In the video "Patch Adams" we are pushed to see with the eyes of god, viewing people with no distrust or contempt. Patch grew up with a somewhat problematic past, and this rendered him suicidal. His father died when he was nine, and he never really recovered. He is put into a psychological ward, and soon realizes that as he makes other patients happy, he becomes happy. In one scene he helps a man who is scared of squirrels, by pretending that he is killing them.
Patch never found his notch in life, especially after his father died when he was nine. Later on in his life, he moved from job to job but nothing seemed to feel right. Then, after he attempted to commit suicide he found himself in a psychiatric ward living with some very special people. It was there where he first found his true calling in life.
Film poster for Patch Adams (film) - Copyright 199...
Hunter "Patch" Adams at a medical conference in An...
Patch Adams in Sri LankaIn that psychiatric wardPatch learned that he was completely compelled by helping people. He loved helping people through the healing process, and he also learned that with his playful personality, he was very good at it. He was taught by Arthur Mendelson to "look beyond the problem to see the solution."
He believed that connecting to a patient's thoughts and emotions were equally as important as knowing what was physically wrong with them. This vision and his initiative lifted him out of the psychiatric ward and, believe it or not, all the way through medical school. Throughout this transformation into a doctor, Patch was pressured to dismiss his views and conform to how others thought a medical student is supposed to act. Dean Walcott told the med students that he was going to "Train the humanity out of them." Patch did not agree with this statement at all.