Volume 8 Issue 9 September, 2018
Success of good clinical and legal intervention
When I was a lecturer a graduate young male of 23 years of age was brought by his father. He was addicted to alcohol and cannabis. He had relapsed very fast as an out patient. When suggested treatment as inpatient, he refused to get admitted and threatened police complaint. He was admitted in the open ward under section 19 of Mental Health Act 1987 as per the request from his father and certificates by two Psychiatrists. He went to the police station, but they did not encourage the complaint as the suggested admission was according to the law.
He stayed in the ward for 4 weeks. He was given professional care by our team and was discharged. It was a turning point in his life. He felt that the doctor and his staff cared for him a great deal, took extra trouble and risk to take care of him. He said that sometimes it is necessary to initiate such vigorous measures. He later completed his post graduation, got married and had a long period of abstinence. Most importantly, from then on, every completed year of abstinence from the date of admission he would call me to thank and inform that he is abstinent from alcohol. It was very heartening to listen to him. To have a good out come in the treatment of alcoholism, your actions and importantly your inactions count a lot. You must somehow thread the needle of liability concerns. This teaches that you should treat substance
use disorder with more energy and vigor. This will be very rewarding.
Dr. H.Chandrashekar, Professor & Head, Dept. of Psychiatry, Bangalore
Medical College and Research Institute, Bengaluru.
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