Down the memory Lane

Volume 3 Issue 8 August, 2013 Presence of Mind I was called to attend an emergency in the ward one evening with regard to a patient affected with Bipolar Disorder in mania. On entering the ward the patient was seen standing on a chair meddling with an electric switchboard. All other patients & staff were […]

Volume 3 Issue 7 July, 2013 Symbol of hope Few of my contemporaries may remember this long time inmate in the female ward of pavilion 3. She was in her thirties and was always found moving around carrying a bundle wrapped in a cloth. She held it on the left side of her waist hugging […]

Volume 3 Issue 6 June, 2013 Do not underestimate physical examination I was called to see a patient, aged around 50 yrs. He appeared unkempt, apathetic and had no emotional expressions. The person accompanying him, his brother, said that he has been complaining of headache for last 2 days. Patient was ill with schizophrenia for […]

Volume 3 Issue 5 May, 2013 Self Respect In early 1978, when I was working at occupation therapy & rehabilitation unit, where most patients residing were deserted by their families. None had any reliable residential address. Many inmates would live together as family. One day when I was sitting in my room, two youngsters in […]

Volume 3 Issue 4 April, 2013 Remembering A Life Lost A lady from Mumbai had come to consult me. I was told that she was called by her cousin specifically for consulting me for her long standing psychiatric problem. She was accompanied by the cousin’s teenage daughter. History and MSE revealed it to be a […]

Volume 3 Issue 3 March, 2013 Remember, patients do need a break!!! One of the important aspects in the assessment of higher mental function & mental status examination is to know about abstract thinking of an individual by asking him meaning of a proverb. Once we were discussing a case in the unit. The consultant […]

Volume 3 Issue 2 February, 2013 Don’t Try To Be a Hero I was in Faculty at NIMHANS many years ago and one morning in the OPD one of the residents came to inform me that an un‐cooperative patient had come and he refused to get out of the car. I confidently walked out of […]

Volume 3 Issue 1 January, 2013 It’s important not to stereo type people I did my under graduation in Madurai Medical College, Madras University, and was a House Surgeon (intern) in the year 1970. In the medicine Unit, where I was posted, we were also asked to look after the ‘Prison Ward’. Not many of […]

Volume 2 Issue 12 December, 2012 Beyond Seniority, accepting difference of opinion For a brief period I worked in VHS, Madras (Chennai) before joining CMC Vellore for my Senior Housemanship. I worked in the newly started Renal Dialysis Unit and in the Ophthalmology Unit. The Chief in the latter was the very well known Dr. […]

Volume 2 Issue 11 November, 2012 Experience may reduce our mistakes but does not eliminate it!! A young college student was brought by her mother for depression with paranoid features. She came from a middle class family and both her parents were employed. She was started on anti‐ depressants and risperidone for the paranoid features. […]