Aggressive behaviour, lack of hygiene, indifferent to one's surroundings, suspicious nature, phobia and aimless activities are characteristic of severe mental disorder.
Naishad Shah, a retired man, is fighting for ameliorating his 37-year-old son's mental condition for the past couple of years. His son, an engineer, had well planned his career, but his hopes dashed when doctors diagnosed him with schizophrenia at the age of 28.
Shah, who is also the president of Sathi, an NGO working as a support group for relatives of patients, especially the mentally challenged, said, "Medical experts contend that nearly 15-20 per cent of the schizophrenics suffer because of genetic reasons. I started treating my son for the disease; he is now rehabilitated and is also earning his livelihood."
However, Shah regrets not having tested his son for the disorder earlier. If the disease had been diagnosed at an early stage, his son would have been in a better condition, and would have been living a married life too.
But Shah's son is not the lone sufferer. There are about 28 lakh mentally-ill people in Gujarat who struggle every day to live a normal life.
Talking about the increase in the number schizophrenia cases, Ajay Chauhan, superintendent of Hospital for Mental Health, said that about 11,000 critical cases of schizophrenia are registered every year in Gujarat. Depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, dependence on liquor and drugs are some of the symptoms of this illness, he explained. Chauhan was talking on the sidelines of an awareness programme organised in the city on Sunday.
Experts have broadly categorised mental disorder into two types - common and severe. A patient suffering from common mental disorder can show symptoms like disturbed sleep, gloomy mood, loss of appetite, low self-confidence, lack of concentration and negative thoughts for self and society.
Aggressive behaviour, lack of hygiene, indifferent to one's surroundings, suspicious nature, phobia and aimless activities are characteristic of severe mental disorder. These symptoms can gradually lead to the development of an impulsive behaviour, which in turn can lead the person into undertaking anti-social activities, said an expert.
About the need to have more psychiatrists to treat these patients, Chauhan said, "Ideally, there should be one doctor against 1 lakh patients; however, the current ratio in the state is 0.04 doctors against 1 lakh patients. The figure would be even less on the national level (about 0.3 doctors against 1 lakh patients)."
As of now, there are only about 210 registered psychiatrists and 25 psychologists in the state, of which around 75 psychiatrists and 12 psychologists are in Ahmedabad.
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