Member-only story
“It’s Love”
The last thing we wanted to hear, but the first thing we needed
My Advisor Tells Us That Love Is the Only Thing That Matters
We’re sitting in a small classroom. There are maybe twenty of us, and almost everyone will be graduating at the end of the semester. The class is a senior seminar on clinical health psychology, taught by a brilliant woman with a Ph.D. in the subject.
We spend about fifteen minutes trying to guess the word love. Upon welcoming us to the class, she asks us to think about the solution to mental health. It’s just about the vaguest prompt she can give.
By mental health, does she mean mental illness? What does solution entail? There isn’t a cure for every mental ailment. It just isn’t reasonable.
My mind goes to the darker side. By solution, does she mean end?
I raise my hand.
“This is going to sound bad,” I start. I figure it best to lead with a disclaimer so I’m not immediately disliked by the rest of my classmates. “But is it death?”
Her eyes widen. “No! God, no.” She smiles at me. “But I like that.”
She writes the word on the whiteboard.
