Byculla: “For 35 years my wife suffered, but I didn’t know how to help her,’’ says Ahmed, a 60-year-old Byculla resident. It was only when his teenaged daughter began to show similar symptoms, that the family sought help and found that she suffered from schizophrenia. “It was by then too late to help my wife with medicines to lead a normal life, but my daughter is doing fine,’’ he says.
Now, Ahmed (name changed) and many likeminded parents and spouses have come together to set up Dilassa, a support group for family members of patients suffering from mental ailments or various forms of addiction. The brainchild of psychiatrist Yusuf Matcheswalla, it will be inaugurated on Sunday on the occasion of World Mental Health Day at Masina Hospital, Byculla.
“Dilassa’s main aim will be to spread awareness among parents and give them hope that mental ailments can be treated and controlled,’’ say office-bearers R Billimoria, and A Vahanvaty. “It is bad enough that people get afflicted with mental ailments, but it is worse to hide it as your patient will suffer more without help,’’ says Vahanvaty.
The support group will also try to raise awareness about various mental health issues such as shortage of institutions where genuinely mentally ailing patients can be treated.
A member parent who doesn’t want to be identified recalls how he had a difficult time finding an institution to keep his 42-year-old son, a drug addict whose bouts of mood disorders almost always resulted in mayhem. “Moreover, the existing institutions are frightfully expensive at Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 a month,’’ he adds.
On Sunday, Dilassa will begin with a seminar in which experts will address parents and care-givers on how to help their ailing family member even while not succumbing to the daily stresses. “Support groups run by parents are becoming a force that can bring about changes in society. Look at the parents’ group for dyslexia,’’ says Dr Matcheswalla. TNN