AN INTRODUCTION TO MENTAL HEALTH - The Nossal Institute for ...

Step 2
Divide participants into two groups and give each group a copy of Case
study A (found in Appendix E). Ask one participant in each group to read
the case study to the rest of the group, and ask another group member to
make notes for the feedback to the larger group at the end of the activity.
NB During all group work involving discussion of case studies, it is
important that the facilitators circulate around the groups to ensure that
the discussion is on track and to clarify points for participants.
Case study A
Amal is a 25 year old student who, many months ago, started locking himself
in his room. Amal used to be a good student but failed his last exams. His
mother says that he often spends hours staring into space. Sometimes he
mutters to himself as if he were talking to an imaginary person. He was forced
to come to the clinic by his parents. At first he refused to talk to the nurse. After
a while he admitted that he believed that his parents and neighbours were
plotting to kill him and that the devil was interfering with his mind. He said
he could hear his neighbours talk about him and say nasty things outside his
door. He felt as if he had been possessed, but did not see why he should come
to the clinic since he was not ill.
Ask the groups to:
• Identify and list the symptoms in the case study.
• Decide what type of Severe Mental Disorder the person might have.
Note for the facilitator: Amal is experiencing the following symptoms of a Severe Mental
Disorder:
Thinking symptoms – believing that his parents and neighbours are plotting to kill him and
that the devil is interfering with his mind
Behavioural symptoms – locking himself in his room, failing exams, staring into space,
talking to himself
Imagining symptoms – hearing voices
And possibly also emotional symptoms such as fear.
Amal is suffering from a Severe Mental Disorder called schizophrenia, which made him hear
voices and imagine things that were not true.
Allow 10 minutes for this discussion, then ask the groups to come together, and a representative
from each group reports their findings to the larger group.
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AN INTRODUCTION TO MENTAL HEALTH