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 rapid cycling bipolar type II and she had long standing wish to put an end to her life. I started her on appropriate regimen on outpatient basis as she was averse to admission. She started coming for regular follow‐ups along with the teenage girl. The patient started showing gradual improvement and even the suicidal thoughts had also vanished. The girl accompanying her endorsed to the fact that the patient was indeed improving. Somehow the lady failed to turn up for review for about two weeks. Then one day she turned up to tell me that she had improved considerably and expressed her wish to return to Mumbai. As I was writing her prescription I casually remarked that I was also convinced about her improvement as she had come unaccompanied for the review. I suddenly heard her sobbing. I looked up wondering what the matter is. Somehow she controlled herself and said: “Doctor, see how strange facts are! The girl who was accompanying me committed suicide the very next day of my last visit to you.” I was stunned to hear the news. I had observed her to be quite a cheerful youngster and could have hardly imagined such an act from her. I remained dumbstruck for long before I could react again. This incident is firmly stuck in my memory and I am not likely to forget the impact it made on me. I keep wondering how could I miss to notice any sad note or any hint of depression in her. It is true that she did not reveal it even when the so called “savior” was within her reach. I ponder: How often do we talk to the accompanying relative/person to elicit how they feel about the patient’s problem and whether they feel it stressful to be with such person? How much do we really care for the emotional burden the relatives experience in such a situation? And also “Did the patient’s thoughts of killing herself uncoil the dormant
“Thanatos” in the teenager?”
