KOCHI: Complete recovery is possible in the case of mental illness, says Dr Mohan Isaac, Professor at the University of Western Australia and former professor at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS). The psychiatry professor was in the city to attend the annual conference of the Indian Association of Psychiatrists.“The idea of ‘once a mental patient always a mental patient’ needs to change”, he said. After treatment, most of the mental patients can be reintegrated with the society and become useful members of the society. The best example here is Nobel Laureate economist John Nash, on whom the movie ‘The Beautiful Mind’ is based. He was locked up in prison cells for years. However, after his release, he went on to become one of the best scientists. In fact, in 2006, he was the chief guest at the annual conference of the Psychiatric Association of USA. At the conference, the patient who was locked up in a mental hospital addressed as many as 4000 psychiatrists”, he said.But this kind of recovery will need the intervention of the family and the society, he said. “In case of mental illness, recovery is not synonymous with cure. There are chances that a person may have problems in future. But that holds true not only in mental patients but any human being. A person who could be perfectly normal today can be a mental patient after a few years. What is important here is the reintegration of patients who recover. The patient needs to have a situation, an environment, where he/she can be reintegrated without being ridiculed or discriminated. For this, the society and family have a huge role to play, he said.Even in the case of serious psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, majority can recover and lead normal lives. “We call it a rule of 1/3rd. 1/3rd of all people suffering from schizophrenia can completely recover and another 1/3rd can carry on with their lives through medications. The last one third might need more advanced treatment. In the case of other diseases, it is much better. Even the most serious patients need not be permanently shunned by the community. In serious cases, they might need mental hospitals for a few weeks. After that they can be taken by the family. In the case of mental illness, such integration is as important as medicines. So instead of locking people and dumping them into rehabilitation centres, efforts should be made to give support to the patients and their families,” he said.
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