Abstract
The history of inpatient psychiatric treatment is a potential source of social stress and stigma for people with mental illness and their kith and kin. People who have spent significant time in mental health care institutions, experience antagonism, and bigotry from their respective social networks. Their caregivers and family members also sense unfriendly and dogmatized behaviour from others. Society tends to put on a tag on individuals who have dealt with mental health conditions, i.e., ‘returned from mental hospital’, and deliberately dissociates them from mainstream societal affairs. Because of this reason, many a time, people with mental health conditions who are treated successfully at mental healthcare facilities are not taken up by their caregivers, and they have to stay in the hospital for an indefinite period. These people are being deserted by their family members, and they have to rely on the hospital’s mercy to secure their livelihood. This case series demonstrates the barriers, challenges, and opportunities in their discharge process, where patients were left back for a long duration without any follow-up by their caregivers. The discharge of a person with mental illness is challenging because of family rejection, limited opportunities for integration with work, unawareness about the government services and mental health care services, poor support system, stigma, and high chances of relapse.