This is not my first attempt at blogging. Many have encouraged me to write and share my experience -family, friends but especially my patients, some of whom have known me for over a decade. Sometimes I convince myself that there are enough people educating on mental illnesses in the social media. However, even as the years have gone by, I am still amazed at the gap between mental illness awareness and that of other “medical illnesses “and this has convinced me to add my voice to the many.
About 20 years ago, when I was still at the infancy of my private practice, the story of a patient who quit his lucrative job due to his conviction that he had become a “fake” at his high powered lucrative job made a big impact on me.
He was having difficulty performing at his usual level due to impaired concentration and diminished motivation and other symptoms of an episode of Depression which was only diagnosed after he had quit the job. With treatment, he returned to his previous level of functioning, but the job was not available. He admitted that he was suffering from other better-known physicals symptoms like troublesome cough, persistent headache or persistent fever, he would have sought medical help earlier.
Unfortunately, I have continued to encounter patients whose undiagnosed, untreated mental illnesses have cost them jobs, relationships, caused academic underachievement, legal problems and for some have cost them their lives.
What makes this even more tragic is that in the same period there has been more scientific understanding of mental illnesses and more options for treatment
Three out of four of my patients have had recurrent episodes of various mental illnesses, especially Mood and Anxiety disorders but did not know how to present it for treatment or even inform a doctor when seen for other reasons. For some, they only informed their doctor of the physical changes e.g. Sleep, and eating patterns, risking misdiagnosis.
What has also made an impact on me is that most “get it” when the illnesses have been explained in layman language and not medical jargons and commonly known illnesses like diabetes, asthma have been used as analogy
From the glimpses in the media, even celebrities who one would assume to have financial access to the best information and services fall prey to this lack of awareness and knowledge.
I have therefore decided that this time, despite my anxieties because of my seemingly unreachable path to that technology bridge. I will accept the help of my young savvy supporters
I want to share the insights I have gained, and I hope you can share your experiences and suggest areas you might want discussed.
You are welcome to share your experiences,
I appeal to all that we do it in a way that is constructive and health promoting even when we disagree with others’ ideas.
I’d like to start my first topic with the common assumption of what mental illness should look like.
Thank you and welcome
Thanks for being here
