RIYADH — At Al-Amal Complex for Mental Health (ACMH), one hears miserable and sad stories about mental health patients who were committed to the complex for years and ignored by their families. Visiting a section inside the complex one would come across a schizophrenia patient who has been in the complex since 1999. No one from his family has visited him ever since he was committed to the complex.
He is so shocked that he refuses to talk to anyone. He does want to accept the fact that his family rejects him and does not want him. Another section has a patient with another mental disorder. He has spent 16 years of his life in the complex and has never stopped asking staff the same question: “When will I get out of here?” He has also not been visited by any family member for as long as he can remember. But he never gets tired of asking this question on daily basis. The women's section has similar tragic stories. One of the patients was admitted to the complex in 1992. She was suffering from several mental disorders. However, when her condition stabilized, her family refused to take her home because it was already taking care of three other mentally challenged sisters at home and there was no room for the fourth. They asked the complex to keep her in until they managed to get her a place at one of the social care centers. But no one has come to pick her up and she has been living in the complex ever since. What was really sad about this woman's story was that she could not recognize one of her sisters who was committed to the same center and stayed with her in the same room for a long time. Nurses were surprised that both sisters could not recognize each other. Family rejection Another patient was committed to the complex in 1995. She suffers from schizophrenia. In the beginning, she refused to listen to her family who kept asking her to come home. When the social counselor convinced her to go home, she agreed. But, this time her family had a change of heart and left her at the complex for good. It seems that the majority of patients at the complex suffer from schizophrenia. Another patient has been living in the complex since 2003 because her family did not want her at home. When her father was alive, he would take her to the complex every time her condition worsened and few days later would pick her up after she improved. But after his death in 2003, her brothers and sisters told her that they could not take care of her and she had to stay where she was. Some patients have improved a lot and shown signs of stability but their families have deserted them. The director of the mental health department in the complex, Dr. Mazin Abul Hayja, said families play an important role during the healing stages. He encouraged families to recognize the mental disorder of their relatives early on and seek professional help as soon as possible. Families should not waste time seeking help in the wrong institutions; they should go to professional centers because the sooner the symptoms are treated the better it is for patients. He also said families should encourage a member with mental disorder to take the prescribed medications and try to help him integrate in society gradually.
