He is a very intelligent man, was sent to Canada for studies, till a psychotic breakdown which he had to discontinue his studies and return home.

He became very obsessed with continuing his studies. He wanted his family to send him back there, demanding his father, brother and sister to pay him there again. His psychosis was slowly masked by OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). It took him a long time to stop thinking about going back to continue his studies, but he developed other obsessions…

One with hygiene. He doesn’t touch things in the public. When he goes to public toilet, he finds way to open the door without touching the handle. When he comes to clinic, no matter how many hours he has to wait, he never takes a seat. He just stands and observes (sometimes you may want to call it “staring”).

One with reading. He spends over 6-8 hours reading his Financial Times. The reason he gave was that he spent money buying the magazine so he has to make sure he finish reading all of it and doesn’t waste it. Sometimes he couldn’t finish his reading and stays up till late night. Though most of the time he doesn’t even understand what he’s reading about.

Recent months he also starts sleep walking. And this freaks him out. He sometimes wakes up in the morning having his room door opened, sometimes the light on, and had completely no memory how these happened. If it was just sleep walking that’s better. But he also has suicidal ideation. He had tried to drink Listerine to kill himself, though it hurt his stomach so much that he had to stop, and was sent into hospital for stomach washout. So being aware of his suicidal ideation and at least one attempt in the past, he became so worried that he may kill himself in his sleep walking. And of course, his worries become so obsessional.

Despite his intelligence and being probably the smartest in the family, he keeps on tricked by his illness. His obsessions are like a protection to him, from his psychotic symptoms. When his OCD symptoms are unmasked, his psychosis will be shown. Yet it isn’t easy to treat his OCD, or should I say, to treat anyone’s OCD. Quite often they think they recover, but they “move” their target of obsession, maybe from washing hands to taking long shower, or to counting items, asking questions, …