Schizophrenia, not a beautiful experience<\/p>\n
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The ward of the psychiatric department of state Cipto
\nMangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) is no different from the rest of the
\nplace: It's grim, old and dirty.<\/p>\n
As the faded wooden gate is unlocked and opened, its
\nappearance, which is closer in resemblance to a refugee camp, is
\nquickly disclosed. The smell of dust and worn out furniture
\npermeate the air.<\/p>\n
\"This place is not really good enough for patients. We plan to
\nrenovate, but we don't have much funding,\" the hospital's
\npsychiatrist, Martina Wiwie, explained on our visit to the ward
\nrecently.<\/p>\n
We passed the left wing, which is reserved for male patients,
\nand went straight to the right wing, where several female
\npatients had gathered in the hall and were chatting. On a bench
\nin a corner, a patient was talking to an intern in a firm tone.<\/p>\n
\"You know, I can see across thousands of kilometers. Wherever
\nmy mother is, I can tell what she's doing,\" said the patient, who
\nsaid her name was Nelma.<\/p>\n
A few minutes later she stood up hastily and walked away from
\nthe bench, but then returned to talk to the intern.<\/p>\n
\"Let me ask you, what is your religion? Catholic? Well, I feel
\nso sorry for you, because you will never go to heaven. I know
\nthat for sure because I know the Koran by heart, and prophet
\nMuhammad said so. Forgive me for saying this, but you guys will
\nnever go to heaven!\" Nelma, who is in her 40s, said angrily.<\/p>\n
She became furious after the intern told her that she was
\nbeing paranoid. Nelma then said how religious she was and how she
\nhad tremendous supernatural power.<\/p>\n
\"That is a case of schizophrenia,\" Dr. Martina whispered.<\/p>\n
Nelma is among the estimated 1.2 percent of Indonesia's
\npopulation of more than 200 million who suffer from schizophrenia
\n-- a mental disorder of which there is still low public
\nawareness.<\/p>\n
Like millions of other schizophrenics, Nelma is suffering from
\na mental disorder in which the personality is seriously
\ndisorganized, but not split as is often thought, and contact with
\nreality is usually impaired.<\/p>\n
You probably still remember last year's film A Beautiful Mind,
\nwhich is a true story about schizophrenic mathematician John Nash
\nwho later learns to handle his constant hallucinations and
\ndelusions to win a Nobel Prize in physics.<\/p>\n
While the severity of the illness varies greatly in
\nindividuals, most people diagnosed with schizophrenia will
\nusually suffer from one or more of its symptoms.<\/p>\n
The symptoms that require hospitalization occur during the
\nacute stage and they are: delusions, a false belief that cannot
\nbe corrected by reason; hallucinations, usually in the form of
\nnonexistent voices; disorganized speech, with frequent
\nderailments or incoherence; and grossly disorganized or catatonic
\nbehavior.<\/p>\n
People living with schizophrenia are often robbed of the
\npleasures in life, and they have less ability to experience
\nfeelings.<\/p>\n
Long-term impairments for people living with schizophrenia
\ninclude low levels of interest, motivation, emotional arousal,
\nmental activity, social drive and speech.<\/p>\n
\"They lose their social skills, their jobs and are expelled
\nfrom schools. They can be extremely aggressive, or unreasonably
\nsilent. But the most common type is intense paranoia,\" Martina
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Schizophrenic patients are prone to saying things that do not
\nalways make sense and their intellectual capacity also shows a
\ntendency to decline.<\/p>\n
The disorder, however, is very individualistic, as no two
\ncases of schizophrenia are exactly the same.<\/p>\n
It is believed that the main cause of the illness is a
\nneurochemical imbalance in the brain, although there are cases in
\nwhich nothing was wrong with the patient's brain.<\/p>\n
Stress and complications in pregnancy can also be a trigger of
\nthe disorder.<\/p>\n
\"When a parent is schizophrenic, the child has a 23 percent
\nchance of suffering from it, too. If both parents are
\nschizophrenic, that probability jumps to 49 percent,\" Martina
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
However, there are studies that suggest that an inherited
\npredisposition to the disease is not necessarily a dominating
\nfactor.<\/p>\n
While mental illness can hit at any age, symptoms of
\nschizophrenia are most prevalent between the ages of 15 and 30.<\/p>\n
\"It is usually more distinguishable in men, because society
\nputs extreme pressure on them. So they become stressful, which
\ncould trigger the disease,\" Martina said.<\/p>\n
She said that it did not cause too much disruption to the
\nlives of people who are introverted.<\/p>\n
\"They usually turn to religion or the supernatural. But when
\nit becomes a full-blown case, patients may think that they are
\nprophets or messengers from heaven. And others, who are unaware
\nof the disease, think that the patient just can't handle that
\nkind of knowledge (of religion and supernatural stuff),\" Martina
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The situation turns serious, however, when patients become
\nextremely aggressive or the voices they hear urge them to become
\nviolent. As a result, many sufferers are confined to their homes
\nby family members or have their legs shackled.<\/p>\n
While the story of John Nash is heavily romanticized in A
\nBeautiful Mind, the reality of a schizophrenic's life is harsher.
\nThe portrait of a faithful and patient wife of a schizophrenic,
\nplayed by Oscar winner Jennifer Connely, is also a rare case.<\/p>\n
Often, like what happens to so many patients at RSCM,
\nsufferers of the disorder are discriminated against, their rights
\nare violated and they are shunned by family members.<\/p>\n
Saring Hadiono, who is in his 40s, said that he often wanted
\nto kill his schizophrenic brother, Hariadi, who has been living
\nwith the disorder for over 12 years.<\/p>\n
\"I felt like it would have been better for him to die than to
\nmake the whole family suffer. My mother even said that it would
\nbe OK to dump him somewhere,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Hariadi had been a smart, multitalented man who held a decent
\njob, Saring said. He later turned obnoxious toward others, and
\nthat cost him his job and his family. The drastic changes in his
\nbehavior ranged from taking other people's food, excreting in a
\nmosque to burning the television and even the house.<\/p>\n
\"I didn't think that he was mentally ill. I thought he was
\njust plain annoying. We had tried many things, including putting
\nhim in an Islamic boarding school,\" Saring said.<\/p>\n
It was only a couple years ago that the family discovered he
\nwas ill, and took him to a hospital where he was diagnosed with
\nschizophrenia and treated for it.<\/p>\n
\"He is much better now. We should have brought him to the
\nhospital a long time ago,\" Saring said.<\/p>\n
Martina said the main cause of the illness was a chemical
\nimbalance, and it needed to be countered with medicine to
\neliminate symptoms.<\/p>\n
\"The medicine has to be taken continuously at least for two
\nyears. There is no such thing as an addictive effect. It's just
\nlike diabetes, where you have to constantly take medicine. It
\nmight be expensive, but the patients can function normally and
\ncontinue to hold a job,\" she said.<\/p>\n
But the most important thing, she added, was to create a
\nconducive and supportive environment for patients.<\/p>\n
\"The whole treatment is useless if a patient goes back to his
\nor her family and is always criticized or mocked. Occupational
\ntherapy and sports are also important,\" Martina said.<\/p>\n
Above all, she added, it has to be underlined that
\nschizophrenics should not be feared and are important members of
\nsociety.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/schizophrenia-not-a-beautiful-experience-1447893297",
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