Yasmine Saad
Posted on: Wednesday, January 12, 2022 – 6:11 PM | Last update: Wednesday, January 12, 2022 – 6:11 PM
“And I come back and tell you, O Abbasid, no matter what I say about you, it is not a little, I have never fulfilled a part of your supreme beauty, your love in my heart is not a little, O more precious than the light of my eyes, I am your daughter, O Abbasid, O you who made time for me a little higher.”
Honest words written and delivered by the recovering Abeer, during the ceremony organized by the Abbasiya Mental Health Hospital, on Monday, to celebrate the beginning of 2022, and the graduation of a new group of hospital patients after undergoing a psychological rehabilitation program.
The concert was presented by a team consisting of 19 individuals who have passed the stage of psychological rehabilitation, and who suffer from thinking disorder, paranoia, and recovering addiction. The concert’s paragraphs varied between lyrical paragraphs performed by the recovering themselves, where they recited multiple songs by Sabah, Abdel Halim Hafez, and Najat, in addition to poetic paragraphs. While more than one individual composed some verses of poetry and recited them to the audience, in addition to the last paragraph, which is the paragraph of the national anthem.
Dr. Menen Abdel-Maqsoud, Secretary-General of the General Secretariat for Mental Health and Addiction Treatment and Professor of Psychiatry at Ain Shams University, said in exclusive statements to Al-Shorouk: “The party was very good, and its main goal is to adopt a campaign of mental illness. It is not a shame to remove societal stigma about mental illness.” The recovering team was creative and self-controlled, and there was no danger or violence to others, as they had beautifully developed their abilities and talents.
Abdel-Maqsoud explained that the Abbasiya Mental Health Hospital is characterized by its rehabilitative role, noting that after providing treatment to patients, the role of psychological rehabilitation must come so that the patient has the ability to return to society again and integrate and work with it naturally, not representing the psychiatric patient after his rehabilitation No burden to others.
Abdel-Maqsoud sent a message to the media, wishing that the Abbasiya Hospital would be highlighted as a place that creates a new life for its patients after recovery, and not the place where the patient enters and never leaves, as is rumored.
The director of the Abbasiya Mental Health Hospital tears in his eyes..Please accept patients in society
Dr. Hatem Nagy, Director of Abbasiya Mental Health Hospital, confirmed that the ceremony is the actual embodiment of the meaning of the word psychological rehabilitation, explaining that psychological treatment for patients is not a difficult thing, but the most difficult is rehabilitation, which means that the patient comes out of the shock of his mental illness, so he does not feel that he He is different from others, or he is ostracized from society, or he is treated differently. Rather, he feels that he is one like the rest and that his society is accepting and he is also accepting and interacting with them, and he has a positive role in what is happening around him.
Nagy explained to Al-Shorouk that the hospital has many different ways to provide psychological rehabilitation to Abbasiya patients, including carpentry, aluminum and shoe workshops, in addition to a textile factory that produces all kinds of clothing, in addition to providing training courses on patients’ use of computers, to eradicate their technological illiteracy, In addition to painting therapy and music therapy.
Nagy told Al-Shorouk: “The goal of psychological rehabilitation activities is for the patient to feel happy because he has a role and influence in society, so he feels confident in himself, and on the other hand he sees others as he produces and works, as the attendees at the ceremony saw the talents of the recovering team, and the two parties interact. with each other and accept each other.”
Naji stressed that there are specifications for patients undergoing a psychological rehabilitation program at Abbasiya Hospital, the first of which is that their psychological condition is stable, in addition to the absence of any active symptoms of the disease, in addition to the approaching date of discharge from the hospital, and therefore must undergo a rehabilitation program at that time to prepare to deal with the community.
Nagy refused to generalize the Egyptian society’s rejection of psychiatric patients after their discharge from Abbasiya Hospital. He explained that society is uneven in accepting patients, as there are those who accept them, and these patients live their lives normally, and there are those who reject them, stressing that whoever rejects the patient after his discharge from the hospital causes him a setback. Big, and this is something he will be held accountable for before God, indicating that the rejection at times is not from society in general, but may be from friends or family as well.
Naji stressed that mental illness is not a stigma, saying: “The people who sang at the party are better than me and you, and better than many psychologically tired people. Or stroke, as well as mental illness, so why do people reject it, and the patient lives all his life with the guilt of having suffered from a mental illness?”
At the end of his statements to Al-Shorouk, Nagy sent a message to the Egyptian media and society, stressing that the talk about the violent mental patient has no basis for health, as no one leaves the Abbasiya Mental Health Hospital and is not qualified to leave, explaining that there are some psychiatric patients who Their condition is characterized by some violence, and this is only during the period of their illness, but violence is not linked to mental illness, indicating that global statistics have recognized that the crime rate in mental illness is few, and not as people imagine, and therefore it is not correct to link mental illness with violence, it is incorrect in the language of Numbers.
