Sept 15 - KUM Loong had just started his second year at polytechnic.
His grades were good and he looked set to becoming the first graduate in the family. His mother, Madam Tan, was justifiably proud.
ST: Paul Eric Roca
But two weeks into the term, her nightmare started. Her son told her he could read people's minds and communicate with some of them through telepathy.
The next day, he warned her that people were observing him. He would laugh uproariously whenever watching television - when there was nothing funny at all. Then he began to see flashing red lights.
Fear gripped her. He wasn't the sort to play practical jokes or fool around, so she knew there was something seriously wrong.
She asked Kum Loong's close friends if they had noticed anything different about him. They had. Instead of being attentive in class, his mind would wander. And once, he stood up in the middle of a lecture and just walked out.
Madam Tan has a friend whose daughter had similar symptoms. Instead of seeking medical aid, the mother brought in mediums to exorcise the 'evil spirit' that had taken over her child.
It's been a couple of years now, and the girl has stopped schooling, stays home, helping with housework and talking to herself.
Then, one night, he disappeared.
Hours later, she found him wandering around near their block of flats. When he saw her, he told her that he had called a locksmith to open the door to a flat (that belonged to someone else) because he wanted to live there with his girlfriend (he didn't have one at that time).
The next day, Madam Tan took her son to the Institute of Mental Health. 'He had a mental problem, this is the place that specialises in such illness,' she said in Mandarin of her decision.
He was diagnosed with schizophrenia. His doctor wrote to his polytechnic to let him defer his studies for one semester so he could have time to recover in an unstressed environment.
His medication cost $9 a pill, twice a day. 'It was too expensive, I could not afford it,' recalled Madam Tan, a housewife. She applied for financial help and received it.
Medifund, the Government's health safety net for the poor, pays out more than $10 million a year to needy patients at the Institute of Mental Health.
Said Kum Loong: 'I still don't know what the illness is about. I don't know why it happened.'
But he is one of the lucky ones. Because of his mother's quick action, he received treatment early. Doctors think this makes a huge difference in a person's ability to reintegrate into society.
Madam Tan has a friend whose daughter had similar symptoms. Instead of seeking medical aid, the mother brought in mediums to exorcise the 'evil spirit' that had taken over her child.
It's been a couple of years now, and the girl has stopped schooling. She stays home, helping with housework and talking to herself, says Madam Tan.
Kum Loong, on the other hand, is back to his normal self. But the risk of a relapse stalks him. He is on 'maintenance' medicine, and needs to take it for at least two years before his specialist will consider taking him off.
At that point, he and his family will be counselled to watch out for recurring symptoms. If they occur, he has a hotline to his case manager.
Some patients continue to do well after they have been taken off the medicine. Others relapse, either immediately, or over time.
After a semester off, Kum Loong returned to the course and did well and is now waiting to go to university.
