For psychologists month of October is an invitation to think and serve the mentally ill people. I suppose, you also agree with me the purpose and need of this month. We take part to raise awareness of mental health, and the problems faced by those living with mental illness. As we know on every year October 10th is a day announced to raise awareness of the effects of mental illness. Like every year this year (2022) also World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) announced the theme for mental health day is, “Make Mental Health & Well-Being for All a Global Priority”. Every year there is a theme and we talk about it but stigma and discrimination still continue to be a barrier to go about it. I feel October 10th is a day of just remembering people of this sort and posting some messages in our social media pages. Most of us don’t know what amount of diseases we have in the past and now. Approximately 450 million people are living with a mental health problem right now and making it one of the biggest health issues in the world. Yet people rarely talk about any mental health problems they have because there is still a lot of stigma. Thus, here I would like to pen a few lines about the disease on this mental health day. It is to make awareness about the disease that I am going to share with you.
In 2013, I came to know full details about the disease called Progeria which is very horrible one. What is Progeria and how does it affect the person? How progeria people look like? What are the psychological problems they meet?
Well, progeria is a premature aging disorder in children. The word Progeria is derived from Greek word and means “prematurely old”. Doctors Joanathan Hutchinson and Hastings Gil- ford were the first one to describe the condition in medical literatures in 1897. Usually the symptoms of progeria appear during the first 2 years of life with delayed growth and under developed facial features. Children with this disease undergo the following complications like: dental, bone fractures, hip deformities, joint pain and stiffness, heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke. Other visible symptoms of the disease include wrinkled skin, fragile bodies with large head, abnormal growth and loss of hair.
They experience severe hardening of the arteries beginning in childhood and in- crease the chances of having a heart attack or stroke at early age. These serious com- plications can worsen the children and develops life-threatening. The disease affects all races equally and both sexes. It affects about 1 in every 4 million births worldwide (https://medcraveonline.com/NCOAJ/children-living-with-progeria.html#:).At present there is no cure for HGPS but researchers are working on it.
To know more about I just followed Quora platform where I got most of the answers regarding progeria. How long can a person with progeria live? The answer is that s/he can live up to 13 to 14 or some even 20 years. Can you test for progeria during pregnancy? Yes, prenatal testing during pregnancy is available to evaluate the fetus for the LMNA (the two major proteins produced from this gene, lamin A and Lamin C are made in most of the body’s cell) genetic change that causes HGPS (Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome). As of March 2022, the Progeria Research Foundation (PRF) has identified 196 children and young adults living with progeria in India. Now the question is, how are we going to help people of Progeria? It is clear that we can’t cure their disease but as long as they live we can accompany and help them in whatever way we can. Again it’s not that they are helpless but they need our assistance and love. Because progeria people carry lots of psychological problems, they are: depression, anxiety, anger, guilt, inferiority complex, loneliness, etc.
In fact I remember director R. Balki whenever I speak about progeria. It is to make aware- ness about this disease director R. Balki came out with a beautiful movie under the title Paa in 2009. I would say Paa was one of the most anticipated films of the year due to several reasons. In this movie Amitab Bachchan as Auro, suffering from a rare premature aging disease called Progeria. Mentally he is a 13 year old boy but physically looks like a 70 year old man. Abhishek played the role of father and he is a politician. Vidya Balan as mother of Amitabh Bachchan and she is a doctor too. Well written script with ad- equate amount of emotions, fun and fabulous performances.
“The movie doesn’t speak about the illness but more about a boy (Auro-Amitabh Bachchan) and his family”. This is true that when a woman gets pregnant, she usually wishes to give birth to a healthy child. But when it doesn’t happen, she will undergo a lot of traumas created by the society based on the condition of the child. Thereby, post- partum depressions as well as other kind of depressions are experienced a lot by parent with special children. I always consider this movie as the best, because of revealing the character of mother as a strong woman who holds positive attitude though she has a child with Hutchinson Guilford Progeria Syndrome. The director conveyed a beautiful and marvelous message that we need to shoulder the responsibilities to care and treat mentally ill people as human rather than running away from them. Let us understand their struggle, emotions and journey with them.
Remember, whatever blessings we receive in our lives, have two sides (positive & negative). If we start to focus on positive, we will able to feel the blessings. So attitude (the way we think) matters a lot. We can all play our part in increasing awareness about it and World Mental Health Day is an opportunity to do that collectively. Let us take the decision not to carry the stigma of what is not true. It is a time to help each other to live a good and happy life.
