Psychiatry and Society

Treat schizophrenia as you would any other serious medical illness in your teenager "My 18yr son is aggressive, hearing voices, and not sleeping." "Since the last two months he is not attending college. He talks to himself in his room and is not going out with his friends." "He feels he is being tracked through the TV and yesterday assaulted his mother when she put it on." "We tried taking him to our doctor but he refuses saying there is nothing wrong with him." This is a common introduction to the more severely ill teenagers presenting at Pathfinder Clinic. Why teenagers with schizophrenia refuse to see a psychiatrist  Teenagers refuse to see a psychiatrist for illness related and personal reasons Illness related factors Schizophrenia is a brain disease. Your teenager has difficulties recognising his own symptoms. In schizophrenia there are changes in brain structure, chemistry and functioning. The individual is unable to ...

Some excerpts (reproduced with permission) from responses to my last post. " My Dad was a closet alcoholic " " ...asking for help on alcohol consumption for my friend's son who will soon turn 19 years...parents now try to monitor his timings, where he is but he is slippery and generally seems to be ahead of them. " People may know that a loved one requires help with an alcohol habit or other behavioural or emotional problem. The reluctance to seek help is mainly due to the stigma attached and the individuals lack of insight (blindness to the presence of the illness). How does the family or society (a neighbour) get the person to a psychiatrist or other mental health professional? Individual choice and potential for harm are in the balance I've listed out some methods  - by no means exhaustive - used successfully by other caregivers. They are in descending order of individual choice and autonomy. Use your discretion. How to get a ...