Newly created institution for teenagers with mental disorders in Nicosia.
A small institution for teenagers with mental disorders has been placed, last November, in the Makario General Hospital of Nicosia. A hospitalisation section for troubled teenagers has proudly started operating last November after many years of serious consideration and planning.
The hospitalisation section welcomes teenagers aged 12-17 who face serious mental problems at this critical, for their development, age.
This newly installed section in the Nicosia General Hospital covers and will continue covering the huge need for places like this in Cyprus, and will become an admirable addition in the psychology sector of Cyprus.
From the first day of its function it has already treated 14 teenagers and 10 out of 14 teenagers have already been sent home with a clearly better psychological condition.
However, the unfortunate part of the story is that the need for institutional hospitalisation for mentally disordered teenagers is extremely big, whereas the beds available are only 8, with one bed always empty in case of urgent incidents.
The new section of the capital’s general hospital is in great demand since more people start learning about it.
The institution deals with severe cases of mental disorders that cannot in any way be treated outside an institution such as psychosis, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), emotional and behavioural disorders and many life-threatening situations.
The new “home of teenagers” follows a psychodynamic approach and tries to treat the troubled minds in a positive and helping environment without trying in any way to remove teenagers from their homes. Also, when their condition is improved they become home-schooled where a private teacher helps them with their classes, according to their age. This helps them to easily re-join the school environment when they feel ready.
Extremely basic, is the co-operation of their family. The parents and family members must be co-workers and strong supporters of the staff and teenagers themselves so that they can learn how to effectively handle them after they are able to return home. Ultimate goal is for the family to stop feeling guilty and release all negatives thoughts, while focusing on the improvement of the patient.
Congratulations to the new hospitalisation section created, it is of vital importance and we are pretty sure that the difference it will make in many young lives and families will be huge.
