Man’s journey from divorce to schizophrenia

MULTAN: 47-year-old Fatah Muhammad has been tied to a tree, initially by his father, then his brother and now his nephews, for a period spanning two decades.

In 1987, three month’s into his six-month old daughter’s death from a prolonged fever, his wife Shahnaz divorced him for another man. This was the beginning of an endless tumultuous time for Fatah.

His depression aggravated and developed into a complex case of schizophrenia after he failed to convince his wife Shahnaz to return.

His nephew Haq Nawaz, 27, told The Express Tribune, “Chacha moved in with us after our grandfather passed away. He would deliberately set crops on fire, hide, destroy clothes and damage the roof of the house. It is his urge for destruction which has compelled us to tie him to the tree. My father admitted him to the Nishtar Hospital in 1999 but the hospital authorities forcefully discharged him a month later because of his erratic and disturbing behaviour.”

Initially, Fatah was tied to a bed. However, he was knotted to the tree in the verandah, in the middle of a three-room mud house, after he broke the room’s door twice.

Dr Tahir Feroz Khan, a psychiatrist at Nishtar Hospital, told that the patient’s condition has deteriorated over time due to lack of care and treatment. Having retrieved Fatah and shifted him to the Nishtar Hospital with a 20-member health department team, Dr Khan said, “the specific type of schizophrenia is still unknown, however, we will conduct tests and the health ministry has agreed to bear the expenses.”

In 2005, Haq Nawaz appealed to the Punjab government for financial and medical help for his mentally-ill uncle. He wrote again last year and his prayers have finally been answered, he claims. “I hope he recovers and could begin a normal life again,” he says.

Since 2000, the family also consulted quacks and pirs, suspecting Fatah to be possessed by demons.

“None of these spiritual remedies worked,” he said.

Punjab Health Department coordinator, Mirza Ahmed Ali, refused to disclose the cost and kind of treatment involved. He, however, quoted the doctors to have claimed that he can be cured.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2010.