By ZALINAH NOORDIN
I SPENT almost half my afternoon with a psychiatrist recently at Hospital Sentosa.
No, I wasn’t seeking psychiatric treatment (yet?!)- I was merely tagging along my colleague for her special report on mental health.
Meeting Dr Ismail Drahman who is a senior consultant psychiatrist there really opened up my mind on the importance of mental health.
I came to know of Dr Ismail after contacting Sarawak Mental Health Association and was referred to him as he is the association’s president.
I wanted to get some insight into mental health issues especially on how many have been affected mentally in view of the lockdown brought about by the whole Covid19 pandemic.
When I was told that Dr Ismail was based at Hospital Sentosa, I thought it was a normal general hospital but later on learnt from my colleagues that it was actually an asylum for people with clinical mental disorders.
I can’t lie saying I wasn’t nervous at the idea of going to an asylum for I was expecting something out of a movie about asylums- with hallucinating patients and strange, expressionless people milling about. Or worse, aggressive ones turning rambunctious on us.
Suddenly an assignment ten years ago where I had gone undercover to a shelter home in Kuala Selangor replayed itself on my mind. I saw naked adults being chained up and caged, having defecated on themselves. Some were shouting on top of their lungs and it still haunts me until today.
I was pleasantly surprised as it was actually the opposite; Hospital Sentosa which is located in Batu Tujuh is just like a normal hospital, no dramatic scenes as seen in the movies.
Dr Ismail greeted us at the entrance and brought us to his office, eased us in for the interview and calmly explained to us that it was normal for people to assume that a psychiatric hospital or asylum would mean seeing zombie-like people around. It turned out that Hospital Sentosa appeared to look like other normal hospitals.
However, we were not shown around the wards due to the current Covid19 situation.
He shared with us how he never dreamt of one day becoming a psychiatrist but ended up enjoying the job of being able to help people cope, to become better mentally and physically able to function normally again.
“The most beautiful part about my job is seeing the transformation of patients and knowing I’ve made a difference- from people who had lost all hope to live to being able to put a smile back on their face. With every visit, I see their progress and that makes me really happy and satisfied.
“I guess everything in life is destined and I’ve been destined to do this even though I never chose psychiatry at all,” said Dr Ismail who is from Matu in Mukah, Sarawak.
Dr Ismail has 35 years of experience as a psychiatrist, having been stationed in a few states around West Malaysia before assuming the position of the director of Hospital Sentosa retiring. He is now back as a senior consultant psychiatrist there, having graduated with a Masters in Universiti Malaysia and obtaining a fellowship in Old Age Psychiatry from London.
As he launched into details about the job scope of a psychiatrist, I looked around his office. It had one examination bed, a desk and two chairs. Nothing fancy.. He caught my gaze and said “yeah it’s like a third world office here”.
I had actually imagined a comfortable couch as seen in the movies when patients would just lie down, spilling every detail to their shrink about life’s grievances.
While acknowledging the fact that mental health is fast gaining awareness in the country, what is sad, he said, is the number of psychiatrists here is a very small- about 400 in the whole of Malaysia which has a 27mil population and there are only 30 psychiatrists in the whole of Sarawak and only five in Kuching.
“It is something unpopular even amongst medical practitioners as the common notion is that you’d have to be a psycho yourself to be a psychiatrist!” he jested.
No doubt mental health is fast gaining acknowledgement due to the various initiative to eradicate stigma, Dr Ismail still believe that the word “mental” should be desensitised.
“You see, when you mention the word ‘mental’, it would often be associated with being crazy but in actual fact ‘mental’ is no different from ‘physical’. It is when both are not in sync with each other that gives rise to certain imbalance in our everyday life. When you’re physically unwell, you consult a doctor so it should also be the same when you’re mentally unwell.
“It is still an illness that needs to be treated be it medically, spiritually or through therapies.
“No illness can be cured but every illness is treatable, just like mental health.
“However many of those with mental issues come forward when it is at a severe stage or when they become aggressive,violent, or not being able to function anymore. If only they or their loved ones had detected the early signs,” he told my colleague.
He shared with us how some patients there had been long-staying patients, some as long as forty years and never had visitors, not even family members.
“It is like a dumping ground here sometimes and I wish family members would not be ashamed to come and visit them.
“Then there are those who would hide their family member who has mental illness at home for fear of being judged and that is not right either as it would worsen the stigma,” he said wistfully.
Dr Ismail admits that it is most challenging to treat patients with bipolar disorder as those with the condition of having two extremes-highs and lows will normally stop taking their medication when they are feeling ‘normal’.
“They will tell me there’s no need for medication since they’re feeling okay but then being off medication will give rise to their other extremes and the vicious cycle continues,” he said.
He recounted how depression and anxiety had affected one of this patients- a teacher from a big city transferred to a very remote part of Sarawak who went into hysterical fits and could not carry out her duties.
“I had to be flown as there was no psychiatrist available there,” he recalled.
Another part of his job which he seems to enjoy is to be able to understand and read characters.
“When you’re a psychiatrist, you see people and understand why some act or behave in certain ways- there must be underlying issues not dealt with or certain traumas not addressed in their life and we have that special ability to tell why certain people act or react in certain ways,” he added.
