Contents:
- Medical Video: Tips to help your loved ones deal with Schizophrenia - Dr. Sulata Shenoy
- Schizophrenia can be treated
- The Puskesmas is the spearhead of the treatment of schizophrenia
- Schizophrenia treatment also requires the support of many parties
Medical Video: Tips to help your loved ones deal with Schizophrenia - Dr. Sulata Shenoy
Mental health, especially schizophrenia, is still one of the neglected public health problems in Indonesia. Data from the Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) in Indonesia in 2013 showed that cases of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, reached around 400 thousand people. Of the 400 thousand people affected by this mental disorder, only about 15 percent of them do treatment for schizophrenia. The rest, most patients have not received treatment or just turned a blind eye to this disease.
The good news is that now people with mental disorders including schizophrenia can be treated in primary health care centers, such as Puskesmas. So, you don't need to worry about looking for affordable schizophrenia treatment.
Schizophrenia can be treated
Schizophrenia is a severe and chronic mental illness that causes the sufferer to have a disorder in processing his mind, so that hallucinations, delusions, unclear thoughts, and behavior or speech are unnatural.
These symptoms cause people who have schizophrenia to have difficulty interacting with others, even tend to withdraw from daily activities and the outside world.
In various countries, including Indonesia, they still consider schizophrenia to be a dangerous, contagious and damned disease, so it needs to be shunned. Even though the stigma is wrong. Just like other chronic diseases, schizophrenia is a mental illness that can be cured and the sufferer can return to normal activities if he gets the right treatment.
The Puskesmas is the spearhead of the treatment of schizophrenia
One of the Indonesian government's efforts to overcome schizophrenia while removing the negative stigma about this disease is by providing medical services at primary level services, such as Puskesmas. This service is part of the Healthy Indonesia Program with a Family Approach (PSPK).
"Early health centers can find these cases (schizophrenia), so that people are no longer afraid of stigma. If this stigma goes away, then we can restore the trust of people with schizophrenia. "Said Dr. Asjikin Iman Hidayat Dachlan, MHA, Secretary of the Directorate General of Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health who was met at the Southeast Asia (SEA) Mental Health Forum 2018 in Jakarta, Thursday (30/8) held by PT Johnson & Johnson Indonesia.
Health workers at Puskesmas who have obtained competence generally can help handle schizophrenia cases and other mental disorders that are still on a low scale. If the patient has severe symptoms of schizophrenia, then the Puskesmas can refer patients to secondary services at the General Hospital or to the Mental Hospital.
Therefore, do not hesitate to bring patients with schizophrenia to treatment. The more schizophrenia is known to be earlier, the treatment will be cheaper, easier, the chance to heal is also greater. Not only that, fast and appropriate treatment also helps eliminate the negative stigma about this disease.
Schizophrenia treatment also requires the support of many parties
For cases of schizophrenia, drugs are the main choice for controlling symptoms. That is why people with this disorder need intensive supervision so that they take medication and do therapy regularly. This certainly will involve many parties.
So not only mental health specialists / psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, and patients, but families and communities also play a role. If all these elements work together, then the chances of the patient being able to recover from schizophrenia are also great.
The same thing was said by Dr. Eka Viora SpKJ, Chair of the Indonesian Mental Health Specialist Association (PDSKJI) was met at the same event. "Support from families, especially the environment that does not stigmatize and discriminate, then treatment (schizophrenia) will be far more advanced," said Dr. Eka.
