JOIN USEarly detection of schizophrenia key to recovery
An increasing cases of schizophrenia, the mental disorder in which a person is unable to distinguish between reality and illusion, are surfacing in India. Many of them could have been treated better, only if they were detected at an early stage.
One such case is of Arpita (name changed), being treated at the psychiatry ward of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML).
The 14-year-old came to the hospital three years after setting in of schizophrenia. “Arpita used to hear voices which were not there. She would hear vehicles honking even when nothing was plying on the road. She would even hear a woman giving answers to the questions,” said Arpita’s father.
Initially the parents did not act. After six months, Arpita was taken to a doctor. She met a psychiatrist only after 14 months passed since she first experienced confusion in keeping reality and illusion apart.
Shock to everyone
A bright student, who excelled at dance and has had many performances on stage, her schizophrenia came as a shock to everyone. She spent 10 days in the female ward of RML’s psychiatry unit.
“She had started getting very violent. Within a week that character has changed and she is much more calm than before,” said her mother.
Arpita likes listening to music. Carrying a small transistor with a cassette player, she walks around in the hospital complex, enjoying the spring sun.
“We always face the problem of late detection of mental disorders, especially schizophrenia. The symptoms are not known and the family is not able to decide what to do.
“This child could have been treated better and would have become normal had she been brought to us early,” said Dr Smita N Deshpande, head, psychiatry at Ram Manohar
Lohia.
Common symptoms
* Blank, vacant facial expression and inability to smile or express emotion through the face.
* Find even normal lights and sound bright and loud
* Staring with infrequent blinking
* Sleep disturbances -- insomnia or excessive sleeping
* Involuntary movements of the tongue or mouth
* Jerking arm movements, or involuntary movements of the limbs
* Difficulty focusing on slow moving objects