Stories of courage, recovery and resilience in mental health (AI image)
AHMEDABAD: For Pragnesh (name changed), 26, currently an expert repairman at an automobile shop, behavioural tics surface sometimes — periods of confusion, dilemma, or impulsivity also take over, but are temporary. “Due to neural damage, he faced mental health issues.
But with treatment and medication, he could be integrated back to society,” said an official. “It started when he was five years old. After a high-grade fever, he suffered an epileptic seizure and eventually went into coma. He was treated at the VS Hospital at that time by a team of doctors. Episodes recurred for seven months and the hospital became our second home,” recounts his mother. “Eventually he did recover and came home. His studies were affected but what mattered to us was his health. Pragnesh enrolled at BM Institute of Mental Health for post-recovery follow-ups and treatment. Experts at the institute say his was a long road to recovery.
Kenny (name changed), in his early sixties, is a familiar figure in the wards of the Govt Hospital for Mental Health. “I had long history of substance abuse and fled from home frequently. Often my family would go from one police station to another in different cities in search of me.
“The takeaway message for the day is valuing the lived experience of persons with mental health issues — we have a large number of earlier patients who are engaged with current patients, for handholding and to share their own path to recovery. Today, I talk about my journey as a cautionary tale to young patients who are brought in with a history of substance abuse, and tell them to hang in there — it is easy to give up, but it is a long journey, which one must often undertake alone,” he says.