Mental Health Update

In my work as a physician, one thing that has always bothered me is the patient with “neuropathic pain”. Here is the typical scenario:

The psychiatric profession is under attack by the Church of Scientology. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a Scientology advocacy group, released an intense “documentary” called “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death” in 2006. Recently, I stumbled upon a video clip of this pointed film. Interestingly, many videos under the general theme of anti-psychiatry have emerged since Tom Cruise’s outburst on Oprah.

I've been on a number of medications over the years, ranging from Stelazine, then Mellaril during my first psychosis (early 1994) and Risperidone and Seroquel for my second psychosis (mid-year, 2002). I am currently prescribed Abilify for psychosis symptoms when I need it (and "when I need it" is now determined by me). Currently I am not taking it and am symptom-free.

Let’s take, for example, schizophrenia — a debilitating mental health disorder with a unique symptomatic and epidemiological profile. The current DSM diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia include at least one month of active symptoms (at least one symptom of bizarre delusions or auditory hallucinations or two or more positive or negative symptoms) and six months of social/occupational dysfunction or independent-care impairments.

When friends ring up, crying, traumatized, or very angry about a situation, do you know how to best respond? I hear from many people that they want to have a structure around how to help their traumatized friends: they want to know what to do and how to do it.

I think I mentioned before that Stephen (my boyfriend, or so it seems) suffers a malady of the mind. Before I even met him, he confessed he occasionally suffered from panic attacks. This didn’t bother me. As I got to know him, I realised his condition was a little more complicated than your garden variety anxiety: he is diagnosed with manic-depression, also known as bipolar disorder. We talked about it a lot and I told him that if ever he was having a rough time, a panic attack or anything, he should call me.

I once received a strange hurried email from a girlfriend who said she was going away for a long long time, wanting to leave her doting husband and 2 beautiful girls. This was a person who suffered manic depression despite her blessings in life, despite her high degree of intelligence, beauty and spirituality. It sounded like a suicide note to me. But thanks to collective help and healing from friends, she was persuaded to stay.

She did suggest another option -- the hyperactive flavor of attention deficit disorder: ADHD. O_o