Chris is schizophrenic. He is one of the best friends I ever had. Our relationship has gone through the worst downs, and then the most beautiful times. He can be kind, creative and funny.

He has been going through this seemingly lucid but very paranoid phase in the last few days. The events of the last few weeks in Kenya have been quite stressful for all of us and for him particularly disruptive. One of our close friends, whom he cares especially deeply about, was brutally raped, and went herself into a psychological shock. We all thought Chris was handling the situation rather well. Unfortunately the stress had thrown him into a heightened but quiet emotional state which then developed into full blown mania.

Living with and loving a schizophrenic can be painful, sometimes dangerous, but also most rewarding when the person is in a relatively stable phase. The trouble is that there is always a fear hanging over the person. When something stressful or painful appears, there is the worry that the person will be thrown into mania. When the person is in mania, there is the fear that he will hurt himself or hurt someone else. There is guilt for those who love that person because there never seems to be enough to be done. There is guilt for the person when he is lucid, because he might worry that he is a burden for his family and friends.


Last evening I got home tired and rather anxious about my new job. I had barely rested when Chris' father called me and told me that he had been hospitalized for treatment after a really bad day. In his seemingly lucid but definitely paranoid state, Chris had convinced himself of the identity of his friend's rapists. Unfortunately, the person he had fixated upon was his own brother. Chris was convinced that his brother was jealous that he, Chris, was finally making friends and even perhaps starting a love life. In his mind he had formulated his brother's plan to destroy his young love by raping his young friend.

One other thing that contributed to this rather sad episode is Chris' love for the bible. He loves reading passages especially the ones about angels. He has once before declared himself to be the angel Gabriel, bringing good tidings to a friend who had no idea she was pregnant but who turned out to be joyfully pregnant with a son after two miscarriages.

This time he decided that he was Michael the avenging angel. In the bible, Michael is described as battling with a dragon who had earlier threatened to destroy a pregnant woman. I have no idea how the information assembles itself in Chris' mind. All I know that his delusional thoughts can be quite dangerous when he is fixated on them.

So Michael/Chris set out to battle with the dragon/his brother, arming himself with a long sword/wooden bar. His poor brother hadn't seen it coming and was hospitalised with a head wound and a concussion.

I promised to visit with Chris' mother. Then after Chris' father ended the call, I paced the house wondering if maybe I had missed a sign that Chris was not well. I blamed myself for not
realising that he was hurting and worried. When I finally went to sleep, it was to fitful bouts of sleep and disturbed dreams. I woke up with tears in my eyes this morning. I thought about the pain Chris' parents and his siblings have been going through since his first psychotic
break when he was 19. I thought about the inadequate and slowly developing psychiatric care in Kenya. As it is, the number of qualified psychiatric care personnel, is very low. The phenomenon we call brain-drain but which is in the health sector a real deluge does not offer much hope of improvement. The facilities for psychiatric care are at best deficient. I dread to think of the place where Chris is going to be spending the next few days. Psycho-pharmaceuticals are grossly expensive making it difficult for some patients to follow through on treatment. As far as I have seen, there are no reliable treatment/therapy programs, even though to be fair some doctors expend themselves in the care of their patients.

I would hate to gloss over the care and support that a Dr. Owiti and  a Dr. M. Makenyengo have offered my two friends They have taken the time to help me and my friends' families understand and support the two as best as we can. I am certain that there are more psychiatric practitioners, though few and functioning on limited resources who are devoted to caring for patients with mental disorders.

Now, my tears are not just for Chris, but also for the many, especially the young who will have to deal with post-traumatic stress disorders with or without psychological and psychiatric care and support. My tears extend to the many others who have pre-existing mental illnesses, and those who reach psychotic breaks because of the stress of living in uncertain times.

I am eternally grateful, for the organizations that are offering free psychological help for children, and some women. I would especially like to thank The Nairobi Women's Gender Violence Response Program, The Kenya Women's Hospital and the many other charities who have set out to address this part of the problem.

Then I would like to ask anyone who knows someone who has a mental disorder, to think just a little bit. This person may be a relative, a friend's son, or just someone. Perhaps it is too much to ask you to directly offer kindness to this person, even with all the best intentions in the world; you simply may not know what to do. What you can do though is pay some attention to the care-givers, the persons whose lives involve endless hours of loving and living with a mentally-ill person.

First thing you can do is find out as much as possible about the illness itself. We commonly make the mistake of lumping the mental disorders in one word. Madness. It cannot be that simple. As has been said, we all exhibit a measure of madness at some point. Mental
disorders vary from schizophrenia to Bipolar disorders and Dissociative Disorders. Each presents its own challenges. Being aware of the particular disorder can help you, to well be kind while being safe. There are so many things we can do to offer support to family members of mentally ill people. Mostly all they need is a kind encouraging word.

Then again, knowing about these disorders can help us to actively encourage proper care for the ill ones. Remember, these persons though ill, are human nevertheless, deserve dignity and respect and thrive under loving care. So now, I need to spend some time thinking about what I can do for Chris, and his family.