Forty-year-old Anitha (name changed) was a regular at a city police station but she is not a cop. The police had heard her concerns during her first visit many years ago but stopped paying heed. She had almost always had the same complaint. It was not long before they realised she was psychotic and stopped listening to her.
“She believed every knock on her door, including that of her watchman to inform about water supply, was a deliberate effort to disturb her. She would immediately take the complaint to police station,” said Sujatha Rajamani, a psychotherapist consulting at city-based KIMS Hospital.
Awareness
As the world observes Schizophrenia Day on Wednesday, those working for mental health call for an increased need in awareness about psychotic disorders. Not hard to understand given that three in four people diagnosed with a psychotic condition including schizophrenia do not get treatment, according to the National Mental Health Survey published last year.
“It is a challenge to convince them for treatment. While intervention at an early stage is ideal, many people come to us only when they become dysfunctional,” said Dr. Rajamani while narrating the case of a 28-year-old who was convinced he is a prophet.
Rohan (name changed) often told others a war was about to break out and he had been sent to warn humanity. The delusions affected his ability to work and earn for his family. He stopped working about a year ago but in the preceding year, had changed four jobs.
Cause not known
Cause of schizophrenia remains unknown but genetics has a role to play, says N.N. Raju of Maharshi Institute of Neuropsychological Disorders in Visakhapatnam. An impaired family environment and compromised psychosocial factors can trigger the illness. Both Dr. Raju and Dr. Rajamani say medication with therapy helps to manage illness. However, many patients tend to skip medical advice and stop medication that can cause the signs of the disease to relapse.
“In cases when a person actually reaches a stage where he understands the difference between the real and imaginary even if the imaginary entities are present, that is when we would say the treatment has worked,” Dr. Rajamani added.
