More Than A Mind: A Psychiatry Resident’s Journey through Stigma

Sheikh MI

Published on: 2025-09-10

Abstract

I had chosen psychiatry partly because I imagined a more settled routine long-term care, time to reflect, and space to connect deeply with patients. But the reality turned out to be different than I envisioned.

Psychiatry has its emergencies: it is intense, misunderstood, and often overlooked. Agitated patients in distress, suicide attempts, acute psychotic breakdowns, severe panic attacks all these arrived at our doorstep, and many times, we were expected to manage them without adequate support. There were no emergency nursing staff trained in psychiatric care and no dedicated security personnel. Once a case was labelled “psychiatric,” most others would step back. The patient became solely “ours.”