A Humanistic Approach Towards Mental Illness

When I lived in Pakistan I used to see half naked mentally ill people walking around aimlessly on the streets. People used to make fun of them and children used to throw rocks at them. Some people were scared, as they perceived them as unpredictable and violent. In my twenty-three years of life in Pakistan I was never attacked or hurt by any person suffering from mental illness. As I grew older and developed a keen interest in human psychology, I realized that people with mental illness did not receive the treatment and respect they deserved. They were part of an ill-informed community and because of the ignorance about mental illness people had developed a negative attitude towards mental illness.

Because of the ignorance and prejudice about mental illness some mentally ill people roamed around on streets never receiving the proper treatment, some were taken to holy shrines as their families felt they were sinners and if they repented from their sins they might get better and some were sent to mental asylums and left there for years, even decades. When I visited a mental hospital in Pakistan I was sad to see patients who were wandering around acting in a bizarre way. I did not see them being treated in a humanistic way. They did not receive the care they deserved.

As I studied medicine in Pakistan and psychiatry in Canada I developed a scientific approach towards mental illness and a humanistic attitude towards people suffering from emotional problems. When I review my professional life of the last thirty years serving in different psychiatric hospitals and mental health clinics in Canada, I realize that there is a tremendous need in the East as well as the West to educate people, their families and communities about mental illness so that patients can get help they deserve. It is even more important for immigrant families who have grown up in one culture with one attitude towards mental illness and are now living in another culture with a different philosophy about emotional problems. Because of cultural barriers there is a gap between Western mental health professionals and Eastern families. I think time has come for all of us to break those walls of ignorance and prejudice and build bridges of understanding and caring. Those bridges can be built through opening our hearts and minds and sharing our life experiences so that we can educate each other. In the last thirty years of my practice as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist some of the things I have learnt are as follows:


1. Mental Illnesses can be classified as physical illnesses.

The scientific attitude in medicine has helped us develop a classification of physical illnesses and divide them in infections, tumours, allergic reactions, psychosomatic conditions and many more groups. Because of such classification we can diagnose the condition. The diagnosis helps us in understanding the causes of the conditions and then treating them in a rational and logical way. Some conditions are treated with medications while others with surgery.

When I was visiting a mental hospital in Iran in 1976 I saw the patients suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, mental retardation, dementias, addictions and epilepsy all in the same ward. The more we learn about different types of mental illnesses, the more we can diagnose them and then treat them separately and effectively.


2. We can try to understand mental illnesses.

Science of human psychology and psychopathology has helped us develop a bio-psycho-social model of mental illness. This model shows that mental illnesses are complex and there are multiple factors that play a role in the causation of the condition.

A, Biological Factors: In some families the biological and genetic factors play a significant role as some mental illnesses can be hereditary and can run in the families.

B, Psychological Factors: In some patients the psychological factors are more important than biological factors as they have developed very shy, introverted and schizoid personalities and are very sensitive to emotional crisis.
C, Social Factors: In some patients the social factors play a significant role. Those people who grew up in abusive and dysfunctional families usually develop poor coping skills and when they face emotional, professional or social crises they can have a nervous breakdown.


3. Cultural factors are important in Mental Illness

The science of mental health and illness is also developing a trans-cultural field and studying the dynamics of how different cultures affect the presentation of mental illness and how doctors and therapists can help patients and families from different cultures by respecting their cultural traditions and developing a holistic approach to mentally ill people.


4.There are different treatment modalities for different groups of patients.

The more we have a better understanding of different forms of mental illness and emotional problems the better we can serve them. Over the last few decades many mental health professionals use a combination therapy and tailor the treatment according to the needs of the patients.

A, Medications: Psychiatrists use a wide range of medications (anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, lithium etc) to treat psychosis i.e. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression and other forms of mental illness

B, Psychotherapy. Psychologists, social workers and nurses use different kinds of supportive and dynamic therapy to help their patients have a better understanding of their emotional and personality problems and make changes to lead happier and healthier lives. Such therapy can involve individuals, couples, families or groups depending upon the expertise and interest of the therapist.

C. Education. While patients are treated with medications and psychotherapy there is also a need to educate the patients and their families about the illnesses and emotional problems so that the patients, their dear ones, doctors and therapists can all work together.


5. The care for mentally ill is moving from mental hospitals to the community

In the last few decades’ mental health professionals are realizing that admitting psychiatric patients to mental asylums for long periods far away from their homes, might not be the best way to treat patients. They get isolated from their dear ones. Now many general hospitals and community clinics are looking after psychiatric patients and there are many community mental health nurses, social workers and case managers who make home visits and try to deal with the crises by providing families the support they need.


6.We are developing a humanistic attitude towards people suffering from mental
illness and emotional problems

As people get more informed and educated about mental illness they realize that people suffering from mental illness are not stupid or violent. Most of the crimes in any community are not committed by people who suffer from mental illness. After receiving proper help mentally ill people can live in the community and contribute to the society. There are lawyers and engineers and businessmen and university professors who suffer from mental illness and are treated by their doctors, nurses and therapists in a respectful way. Some people suffering from mental illness are also very creative and contribute in the form of poems and plays and painting. Most people know that famous Urdu poet Meer Taqi Meer, well-respected English writer Virginia Woolf and a gifted painter Vincent Van Gogh, all suffered from mental illness.

In the last few decades we have come a long way by discovering new medications to control the symptoms of mental illness, new forms of therapy for emotional problems and a humanistic attitude but we still need to learn how to provide such compassionate care to more and more people in more and more communities and countries. We need to see a day when people with mental illness can live respectfully and peacefully and do not fear to be persecuted and penalized because of their emotional problems.

In the end I would like to say that to create such an environment all of us whether patients, families and mental health workers have to work together so that we can develop a scientific and humanistic attitude towards mental illness. I feel fortunate that my education and experience has provided me an opportunity to serve and educate people suffering from mental illness from different cultural backgrounds.