title: Brain Wreck: A patient's unrelenting journey to save her mind and restore her spirit
author: Becky Dennis
description: Becky Dennis is a writer, photographer and marketing/business development executive. She's on the board of directors for a global non-profit patient advocacy group. Please visit her at www.bdbrainwreck.com.
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  CHRISTY PACED behind the table, chewing on a fingernail she’d already worn to
  a nub. Austin sat, nervously tapping his fingers, staring at the wall. They’d
  been led to the same room in which she’d been profiled by Nancy Wilkins. At
  the time the therapist had seemed reasonable and understanding. But wasn’t it
  Nancy who’d concluded that she was mentally cracked?
  
  “Do you mind sitting down?” Austin glared at her. “You’re going to wear out
  the carpet.”
  
  Austin had remained quiet, lost in thought, which was his way when he became
  engrossed. To say he was single-minded didn’t begin to describe just how cut
  off he could become when he put his mind to a task—anything from reading a
  thick textbook to watching a boring lecture, one leg bouncing, eyes fixed on
  the screen.
  
  How often had she told him things in his flat only to learn that he wasn’t
  even hearing her? Nothing short of yelling seemed to yank him out of his
  fixation. In this way,