Mala (not her real name) has been the primary caregiver for her brother Ram (not his real name) who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia for more than 15 years. Indra Venkatram writes about the challenges Mala faced as a sole caregiver in Singapore.

About Ram

Ram was a very bright and intelligent boy who did very well in school, studying in top secondary and junior college and also topping his cohort in his overseas university.  He was the pride of his family and had great plans for his future.

It is often misconstrued that people with schizophrenia are being lazy when they find it hard to continue with a job. Yuna Angell, who has schizophrenia, writes about her work experience at a fast food restaurant and what happened to her there.

Dr R. Mangala, consultant psychiatrist, SCARF India describes early symptoms to recognize schizophrenia and emphasizes the importance of timely detection, intervention and treatment to minimize disability and improve chances of recovery.

Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler describes schizophrenia as –

“A slowly progressive deterioration of the entire personality, which involves mainly the affective life, and expresses itself in disorders of feeling, thought and conduct, and a tendency to withdraw from reality.”

Ashish Kejriwal, who has schizophrenia, shares a thought provoking post about mental health issues at the workplace and how the fire in the mind gets destroyed with insensitive seniors and managers.

This article is the most difficult piece I have written so far. Because I am traveling back in time. And I wish that this article existed back then. Back, when I lost my capacity to work due to a sudden break of Mental Illness.