Challenges of treating addicts
Sep 25, 2005
The cool morning breeze gently brushed across my face. A profound serenity swamped the scene, as I sat in my office planning for the day a head.
By Oscar Bamuhigire
The cool morning breeze gently brushed across my face. A profound serenity swamped the scene, as I sat in my office planning for the day a head. As the director of therapy at Kampala Recovery Center, I had to be organised.
“Excuse me sir,†called out Geoff, startling me out of my deep thoughts. “See...here!†he said. I turned round to face him and I froze instantly. Geoff had a machete firmly clutched in his right hand. He stared at me blankly with the machete hanging over my head! We all knew Geoff was suffering from mild schizophrenia and cannabis-induced psychosis.
In a state of madness, he could cut me into two! “I found this in the compound,†he said smiling, “and this†he said, unearthing a hammer and other tools from a bag. I handled him calmly, and ‘disarmed’ him. Nothing tragic happened that day. One could say I was lucky.
There was a bigger problem a few days later, with Patrick. “He has refused to eat anything,†said Phyllis, a counsellor. “He refuses to leave his bed, does not attend lectures or sessions and is very aggressive when we try to move him,†he added. I went to see Patrick in his room. He was firmly tucked in, from head to toe, under his beddings. We all spoke to him for over an hour and all he would say was “It is okay. It is okay. It is okay.†In a state of anger, he almost beat up Natali, a counsellor. We decided to give him a break. He refused to leave his room.
Two days later, Phyllis brought some notes to my office. They were from Patrick’s room. He had inscribed on hundreds of pieces of paper, “IMMEFFCSXRMENNHIFFOYâ€. The psychiatrist later established that Patrick was mentally unstable.
Drugs had damaged his mind. Patrick filled the toilet with cardboard paper and clogged it that night. The following day, the whole building was flooded. “Why did you do it?†we asked him “It is the little maid who told me,†he replied. But, we had no maid.
The psychiatrist later established that he was experiencing hallucinations.
Another patient, in my absence, attempted to rape a female counsellor! We almost called the Police. Life with addicts in treatment often swings from tragedy to comedy and back. It is the most unpredictable thing I have ever seen. All counsellors have to be alert, 24 hours a day.
Alex was a clever addict, who monitored our movements for some weeks. One day, he sneaked out of the centre and went in search of booze in a nearby slum.
He had stolen some of the other resident’s property, which he sold in the slum. For three days, from sunrise to sunset, we all searched for Alex in the filthy slums. We had to bribe drunkards for information on his whereabouts. On the third day, he was discovered in a police cell! Alex was brought back into treatment, but escaped a second time.
This time round, the counsellors did not have to search far. They found him in an alcoholic coma outside the main gate of the centre.
Fortunately, he is sober today. Six months later, new patients stole the centre’s TVs, decks and other property, sold it and vanished in the nearby slum to drink.
“Marvin has been drinking for a long time inside his room,†Ivan whispered to me in a session. I was shocked because Marvin always looked sober. “No. He drinks at night when you have all gone away.†Ivan said. I was a counsellor in the serenity centre at that time and this was our most difficult group. We searched Marvin’s room and found packets of Tyson waragi hidden inside a juice container!
He was expelled. A week later, we discovered the five patients, including Ivan, had been drinking for the entire three months they were on treatment! Their families paid sh40,000 a day for their treatment.
We searched the centre and found a huge polythene bag of Tyson packets, securely hidden in the drainage system! They had bribed the neighbour’s housegirl to smuggle in the booze through the drainage. A female client also confessed that her husband was smuggling bottles of booze for her into the centre! They were all expelled.
Treating addicts is more difficult than most people imagine. Once in a while, a client flips over the wall and vanishes. They have to be searched frequently and escorted everywhere. Their visitors have to be searched and workers at the centre monitored because they can smuggle in alcohol and drugs. In such a setting, a therapist also needs the skills of a criminal investigation expertise.
Ends
The cool morning breeze gently brushed across my face. A profound serenity swamped the scene, as I sat in my office planning for the day a head. As the director of therapy at Kampala Recovery Center, I had to be organised.
“Excuse me sir,†called out Geoff, startling me out of my deep thoughts. “See...here!†he said. I turned round to face him and I froze instantly. Geoff had a machete firmly clutched in his right hand. He stared at me blankly with the machete hanging over my head! We all knew Geoff was suffering from mild schizophrenia and cannabis-induced psychosis.
In a state of madness, he could cut me into two! “I found this in the compound,†he said smiling, “and this†he said, unearthing a hammer and other tools from a bag. I handled him calmly, and ‘disarmed’ him. Nothing tragic happened that day. One could say I was lucky.
There was a bigger problem a few days later, with Patrick. “He has refused to eat anything,†said Phyllis, a counsellor. “He refuses to leave his bed, does not attend lectures or sessions and is very aggressive when we try to move him,†he added. I went to see Patrick in his room. He was firmly tucked in, from head to toe, under his beddings. We all spoke to him for over an hour and all he would say was “It is okay. It is okay. It is okay.†In a state of anger, he almost beat up Natali, a counsellor. We decided to give him a break. He refused to leave his room.
Two days later, Phyllis brought some notes to my office. They were from Patrick’s room. He had inscribed on hundreds of pieces of paper, “IMMEFFCSXRMENNHIFFOYâ€. The psychiatrist later established that Patrick was mentally unstable.
Drugs had damaged his mind. Patrick filled the toilet with cardboard paper and clogged it that night. The following day, the whole building was flooded. “Why did you do it?†we asked him “It is the little maid who told me,†he replied. But, we had no maid.
The psychiatrist later established that he was experiencing hallucinations.
Another patient, in my absence, attempted to rape a female counsellor! We almost called the Police. Life with addicts in treatment often swings from tragedy to comedy and back. It is the most unpredictable thing I have ever seen. All counsellors have to be alert, 24 hours a day.
Alex was a clever addict, who monitored our movements for some weeks. One day, he sneaked out of the centre and went in search of booze in a nearby slum.
He had stolen some of the other resident’s property, which he sold in the slum. For three days, from sunrise to sunset, we all searched for Alex in the filthy slums. We had to bribe drunkards for information on his whereabouts. On the third day, he was discovered in a police cell! Alex was brought back into treatment, but escaped a second time.
This time round, the counsellors did not have to search far. They found him in an alcoholic coma outside the main gate of the centre.
Fortunately, he is sober today. Six months later, new patients stole the centre’s TVs, decks and other property, sold it and vanished in the nearby slum to drink.
“Marvin has been drinking for a long time inside his room,†Ivan whispered to me in a session. I was shocked because Marvin always looked sober. “No. He drinks at night when you have all gone away.†Ivan said. I was a counsellor in the serenity centre at that time and this was our most difficult group. We searched Marvin’s room and found packets of Tyson waragi hidden inside a juice container!
He was expelled. A week later, we discovered the five patients, including Ivan, had been drinking for the entire three months they were on treatment! Their families paid sh40,000 a day for their treatment.
We searched the centre and found a huge polythene bag of Tyson packets, securely hidden in the drainage system! They had bribed the neighbour’s housegirl to smuggle in the booze through the drainage. A female client also confessed that her husband was smuggling bottles of booze for her into the centre! They were all expelled.
Treating addicts is more difficult than most people imagine. Once in a while, a client flips over the wall and vanishes. They have to be searched frequently and escorted everywhere. Their visitors have to be searched and workers at the centre monitored because they can smuggle in alcohol and drugs. In such a setting, a therapist also needs the skills of a criminal investigation expertise.
Ends