Some patients stay in our minds long after the clinic door closes. Years pass, hundreds of files move across the desk, yet a few stories refuse to fade. This is the story of one such young man.
It was during my initial years as an Assistant Professor at GMC Bhopal. In the busy OPD came a lean, thin, young college student from a rural background, aged about 19 years, along with his father. The father complained that the boy has been behaving absurdly for the past few days. The boy complained that some absurd thoughts were coming into his mind. When I asked him to elaborate on his thoughts, he was very hesitant, reluctant to speak. I asked his father to wait outside & assured him of confidentiality. Then he reluctantly said that he gets strange thoughts on seeing his male friends, of hugging and kissing them. He is attracted towards males and requested me to treat him at any cost because this will bring bad name to his family. I psychoeducated him about sexuality and sexual orientation and told him that since 1973, homosexuality has not been considered a disease, and we need to normalise it. I asked him whether he had told his father. He said he told him 3 days back, and his father reacted in disbelief and was shocked that how such a thing could happen in his family.
The father initially demanded treatment to “change” his son. When I explained that such therapies were unethical and ineffective, he reacted with disbelief. For him, the idea that his son’s identity was natural felt like an assault on everything he believed. I tried to psycho-educate him too, that we should normalise it. Gave him many examples. But it was difficult to convince him.
The boy was also having some depressive symptoms, so I prescribed Fluoxetine and asked for follow-up. After a few visits, I found that there was improvement in the boy’s self-esteem, and there was some improvement in his father’s attitude.
As psychiatrists in India, we stand at an intersection of science and society. Science tells us clearly that homosexuality is not a mental disorder. Society, however, often arrives at the clinic with older beliefs. Sometimes the role of a psychiatrist is not to change the patient. It is to help society change its understanding of the patient.
Dr. J. P. Agrawal
Professor & HOD
Dept of Psychiatry, GMC Bhopal
Ex-officio member, SMHA, M.P.
