Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Article on The Malayan Chronicles: The naked truth – of mental illness




 Folks, do read this new article of mine as I reach out to a much wider audience- crisp and well presented. Public education is vital for the community and policy makers.

 

Cheers

Raymond Anthony Fernando

 

In 2016, there were several cases where both men and women whose mental state had gone untreated or poorly stripped themselves.


Last month – Tuesday 31st January, police arrested a 48-year-old woman under the mental capacity act by using her naked body to prevent a van from moving off. The incident took place in Bendemeer Road.


There have been onlookers in previous cases who have seize the opportunity to capture people who go nude on their mobile phones for the ‘fun out of it’ failing to understand or empathize that they are someone’s relative.


But in this particular case we saw the good nature of a human being come alive. Seeing her in this pitiful state, a kind-hearted man stepped forward and gave her some clothes to put on. I am sure he must have known that she was not in her correct frame of mind. According to the Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News, the woman later slid under the same van to lie down in front of the wheels.


After the boys in blue spoke to her for about ten minutes, the woman finally put her clothes back on and went away with the authorities.


Just this week, two men were found walking in the nude shocking onlookers ; one in Bukit Batok and another in East Coast.


People who suffer from psychosis that goes untreated will hear ‘voices’ in their head that forces them to do bizarre things. Public nudity by the mentally ill seems to occur most often as part of other hallucinations and distortions of reality. Some feel that God or some other powerful entity has commanded them to reveal the radiance of their whole body, or they suddenly believe themselves to be an exotic dancer.


There are cases where women will walk naked in the hospital wards holding a bible because when they are tormented by the voices in their heads, in their disorientated state, believe that the devil is taunting them. And only God can save them.


As the mind degenerates in the twilight years, the elderly who try to cope with dementia may also strip themselves and as such family and professional carers must be mindful of this problem; and learn as much as they can so that steps can be taken to keep their modesty intact.


For people with dementia may also strip down in public and at unsuitable times; this behaviour is usually unrelated to any kind of psychosis. Rather than being delusional, dementia patients seem to just be confused.

Additionally, bipolar people experiencing a manic episode may simply lose their inhibitions, which can result in flashing or streaking or other inappropriate nudity, but that seems to be a less common cause than delusions.


RAYMOND ANTHONY FERNANDO



 

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