Mental Hospital Lagankhel
Mental Health Nepal
Being a mentally ill patient
Patients, when first given a psychiatric diagnosis, are commonly both relieved and frightened. |
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| ill people and understood by the medical profession. This in itself can give strength. Additionally a diagnosis can help create a treatment plan based on the doctor’s experience of what has been successful treating the same disease with similar cases. However patients are often frightened because they do not know what the diagnosis means or what the treatment will entail. In addition to patients’ fears about their own wellbeing, there is invariably a concern about how others will react once they learn about the ‘mentally ill’ diagnosis. In nearly all countries there is a pervasive condemnation and stigmatization of psychiatric illnesses, invariably as the result of ignorance and unhelpful myth. This makes both acceptance of mentally illness and willingness to be treated as such a much more difficult task for the patient. But this fear about the social impact of being labelled mentally ill must be rejected. Mental illness is as valid and real as any so-called physical or organic illness such as a broken arm or cancerous tumour. It is terrifying to be mentally ill but the good news is if such an individual (or his or her family/friends) is prepared to admit to mental illness and seek help from the health system, then in the majority of cases successful treatment is possible. Modern medicine and psychiatric interventions have come on leaps and bounds in the last decade in the field of mental health and unpleasant symptoms can be alleviated and often cured. The first step is to find the strength to ignore potential social stigma and recognise the symptoms of possible mental illness as such. Then if the patient is willing to seek help from the health service he or she can be helped... |
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