taking the lithium, but it isn’t that. It’s the opposite. Generally these medications make people with this kind of depression feel completely flat, and these are people who are used to the highs of mania, so to them, it’s tantamount to being dead.’ She stopped suddenly, peering at Grace. ‘This may all be stuff you know,’ she said tentatively ‘I know how difficult it can be for families of those who suffer.’
‘I know a little,’ Grace said. ‘She has tried taking lithium for years, but it never seems to last long.’
‘She definitely hasn’t taken anything recently. We got her back here two weeks ago. She’s in one of her more manic phases, although she did seem a little calmer yesterday. We’ve put her back on the lithium and we try and monitor it to make sure our residents are taking their pills, but it’s impossible to keep track of all of them.’
‘So she’s . . . manic? Still?’
‘It may just be that they haven’t got the dosage right. Or she’s hiding the pills.’
‘And there’s nothing you can do?’
‘We do the best we can. Are you ready? We can go and see her now.’
G race said nothing when she walked
‘She’ll be glad you’re here,’ Margaret said in a tone conciliatory enough that Grace, correctly, took it for an apology.
‘How is she? How long has she been here? Is she taking her medications?’
‘Come in here and sit down,’ said Margaret, leading her into a small, dark, windowless room lined with institutional green chairs. ‘I can give you her recent history, at least what I know, then we can go to see her.’
COTTAGE PIE
(Serves 8)
INGREDIENTS
450g minced beef
1 tablespoon oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 sprigs fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
275ml chicken stock
1 tablespoon tomato puree
Salt and pepper
900g potatoes
25g grated cheddar cheese
50g butter
Seasoning
Preheat oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.
Heat oil in a frying pan, add onions, sauté for around 5 minutes, until slightly brown. Add carrot and celery. Cook for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and set aside.
Turn up heat, add more oil, season beef well before adding, then cook, breaking up with spatula, until brown. Return onions to pan and add rest of vegetables, cinnamon, thyme, and parsley.
Stir in flour, then stock and tomato puree, mixing well. Turn heat down to low, cover, and cook gently for around half an hour.
While meat is cooking, peel potatoes, dice into roughly even-sized cubes and add to pan of cold water. Do not add salt as it breaks down the starch in the potatoes. Bring water to boil and simmer for around 25 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked.
Push potatoes through a ricer, or mash with a hand masher, but do not use a blender or the potatoes will turn into a sticky mess. Add butter and salt and pepper.
Transfer meat to casserole dish, cover with potatoes, sprinkle cheese over the top. Bake for around half an hour, or until top is golden.
Eight
S ally, it seemed, had recently been in a housing and treatment programme. She was calm, not drinking, neither agitated nor unhappy. If you didn’t know better, you might even think her entirely normal.
The hostel was very familiar with Sally, said Margaret. When Sally was in a programme, or in a psychiatric hospital, as had happened before, they didn’t see her for months. But her pattern was always the same – she would seem to be normal, before mania would strike and everything would go wrong.
Lithium was the accepted medication for people like Sally. She had taken it sporadically, but complained of feeling ‘flat’, the drug making her lethargic, tired, lazy.
‘People don’t understand medication for manic depression,’ said Margaret. ‘They think that people start to feel so good they think they must be better, and that’s why they stop taking the lithium, but it isn’t that. It’s the opposite. Generally these medications make people with this kind of depression feel completely flat, and these are people who are used to the highs of mania, so to them, it’s tantamount to being dead.’ She stopped suddenly, peering at Grace. ‘This may all be stuff you know,’ she said tentatively ‘I know how difficult it can be for families of those who suffer.’
‘I know a little,’ Grace said. ‘She has tried taking lithium for years, but it never seems to last long.’
‘She definitely hasn’t taken anything recently. We got her back here two weeks ago. She’s in one of her more manic phases, although she did seem a little calmer yesterday. We’ve put her back on the lithium and we try and monitor it to make sure our residents are taking their pills, but it’s impossible to keep track of all of them.’
‘So she’s . . . manic? Still?’
‘It may just be that they haven’t got the dosage right. Or she’s hiding the pills.’
‘And there’s nothing you can do?’
‘We do the best we can. Are you ready? We can go and see her now.’
G race said nothing when she walked
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