Case Study

A personal account of a patient
Suresh’s story
Suresh, a BE. in Civil Engineering and working as a Junior Engineer is afflicted with schizophrenia and loses his job. He loses both his parents and psychosis further overpowers him. He is wandering on the streets for a period of 3 years. Social workers of a rehabilitation organization pick him up and institutionalize him in their nursing home.

Two months of active anti–psychotic treatment rid him of his psychosis and bring him back to the world of the present. But being out of touch for nearly 3 years, he cannot pick up the threads of his life so easily.

He is initially employed in a job requiring simple skills in the nursing home viz. superficial cleaning and arranging of the beds etc. Once he gains some confidence, he is employed as a receptionist in the same nursing home. This enhanced his self image, increased his social interactions, and boosted his ego.

Thereafter, he was assigned jobs which involved enhanced social functioning such as banking, getting medicines and co–ordinating various activities of the nursing home. Six months later he had improved to the point wherein he was ready to meet the challenges of the outer world.

A meeting with his boss and an on the spot technical interview to assess his caliber ensures him his reinstatement to his original job, both on humanitarian grounds as well as on merit.

Nine months of this job sees him more confident, self–sufficient and able to handle day to day pressures of life. But nonetheless, he felt frustrated because of lack of job satisfaction and non usage of his optimum creative potential and ultimately resigns from his job to enter the teaching profession. He joins Bright Academy as a regular full time tutor and is now a permanent employee of the same Academy for the last 6 months.

In the above case of Suresh, the overall process of rehabilitation from the time of initiation of treatment to the current status involved a period of two years but saw Suresh in a state of fulfillment and at psychological peace with himself, though still on maintenance medication.

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