Dr Helmut Erlacher believes that one of the misconceptions which persists in society is that “serious mental illness cannot be treated and controlled.”
Dr Helmut Erlacher believes that one of the misconceptions which persists in society is that “serious mental illness cannot be treated and controlled.”
He added that most patients experience stigma from their family members as most believe that because “they have suffered an episode they cannot function afterwards”.
As the clinical head of one of the oldest mental institutions in the country, Erlacher has been instrumental in establishing the National Maximum Security Ward, which serves as a national facility for the treatment and rehabilitation of high risk state patients referred by the courts.
This also includes mentally ill sentenced offenders referred by psychiatric institutions throughout the country.
“The structure of this hospital is unique,” said Erlacher referring to the criteria and services that are used for admission at the hospital.
The services include the treatment of persons suffering from acute mental illness; the treatment and rehabilitation of substance abusers; admission for observation and the treatment of forensic state
patients.
Erlacher says they try and ensure that patients are kept busy and do not become idle. The biggest problem includes a lack of support from organisations to assist in giving adequate support.
“We rely heavily on families to offer support to patients going through recovery,” said Erlacher. A lack of halfway houses and money has slowed down the recovery of patients as this means that proper measures cannot be put in place to ensure that patients do not suffer a relapse.
After being recruited in 2001 to start up the National Maximum Security Ward at Fort England Hospital, Erlacher decided to move to Grahamstown on a permanent basis.
He has since not regretted his decision, as working at the hospital has allowed him to combine what he considers to be his profession and his hobby. “I would not know what else to do,” he says.
Moving to a small town has also allowed him the chance to get away from the busy life that has become accustomed to while living in the country’s most populated city, Johannesburg.
When asked how he manages to keep himself motivated, Erlacher believes that he has stayed in the profession for so long because he decided to specialise at a later stage in his life.
“I think that one should not deal in psychiatry when you are young because when you are my age you are more experienced to deal with all kinds situations,” he said.
“I was fifty when I decided to specialise and I think that is the reason I can handle the demands which come with the kind of work that I do."
