By Mr. Seang Leap | Project Coordinator
After getting an information on social media about operation unchain project, the young man who is the patient's son, contacted TPO Cambodia for requesting treatment for his father, who has a serious mental illness and had been chained for many years.
When the team arrived his home, the patient was locked up at left behind of the house and there are a lot of trees around. A poor cottage builtt under a coconut tree, covered with a small white plastic bag, and a hammock tied from the trunk of the coconut tree to a wooden pole.
A man with a bushy beard sits on a hammock, relaxed, wearing a safety helmet. If you look closely, the chains are almost bigger than the chains that bind elephants.when looking closely, the chain is almost bigger than the one used to tie an elephant. And the chain is stuck in a coconut tree, indicating that he was tied here by his relatives for many years until the chain sank into the coconut tree. He is a former commune clerk.
When the team asked him for doing assessment, he didn't have insight to answer the questions and sat quietly, not communicating with our team. According to his wife, her husband began to act strangely, losing his sense of responsibility, talking alone, not sleeping, and stealing other people's belongings walking out aimlessly, talking and singing alone, causing harm, destroying property, burning houses and even violence.
At first, he had been treated by 04 traditional healers, but he did not get better. He was also referred to both public and private hospitals, but he did not get better. Moreover, his family is poorer and can’t afford the expense for his treatment. His family decided to chain him painfully for safety with feeling hopeless for recovery.
She said that “when the focal person of the family becomes ill like this, what do I and my children have to rely on?” In addition, his illness is an additional burden because she cannot go anywhere for earning and require to stay home for taking care him regularly especially food.
After receiving treatment from TPO Cambodia, his improvement seemed to be very slow, but his caregiver, his wife, tried her best to take care him and let him to take medicine regularly.
After 15 months of treatment, the family noticed that the patient was much better, able to communicate and sleep better. The patient asked his parents to free him from chain.
After he was unchained, the patient's condition improved, he was able to take care himself and communicate normally with his neighbors.People in the village were surprise and expressed their joy with the patient and his family. His wife said, "I do feel hopeless, I never thought my husband would recover."
By Mr. Seang Leap | Project Coordinator
By Mr. Seang Leap | Project Coordinator
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