The psychiatry ward

I am posted in the psychiatry ward these days . The ward is interesting enough to warrant a blog post

Day 1 :

First day and we were introduced to the house officers and residents .. The ward round was quite interesting . There were people suffering from severe depression . Also people recovering from relationship issues . A young boy had tried to commit suicide by cutting his wrist . He looked better though . The scars were healing – the ones visible as well as the ones not visible . Then there was a man who was extremely heart broken from financial loss in business . He looked ok . He said he felt better .  A man hadn’t gone out of his house for one whole year . Again , depression .  In the female ward there was this girl who talked about going home . We could not take her history properly and moved on .

Day 2 :

Posted in the opd . An interesting case where a young girl about 14 to 15 years old complained of sudden blackouts  . She felt her mother did not love her as much as her elder daughter . She did not trust her mother and was losing friends . Then there were few patients who had anger management issues .

Day 3 :

The highlight of the day was the ward round . Finally got to meet the female patient from  day 1 whose history we could not take . An extremely interesting case . She had hallucinations . Visible , audible …and sexual . She believed that her father had assaulted her in the past and she had vivid memories of the experience as she believed she was always intoxicated first . Detailed discussion of the case followed . And later a detailed history in the presence of our supervisor . Interestingly she wanted to go back home , the same place where she believes she had been assaulted . Which indicates that what she believed to be true was not true .  She blamed a witch for the whole incident . Also blamed the father . She was confused . According to the supervisor she was suffering from the Electra complex where a girl is in competition with her mother for the possession of the father . But was definitely unaware herself and therefore blaming the witch and the father . Here is a link for the Electra complex : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electra_complex

Day 4 :

A schizophrenic patient comes to the opd . Thinks the agencies were after him . Nobody understands him according to him and that he wished his family was a bit more educated so they could understand what he was talking about . Made some references to extra terrestrials and his ability to communicate with them . On asking the details he was lost . Had this sense of grandeur . Said he could talk to the Chinese ( implied via brain ) . Also said the Chinese had given him a 2 year visa . He complained that If the Chinese knew his worth who is the family to say something is wrong with him !

And then there was another interesting young boy with a history of substance abuse . He was 20 years old and badly addicted to gutka . He now wanted to be admitted in the ward by choice so he could stay away from it . The reason he wanted to leave was his girlfriend ! We refused to admit him but prescribed a few medicines to help him taper the amount of drug and eventually quit

Day 7 :

An 18 year old female patient was in the ward tied to the bed . She came with a history of  hysteria . She was laughing uncontrollably , was verbally abusive and making no sense whatsoever . She has been diagnosed as having bipolar disorder combined with psychosis . Her mother tells us that she was absolutely normal when she went to meet her friend on eid day 4 . She has been like this since then . The family thinks its something supernatural or paranormal . I asked the girl if she prayed or wanted to pray . She replied with a very straight stare into my eyes “bohot lay liia tum logon nay Allah ka naam ..main ab aag dekh rahi hun”  Insane or not , this gave me goosebumps  .

Day 8 : Saw a young patient with anger management issues . He had very low tolerance for things he did not like . He could not take jokes . And fought very often . He has been like this since 2 years now , when his brother passed away . Most probably agitated due to depression .

A woman married for 30 years came with the complain of an unsatisfactory marriage. The husband did something that broke her heart . She just wanted to talk about it . It appeared as if she required a councellor more than a psychiatrist .

A young girl came with a history of fits since 2 months . She also had one incident of audible hallucinations about 6 months back . During the history she suffered another attack where she moved uncontrollably . Treated like a princess at home , there are no responsibilities on her. The attacks are most likely convulsions . Convulsion is a method the brain uses to let other people know that something is not right . It usually happens when the person is unable to convey his or her feelings to other people . It leaves the brain with no other option but to carry out such attacks to seek attention .

Day 9 : The first thing i did today was  go to the ward and see how the hysterical girl from day 7 was doing . Unfortunately the family had taken her back home . They had never really believed that medical treatment was the answer .

It was a slow day otherwise . We were posted in the child clinic today . A father came with 2 of his 8 children , both suffering from a form of mental disorder . The boy , 12 years old had a history of physical abuse at home . He now beat other kids up to take out his frustration . He was very defensive and shy . He did not open up at all during the session . His father told us that the boy had become extremely stubborn and angry over the last few months . Father was advised to get an IQ check up done for the kid .

The girl , 9 yrs,  on the other hand suffered from a somatoform disorder . She came with a history of excessive vomiting and nausea . The fact that the father came without the mother , the untidy condition of the children and a history of abuse at home suggests the environment at home is probably the main culprit behind the children’s condition .