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heavymind
28-01-06, 11:49
I wrote this up this morning, after my vist to NIMHAMS Bangalore. Conditions in highly populated developing nations are very pathetic and cultural difference might make some reader in highly industrialized counties unable to understand the commanality of such occurance mentioned in this article.

I would like to share my experience counseling the counselor at
NIMHAMS, bangalore. I went to NIMHANS voluntrarily to get some help coping with my social anxiety. I have not taken any professional help yet, but I know I have either social anxiety or generalized anxiety, I have had a few panic attacks, where I was feeling extreme fears.

NIMHAMS is a very famous institution that many people are aware of. So I ventured to go
there, with the hope that they can offer me some help. All that I had expected was a
friendly person to talk to. Initially it required walking up and down to various buildings
before finding out the procedure for getting some counseling. The person at the enquiry
desk misdirected me to someother building and it was a familiar experience of going from
one person to another to find out whom to meet. After getting directions from different
people at different building, I finally went to the screening reservation center.

At the screening reservation center there was huge number of people in a big hall the
size of a foot ball court.
People had to register their name and father's name at the desk, and were asked to
wait at the big hall of uncountable number of people. Names were being called out and
people as bulk groups entered a smaller hall, where there were around 12 rooms which
could accommodate, 12 people for screening. There was one more chair outside in the open
with no enclosure where there was one more doctor doing his screening in front of all the
other people in that room. I was wondering if people had any sence of what privacy means.

My slip had room number 3, which had no one there. The lady doctor, came late and the
moment, she entered she started shouting in loud arrogant voice at people gathered around
her room to stay in a line. She then opened her room and once again yelled at people
waving hands at them directing them in a way which indicated that she wishes all the people
to go away. It did not indicate stand in a line. There was a person who had come all the
way from mizoram, whom I got introduced to as some journalist. He shared my view that the
doctor had a very bad temper.

Our introduction was outside her room in the line. We were joking about what we were seeing there.
Anyway there were chairs on that room, the doctor could have got the slips from all the people and
called their names out one by one, which would have helped the people sit down and relax. After
all people on the line were patients.

There was a bunch of people from Andhra ahead of me. Some agent seems to have taken them there,
the agent was getting shouted at and asked to go away. Ahead of them was an anxious elderly
person, who was just after the first set of people on the line. Next on the line was a mother and a child.
Next to them was a couple, next was me and behind me was the journalist whom I had just met.

We could see from outside the way the doctor was shouting at the child to cooperate. I was
wondering if the doctor was making people ill or was trying to cure them. I was telling my
new acquaintence behind me that the doctor requires some counseling and he agreed. Once the mother
and the child got out of the room, with their slip of paper, the elderly respectable man
tried to enter the room. The doctor shouted at him and said "Hey. wait there only. Did I ask
you to come" in the most arrogant possible tone on earth to this respectable looking elderly man.

There was a couple ahead of me, the wife was looking obviously troubled and very insecure,
she was staying in physical contact and comfort of her husband, she was clearly getting
very anxious and could not sit on her chair for long time. She had to repeatedly get up,
whenever the doctor was screamin

Hannahlou84
28-01-06, 12:54
I think that is really appalling behaviour- and I think it was very brave of you to confront the doctor. It was a shame you had to though, and that you did not get the help you needed. I hope she took your comments on board.

Are you going to make an official complaint? Do you have alternatives for help?

I think that is a really big achievement on your part however, and maybe you should use that experience when you are struggling with other situations? You said how you felt and nothing bad happened. You are right of course, that it is really only practice that makes things like this better, and it sounds to me as though you are willing to give this a go!! Well done you!!

Hannah

nomorepanic
28-01-06, 15:20
Wow what an experience! It sounds truly horrible to me and sorry you had to go through it.

What are you going to do next?

Nicola

heavymind
29-01-06, 10:05
Thanks to you people for posting back with concern. I do not intend to take this up any further, I just have sent the writeup to a few local newpappers on their letter to editor mail ids. I do not want to do much more than that, since I myself have more improtant problems to handle.

For myself, reading hours and hours on the internet and on books about cping with anxiety disorder, has given me enough ways to cope and so I should be able to manage and am reasonably sure that even if I get into another episode of intense struggle with anxiety or panic, I have learnt enough ways to come out of them. Also there is another doctor in a different city where my parents live, who is also a friend of my dad, I plan to go to him, incase I feel then need on the next episode. The good thing is I could talk to my parents about my problem and since I told them frankly what my thought process was, right in the middle of one minor panic attack, they were able to understand that atleast something was wrong and infact they were able to get me out of one of that perticular panic attack.

After taking help from parents, the frequency greatly reduced for me. Then I was noticing a patern, in when minor episodes started and correlated it with coffee. I had quit coffee and there was a factor 100 improvement. Infact after quitting coffee, I did not (nearly) get any anxiety, until there was something else to handle. I had to ask some one out for lunch whom I was attracted to and that caused another episode of anixety/dipression but no panic.

I was reading a book Triumph over shyness [electronic resource] : conquering shyness and social anxiety / Murray B. Stein, John R. Walker. This is a very good book, check it out.

Thanks so much again

Regards,

Ram

JenniferJ
29-01-06, 20:32
Also, what I found helpful when dealing with anxiety is breathing exercises. Without realising when we are anxious we breathe fast and it increases adrenalin in the body making us panic more. There is something called 7/11 breathing and you may be able to find it on google. It takes some practice but it really does help reduce anxiety.

The doctor should be sacked! I think you are in India, is there any general medical body you can complain to? I think you are right, she is doing people more harm than good.