KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 (Bernama) -- Mental patients, especially those with
schizophrenia, have a 60 per cent chance of recovery if given proper assessment
and
treatment, a psychiatric expert said on Friday.

Datuk Haji Dr Abdul Aziz Abdullah said new treatments, such as using
breakthrough atypical antipsychotic drugs which had been proven to reduce the
recurrence of schizophrenia with minimum side effects, allowed patients the
chance
of recovery.

Dr Abdul Aziz, a member of the Malaysian Mental Foundation Board of Trustees,
however, said that discrimination and negative perceptions towards mental
patients
were obstacles to the success of treatments.

"Factors like lack of understanding about the disease and insufficient funds
for new
and better treatment are additional barriers to the successful management of
patients," he said in a press statement by the Malaysian Psychiatric Association
and
Mental Health Foundation in conjunction with World Mental Health Day on Friday.

This year's celebration focuses on children and youths with emphasis on the
need
to increase awareness and sensitivity towards the effects of mental and
emotional
illnesses among the young.

Dr Abdul Aziz said early signs of schizophrenia in children and youths
included
hallucinations, weird and abnormal behaviour, lack of perception to reality and
extreme emotional reactions.

Other behaviours were difficulty in relating to peers and maintaining
friendships,
reverting to childish acts and the deterioration of personal hygiene, he said.

He said children with the disease showed gradual changes in their behaviour
and
they needed to be diagnosed by specialists.

"A combination of medication, individual and family therapy, special
programmes
and normal school activities is usually necessary to treat such patients," he
said.

A World Health Organisation statistic showed that 20 per cent of children and
youths around the world suffered serious mental illnesses, he said.

-- BERNAMA