ABSTRACT
It is almost 7 p.m. and I am standing with Carl, my supervisor, amidst pure pandemonium in the city emergency room. It is my first bedside consultation, an extensive, confidential drug and alcohol history, treatment planning, and DSM-IV diagnosis (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, a classifica-
tion system designed to assist clinicians in treatment planning). Carl actually does the consultation while I observe. Apparently, they utilize the medical model: see one, do one, teach one. I feel like a charlatan, trying to appear competent by donning a long, white lab coat and arming myself with a clipboard and pocket DSM, my summer tan fading fast in the pallid lighting of the hospital.
