Senior personnel of the Psychiatric Hospital have urged people who have signs or symptoms associated with mental illness to seek medical assistance.
The advice came from acting director of the Psychiatric Hospital, Pamela Augustine, and senior consultant psychiatrist with the institution, Dr Ermine Belle, yesterday as they spoke to the media during the handing over of donations from So-Lo Trading Inc. to the hospital.
According to Belle, it was not easy for people to recognize that they were suffering from the symptoms associated with mental illness. However, she added that Barbados was a close-knit society and that people should identify such symptoms in each other.
“If you are a member of a community, somebody must notice a difference in your behaviour. They must notice if you are becoming withdrawn, if you are having repeated outbursts, if you are always tearful and looking very sad. There are many signs and symptoms of not necessarily mental illness, but some things start somewhere.”
“We would much rather if you are able to recognize these signs and symptoms and if you don’t want to come on your own, find somebody who would accompany you to go to a health institution. You don’t have to come to the Psychiatric Hospital.”
Augustine called on the community to view mental illness in the same way as it views other illness such as non-communicable diseases. She emphasized that the hospital offered a community outreach programme.