Naji’s eyes filled with tears as he said: “I hope society will have mercy on the mentally ill. They are people with tender feelings. We saw them at the party singing from their heart and reciting poetry. I felt that they were talking to us through their singing, saying, Please accept us.”
I existed, I was created, this is thanks to my Lord who created me, and He is in His goodness is able to drown me, I say it is enough and my mind was confused, I say it is enough to give me more and more, Lord, I can’t bear, You gave me more than my energy, You gave me what I always occupy my time with, I don’t know where your beauty will be, I thank you with all my mind and heart, O Noor Al-Ain.”
Thus said Sarah, who suffers from paranoia, a disorder of thinking, who composed these verses specifically for the party of the Abbasid Hospital, while Abeer, who also suffers from paranoia, praised the Abbasid Hospital and her doctors through poetic verses in which she expressed her love for the period of her stay in the hospital. Tortured, while recovering addiction, Kawthar, sang to singer Najat.
Professor Osama El-Gendy, Deputy Director of the Rehabilitation Unit, who is responsible for coordinating the party and training the team, told Al-Shorouk: “The concert team consists of 19 patients, recovering from addiction, patients with mental and emotional disorders, and paranoia. They were transferred from their various departments in Abbasiya Hospital to the Rehabilitation Department. Because it is the step that immediately follows the treatment, which is no less important than it.”
Osama explained that there are positive and negative symptoms of mental illness, pointing out that the positive symptoms are those that are treated by medication, while psychological rehabilitation is the one that treats the negative symptoms, on top of which is dealing with others naturally after the illness period, and gaining self-confidence again.
Psychological rehabilitation of patients is carried out through several methods, the most important of which is art therapy. Al-Jundi told Al-Shorouk that patients are waiting for this ceremony, which is held from time to time, so that they can express themselves and communicate again with others, noting that psychological rehabilitation until reaching the stage of singing In front of the public it takes a long time, especially if the patient suffers from a chronic disease.
Osama revealed the details of the ceremony, which was prepared for a month and a half ago, saying: “We chose the paragraphs of the ceremony, then we chose the patients who passed the stage of psychological rehabilitation, and we distributed the paragraphs to them, each according to his talent, so their talents imposed themselves on us, even the poetry that they composed and delivered to the audience. It is their pure authorship, and we did not help them write it, for they have reached the point that they have turned from psychiatric patients to innovators, and if they meet anyone in society now, they will not know that they were inmates at Abbasiya Hospital.”
Osama explained that the party has another important goal, which is for people to see that psychopaths are normal people, noting that the media in the past established a wrong image in Egyptian society about the image of the mental patient, and this image must change now, stressing that no one has immunity against Mental illness, we are all vulnerable to it, and therefore the mental patient must be respected, because we can be in his place at any time.
Osama explained to Al-Shorouk that psychiatric rehabilitation patients are ready to leave their rooms in Abbasiya Hospital and engage with the world, noting that they keep getting their treatment outside the hospital, just as a diabetic keeps getting his medicine very simply, there is no difference, stressing that 95% of the team that gave the party was ready to leave the hospital and successfully engage with the community.
Osama Al-Shorouk revealed the diseases suffered by some of the cases that presented a group of the party’s paragraphs, on top of them being Abeer’s disease, which has a thinking disorder, paranoia, a disease whose owner’s mind puts delusions in front of him and incites him to believe them, such as when the patient says “I am the awaited Mahdi.” Or, “I will prepare to fight the world,” as he put it.
Osama confirmed that Abeer’s success in performing her poetic paragraph, which she wrote many verses of herself, came after a long training, which included how she stood on the stage, and how she recited poetry, in addition to giving her confidence in herself that she would succeed and stand among her colleagues and attendees without fearing anything.
Restoring self-confidence is the most difficult characteristic to teach to patients of psychological rehabilitation, especially during their dealings with others, according to what Osama faced with patients during their rehabilitation period to present the ceremony, in addition to the inability of some to memorize well, in addition to the fear of theater, which many of the normal ones fear. Psychologically in general, and psychiatric rehabilitation patients in particular, but the concert team successfully overcame all of that.
As for Sarah, who wrote a poem about the love of God Almighty and threw it to the audience and who suffers from a disorder of thinking, Osama said about her: “At the beginning of the training, Sarah refused to wear the same team clothes, and also refused to be among her colleagues, but after rehabilitation, she and the rest of the team became one entity. “.
While Soraya is recovering from addiction, Osama said about her: “Despite the beauty of Soraya’s voice, she was afraid and tense as a result of her addiction for a long time, and her focus was distracted at first, but after undergoing psychological rehabilitation and encouraging her to communicate with others, she overcame her addiction, and she gained confidence. big on its own.