Month of Joy: My Father by Ausma Zehanat Khan
My father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease several years ago. Unfortunately, his variant of the disease included symptoms of gradually worsening dementia. The tragic irony of this is that my father was a psychiatrist for whom mental health was a lifelong calling. When I was in high school casting about for projects to work on, my father would recommend that I shed light on issues such as depression, personality disorder, or addiction. He helped me with these projects, teaching me to grapple with all sides of an issue, but he made sure I understood that the well-being of the patient should be central.
