Psychiatry and bleeding disorders

I always wondered how Freud treated his patients with his unique strategy called "Psychoanalysis". Fortunately I am studying Psychoanalysis in depth these days. I am really excited and thrilled to know all the techniques used by Freud. I also believe that a person's past plays an important role in the development of psychopathology at the conscious level. When there are conflicts between the conscious and unconscious level we tend to see or find people with mental disorders. Frankly speaking I never wanted to pursue a career in Psychiatry or Clinical psychology but it was my destination. I always hated it and never wanted to deal with mentally ill patients. The field of mental health never allured or thrilled me. But it was my mamma who always ignited an aptitude towards Psychology and Psychiatry. I used to complain to my mamma that it is so difficult to deal with mentally unsound people as the manifestation of the psychiatric symptoms is absolutely different from diseases and disorders of other organ systems. I never realized that there were diagnostic classification systems developed for making diagnosis of various mental disorders. There are two major systems of classifications of mental disorders: ICD 10 (International classification of diseases) and DSM IV ( Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders). I feel comfortable in using DSM IV TR to make diagnosis. It has details and descriptions of Psychiatric disorders in points which is easy to read and remember. ICD 10 on the other hand is very descriptive which I do not like. 

It is so unfortunate that Psychiatric disorders are not given importance by people and there are various taboos associated with Mental health profession. If someone considers to consult a psychologist or psychiatrist then the family members and friends think that the concerned person has become mad or has lost his/her senses. I do not know how to define normal and abnormal behavior in life. I can differentiate between deviant and normal behavior as per the diagnostic criteria but I cannot say that we all are sane or so called normal individuals. We have our own mental conflicts and confusions in life. Unfortunate are those who cannot deal with those mental conflicts and get a label of mentally ill person. Labeling a person with a particular mental disorder has been a controversial issue in the field of mental health. When a person gets a label of a psychiatric disorder then the attitude of the friends, family and colleagues changes. They think that the mentally ill person can harm them or cannot live life in a normal way. I feel pathetic to see the condition of the patients who are not given food and kept in isolation just because of their mental disorder. The understanding of mental disorders of the general mass is insufficient and has created many taboos for the afflicted individuals. There is a need to make others understand that mental illness is not communicable, it can happen to anyone and people who have mental disorder are not necessarily violent.  

I read about Mood and Psychotic disorders in my Bachelors. Both these mental illnesses always allured me. I think that it would be wonderful to estimate the number of cases of mood disorders in women with bleeding disorders. It is so unfortunate that there is hardly any effective literature available for the researchers to further research on unipolar depression or bipolar affective disorder in females with Von willebrand's or hemophilia or other bleeding disorders. It is really important to give appropriate psychological care to bleeders irrespective of their gender. But being a female with bleeding disorder, I am a little biased and think that females need more psychological support and professional help than their male hemophiliacs counterparts. The reason is simple of my belief  i.e, women are diagnosed late in their life, have little resources to deal with their bleeding episodes, there is denial by the family members as well as the medical professionals that can make the afflicted psychologically weak at times. I have personally experienced the need of a mental health professional at the times of crisis and confusion being a bleeder. Fortunately I have a mental health professional at my home who always gave me psychological support. She helped me when I felt low and doubted my abilities. It is fruitful to meet a counselor or psychologist when we are confused and want instant solutions for our problems. There is one major principle of counseling i.e, the solution lies within the person itself, it is the counselor or psychologist who guides the person to reach towards that solution. So I personally feel that psychological services are important for women with bleeding disorders and also for those without them.

Now I am madly in love with Psychiatry and have acquired the skills to help people with or without mental disorders. The beauty of being a mental health professional is that we treat/heal people who are facing challenging in living life in an effective manner as well as those whose behavior deviates from the normal. As I always say "there is no universal definition of madness or insanity and we all are not absolutely normal".