Page 49 - index
P. 49
M y mother is a patient of paranoid schizophrenia and her treatment has
been going on since the last ten years. From the last 1.5 years, she stopped her
medicines and last year, she set her reports and medicines on fire. These days,
her condition is worse than ever. We are tired and exhausted because of this. I
am a student and this situation is affecting my studies very badly. This seems
like a long, dark tunnel with no end. I don‘t want to lose my mother.
-Ali
M y brother-in-law is a schizophrenia patient and he has done his BTech and
MTech from a reputed institute. We have taken him to almost all the big
hospitals for mental illnesses in India. One doctor told me that we have to
treat him at home as there is no chance of complete recovery. Another doctor
said that he can‘t be admitted in his hospital as they only admit patients who
are very violent since they have a shortage of beds. After many long journeys
from one hospital to the other, if you keep getting such responses, where do
you go for help?
-Kedar
I have always counted myself as a big cynic but your show gives me hope. I
have always associated India with a stifling and suffocating culture of
suppression—moral, emotional, physical. My family has suffered terribly for
years under the burden of mental illness. Our sudden transformation from a
respectable, likeable family to one that is shunned and outcast is something
that we cannot comprehend even today.
My younger brother has bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. For a long time,
we couldn‘t or didn‘t want to accept his growing troubles. His symptoms
worsened; he became violent. In one of his fits, he attacked my father who
later had to be admitted to a hospital. My mother has been to the doctor many
times for bruises and stitches.
Why did my parents bear this? For society.
46
been going on since the last ten years. From the last 1.5 years, she stopped her
medicines and last year, she set her reports and medicines on fire. These days,
her condition is worse than ever. We are tired and exhausted because of this. I
am a student and this situation is affecting my studies very badly. This seems
like a long, dark tunnel with no end. I don‘t want to lose my mother.
-Ali
M y brother-in-law is a schizophrenia patient and he has done his BTech and
MTech from a reputed institute. We have taken him to almost all the big
hospitals for mental illnesses in India. One doctor told me that we have to
treat him at home as there is no chance of complete recovery. Another doctor
said that he can‘t be admitted in his hospital as they only admit patients who
are very violent since they have a shortage of beds. After many long journeys
from one hospital to the other, if you keep getting such responses, where do
you go for help?
-Kedar
I have always counted myself as a big cynic but your show gives me hope. I
have always associated India with a stifling and suffocating culture of
suppression—moral, emotional, physical. My family has suffered terribly for
years under the burden of mental illness. Our sudden transformation from a
respectable, likeable family to one that is shunned and outcast is something
that we cannot comprehend even today.
My younger brother has bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. For a long time,
we couldn‘t or didn‘t want to accept his growing troubles. His symptoms
worsened; he became violent. In one of his fits, he attacked my father who
later had to be admitted to a hospital. My mother has been to the doctor many
times for bruises and stitches.
Why did my parents bear this? For society.
46
