medical moments 4-- psychological medicine

                                 It was a 15 day posting during my MBBS days that we were posted in the psychological medicine department . I still remember the pretty girl who must be around 17 whom our teacher told to see . She was perfectly normal except for a limping . The 15 days went off in interesting dicussions of the major and minor mental illnesses from schizophrenia to anxiety disorders and on the last day after our quiz and since our teachers were friendly we were in a good mood too . On last day the same doctor who showed us the limping girl asked us to look again back and there she was discharged and walking back from the hospital perfectly . It was a case of hysterical conversion disorder (if i remember correctly )  which no amount of drugs or medicines would have cured otherwise without psychological help .

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/policy-and-issues/new-mental-health-bill-bans-electric-shocks-without-anaesthesia-gives-right-to-treatment/article4820430.ece

                                                                   This is good news for this country as till now mental illness is in the backburner with disastrous results . When we talk of mental illness dont imagine the raving schizophrenic in the middle of a psychotic episode . Thats just the tip of the iceberg . Why because your son who is repeatedly having difficulty attempting an exam may have a severe anxiety disorder , the teenage girl who makes a suicide attempt (which the whole world even her parents sometimes ) may have a depressive disorder and these are diseases which can be diagnosed and treated .  In the US where the carefully do research statistics clearly say the incidence of mental illness is 26.2 percent  (dont get shocked ... its by their reputed National Institute of Health http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml#Intro

And in places like kerala we have three times the suicide rate of US and india has similar rates as US so our incidence should be somewhat similar but is masked in many ways  ..

1. in severe alcoholism and chain smoking  : (strong correlation with mental illness )  . These are more socially acceptable coping skills than getting treated by a mental health professional .  Think about " My dad is a nice man but drinks heavily duer to family problems "  vs " He doesnt drink but is in psychiatric treatment "  ..
2. In cults and demigods :  Everyone has problems but you know some people who are so much into the cults which have no dearth these days . Their "problems " couldnt even be solved by religion and only the cults could give an answer and they pursue the cults worse than any addiction .  Partial reason is cults give a socially acceptable "group therapy " though  a dysfunctional type while going to a psychotherapist for real therapy is considered taboo  ..

3. Did you know that even "Narcissistic disorder " is a mental illness(refer wikipedia and hope you dont look around and find someone like that )   . In US whether he get cured or not he will get divorced and after repeated relationship failures he will enter some treatment . In our country this particular group gets tolerated forever because "for childrens sake " , "what will soceity say " etc etc  ..

                                                          Stigma is one major problem with mental illness and the US is taking major steps to tackle it . And hope our country also follows the west at least in the good things like this .