A young married woman from the Gujar Khan area arrived at Riphah International Hospital (RIH) facing a year she likely never expected: confined to a wheelchair, unable to move her left leg, and running out of places to turn for answers.
Within one week of the right care, she walked out on her own two feet.
A Year of Searching for Answers
For nearly a year, the patient lived with paralysis of her left leg, leaving her dependent on a wheelchair and unable to carry out her daily life as a mother and homemaker.
In that time, she consulted multiple healthcare professionals and even sought spiritual healing in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, hoping for relief. Despite every effort, her condition remained unchanged.
Finding the Right Care at RIH’s Department of Psychiatry
When she was admitted to the Department of Psychiatry at Riphah International Hospital, her care team took a structured, evidence-based approach — inpatient management built on the principles of contingency management, a therapeutic method that reinforces positive behavioral change.
The results were swift and striking.
Walking Again Within One Week
Within just one week of treatment, she showed remarkable improvement. She was able to walk independently, became completely symptom-free, and regained her full functional abilities.
She was discharged from RIH and returned home to her family — resuming her role as a mother and homemaker after a year that her family had feared might never end.
At her follow-up visit one week after discharge, she was observed to be cheerful, positive, and in high spirits — a reflection of how deeply her recovery had changed not just her mobility, but her overall well-being.
What This Story Reflects About Psychiatric Care
This case is a meaningful reminder of what timely psychiatric intervention, compassionate care, multidisciplinary understanding, and evidence-based treatment can achieve — not just for a patient, but for an entire family.
We congratulate the Department of Psychiatry at Riphah International Hospital for its dedicated efforts in helping this patient regain her independence and quality of life.
At Riphah, healing is not only about treating illness — it is about restoring hope, dignity, independence, and lives.