In the ignored world of mental health patients, their aggressive actions including killing people can make perfect sense to them, psychiatrist Dr. Kwadwo Marfo Obeng has explained.

The resident psychiatrist at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Monday explained, mentally ill people may hear voices giving them names of people who are planning to harm or kill them.

Relating a real life scenario, Dr. Marfo said a patient once heard voices in his mind that his uncle and brother were scheming to kill him. The persistent voices unsettled him greatly until he ran away from home for fear of his life

To the mentally unstable patient, his worried family members who began to look for him are not showing concern or expressing love, the psychiatrist said.

It only confirms his suspicion that indeed his family is baying for his blood.

Eventually, the patient went to live with another relative who was not mentioned by the voice as dangerous.

The other relative called the worried family members and informed them of the safety of the mentally ill person. He even asked for them to come for him, oblivious of the imagined fears of the patient.

When his uncle turned perceived killer came home to take him away, the mentally ill patient felt pushed to the wall and fell on his last resort – attack.

With an instrument in the room, he attacked his family members.

Dr. Marfo explained that this is a common cause of the behavior of some mentally ill patients. He suggested that the ghastly wiping-out of a family by a mentally ill relative could be attributed to the scenario he narrated.

He lamented that family members are too quick to dismiss the concerns of their mentally ill patients.

Families should be interested in any concern their relatives raise because as ridiculous as the issues may appear, they are real to the persons involved.

More soon...