His wife was psychotic

A thirty year old man told me what had occurred when he’d taken his psychotic wife to a psychiatric hospital for help. He added that dealing with psychosis was like getting hit by an avalanche in mid-summer. “We were escorted  into the on-duty psychiatrist’s office and then the doctor said; ‘It’s unusual for a family member to come here unannounced,’ which seemed a strange way to introduce oneself to a highly stressed husband with an adrenaline level way beyond what is considered normal. I wondered whether a doctor at any other emergency room would have said the same thing if we’d come in after an accident or after heart failure. The doctor wrote out a prescription for an anti-psychotic medication and handed me the piece of paper. I asked whether there could be side effects and he looked rather surprised but added another pill to the prescription without any explanation. I knew about side effects of anti-psychotic meds as I’d worked as a nurse in one of these hospitals for a while. Then he told me when it was advisable to bring my wife again and added that it would be advisable for me to remain during the next examination. I asked whether it was not standard procedure to hospitalize my wife due to her psychosis but he said she did not appear to be a danger to herself or to others. I wondered how he could be so sure after spending so little time with her.” Not long after this, she was hospitalized and remained there for some months.”

Family support is most important where mental health care is concerned. Of course, there are dysfunctional families but most are willing to learn and help their ill relative. Family support can reduce relapses and readmissions.

Yes, I suffer from OCD

“I was an adult with a serious problem that was ruining my life.  I visited a psychiatrist who had been recommended to me. An hour into my introductory session the doctor looked directly at me and said; “You have OCD. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.” I was already in tears, which continued to flow for hours. Those tears had been a long time coming.”

“The psychiatrist explained that I could try medication, behavioral therapy, or a combination of both. I was still in a state of denial so I bought the medication and continued my life as if nothing were the matter. But, the drug did not help me. I was tired of explaining my symptoms to psychiatrists only to have them delve into my family’s history, jot down a few notes and charge me a fortune. What I wanted, was to feel better.”

“So, I enrolled for a behavioral therapy course. I felt strange attending sessions in a psychiatric hospital and dealing with a chronic disease. Only then did it sink in that I was really ill and needed to resign myself to a lifetime of treatment.”

“I was assigned to a nurse who took me through my obsessions and rituals that caused me the most anxiety. Then we worked our way down the list. I realized that I would have to work very hard on the areas I had been avoiding. The nurse told me to bring items that I felt were contaminated. I would also have to rent a car and learn to stop turning around compulsively to check whether I’d hit anything. She told me to go into the hospital kitchen and turn off the appliances one by one, making sure to check each one only once and not twenty times the way I usually do.”

“The program lasted for seven weeks and I accomplished most of the assignments. The medication must have helped a bit but I think that having the support of the nurse helped more. Being with other OCD patients helped too, as we were able to speak openly about our compulsions and we had a great deal to talk about. This was the first time I realized that other people had the problems that I thought were mine alone.”

“When the program ended, I felt insecure but saw the nurse or one of the psychiatrists from time to time on a private basis. I also attended a support group every two weeks. There are times when I don’t feel the need to take medication but I take it as I cannot bear the thought of relapse. I am determined to manage my illness for the rest of my life. It’s chronic but I am no longer going to let it run my life. After all, it could have been worse.”

I heard this story from a young man who approached me after hearing about the voluntary work I have been doing in the field of mental health.

 

 

Did my son’s therapists truly understand the trauma he suffered when he lost his sanity?

Can any of you out there imagine what it must be like to lose your sanity? To lose your sanity due to an illness? I often had the feeling that due to the overload of patients in most psychiatric hospitals, the therapists tend to forget that there is a sensitive person behind the ‘sick facade’ and simply distribute pills irrespective.

Every single person needs to have hope. Without hope, most of us are unable to go on. I nearly lost hope while having to watch the doctors prescribe one pill after another for my son in an effort to find the miracle drug that would help him. But, they never did. Some people are medication resistant but they need a modicum of hope in their lives right up until the very end.