Guest Column: Down The Memory Lane..

Volume 4 Issue 10 Oct 2014

A manic episode- a blessing in disguise!

Suman was brought to our department by an attendant from an institute for the destitute women. About five years back she was admitted in institute by a social worker, being found on road in a dishevelled condition, not able to tell her details. After the admission, she gradually recuperated in a few days and became a disciplined and a hardworking inmate of the institute. She would get-up early in the morning and actively participate in all the activities of the institute and would help the attendants to take care of the other elderly disabled inmates. Often, she would entertain the inmates, staff and visitors with her amateur, native singing ability.

In the last fifteen days prior to hospital admission, a gradual worsening change in her behaviour was noticed. She would wake up earlier and awaken the other inmates telling the benefits of rising early in the morning. She would insist and force some of the young inmates to do some exercises. She would talk continuously and go out of her way to greet the visitors. She would often express her happiness by singing and dancing and claim to have an extraordinary power to heal the diseased and the disabled. She was diagnosed with manic episode and with the treatment she started showing remarkable improvement in her behaviour in the very first week and by the end of second week she was all ready to go discharge.

On the day of discharge, during our ward round, she pointed out to a visitor man in adjoining ward and claimed that he was her husband. Despite of our efforts to stop her, she loudly called out at that man and ran out of the ward and embraced that person. We promptly followed her and in very apologetic voice tried to explain to that person about her illness and her strange behaviour.

To our utter disbelief, that person told us with an uncontainable pleasant surprise on his face that he in fact was her husband. Suman had absconded from home about five years back during one of her manic spells and had ended up in a home for the destitute. Her husband had not left any stone unturned to find her and finally when he had given up and lost all his hopes of finding her, he suddenly, just out of the blue, found her!