On 19th December 2006 appeared an article in the Evening Standard written by the Journalist Sue Arnold about her experiences with the Mental Health Services regarding her son who has been diagnosed with Schizophrenia. I reproduce here
some excerpts which strongly resonate with what many Carers in our borough have been and are concerned about and the issues that many of us have been bringing up at endless meetings with the Mental Health Trust, the Social Services, the D. of
Health, our MPs, in endless Meetings over many years. The changes we have experienced are an increased amount of paperwork in the form of Guidelines, National Frameworks, Reviews issued by different bodies, like the Mental Health
Trust, the Healthcare Commission, the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Alas, all these noble exercises have not resulted in
any noticeable implementation. On paper everything sounds perfect, the reality however, is very much like the excerpts
that follow: The mental health charity SANEs Marjorie Wallace advice: "Tell them that if anything happens to your son, you will hold them accountable". "Providing support before the accident happens was not the NHS mental health department's forte"
"The psychiatrist, who had never seen my son before, said that, in his opinion, there were not sufficient grounds to section him. I told him that the duty social worker, who has known my son for three years, had absolutely no doubt that he was extremely unwell and needed to be in hospital. SANE has analysed 69 independent inquiries into mental health related
serious incidents and found that one in three could have been prevented if doctors used a little more common sense and were less concerned with being politically correct. I talk to the duty nurse in my son's ward at the Chelsea and Westminster
Hospital every day. He often says the Consultant, who has not seen my son yet, is coming. I tried to speak to her just now but she is not taking messages. Don't worry, Ill tell her you called and you need to talk to her, said a switchboard operator, but it is after 6pm and nobody has contacted me". Above everything else, it is the TOTAL LACK OF COMMUNICATION that infuriates. - ward nurses who say they've never heard of the doctor who has been treating my son for two years, bed managers who direct you to the wrong hospital, social workers who haven't got round to seeing my son for three weeks because they are so busy, duty psychiatrists who go off duty without passing on vital information to their replacements.
Parents do not feature on the communications list. "Is he changing medication? When is his next tribunal? Is he going to another hospital? I ask and I am told they are not at liberty to divulge confidential information without my son's consent. He is the judge. But, right now, his tormented mind is incapable of judging anything. Families, especially mothers, who, when everyone else has washed their hands of the whole thing, are still there, begging and battling, hoping, waiting, praying, need to be kept informed, not shrugged off like an irritant. I shall still be here providing the only continuity, the only certainty my son knows."
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Responsibility / Punishment?
The SAGB (Schizophrenia Assoc. of GB) in its latest Newsletter has published an article entitled " INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY,
PSYCHIATRY and the paradox of PUNISHMENT". Dr. Sally Baker and Dr. Brian Brown discuss the peculiar case of a mental health system where no one is responsible except the client." The following are excerpts:
"The idea that people with mental health problems, even those deemed ill enough to have been detained or 'sectioned' under the Mental Health Act, should take responsibility, is becoming very deep rooted within the mental health services. These developments have left the older generation of mental health professionals aghast at the tragedy and brutality of vulnerable people finding their way into the prison system. Mental Health practitioners who qualified before the 90's have spoken of the change in climate, of how a new generation of mental health professionals has been educated to accept this idea uncritically, and of the inhumanity that they believe is arising from it. Some practitioners feel that there has been almost a complete abdication of mental health professionals' responsibility to care for their clients. Our attention was initially drawn to this issue when we became interested in the extraordinary reasons why some mentally ill people were being brought into contact with the criminal justice system and were even ending up in prison. Far from being serious offenders in the making, the events involved in these cases are often tragic and the so-called crimes extraordinarily trivial, i.e. the case of a sectioned patient being pursued through the courts for two years for calling an NHS manager a 'fat idiot'. The police expressed clearly that they were unhappy about charges being pressed, and possibly also unhappy that the man who had been called a fat idiot called them eight or nine times in the course of a single day to complain about this particular incident and insist that charges be brought. These charges are often pressed in the context of the 'zero tolerance' policy of threat to NHS staff."
"The notion of individual responsibility is extremely elastic, and it is this versatility that contributes to its usefulness as a means of undermining the status of the client. In the case of people who have been sectioned, the client by definition has had choice and responsibility removed from them. In many of these cases there seems to have been no discussion of the legal principles of McNaughton where the intentions and presumed responsibility of a person committing an offence can be called into question if they are mentally disordered."
"Many of the adult mentally ill are being cared for by parents entering old age and we have heard of carers themselves being told that they must also take responsibility when, at breaking point, they make demands on the services."
"In the course of our work so far we had many conversations about 'individual responsibility' with practitioners, discussing the possible ideological or political reasons why, after generations of seeing the mentally ill as predominantly not responsible for their actions, we should now be encountering such a forceful promotion of the opposite notion - that they should 'take responsibility' is clear that as our prisons swell with the mentally ill, as they continue to become destitute and as they (and
sometimes their carers) kill themselves, that some people cannot take responsibility, no matter how severe the sanctions. At a time when our mental health services are scandalously inadequate, one of our interviewees observed: 'if we deem the mentally ill responsible, it absolves us of our responsibility to help them'. EXACTLY WHO IS REFUSING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY?"
PSYCHIATRY and the paradox of PUNISHMENT". Dr. Sally Baker and Dr. Brian Brown discuss the peculiar case of a mental health system where no one is responsible except the client." The following are excerpts:
"The idea that people with mental health problems, even those deemed ill enough to have been detained or 'sectioned' under the Mental Health Act, should take responsibility, is becoming very deep rooted within the mental health services. These developments have left the older generation of mental health professionals aghast at the tragedy and brutality of vulnerable people finding their way into the prison system. Mental Health practitioners who qualified before the 90's have spoken of the change in climate, of how a new generation of mental health professionals has been educated to accept this idea uncritically, and of the inhumanity that they believe is arising from it. Some practitioners feel that there has been almost a complete abdication of mental health professionals' responsibility to care for their clients. Our attention was initially drawn to this issue when we became interested in the extraordinary reasons why some mentally ill people were being brought into contact with the criminal justice system and were even ending up in prison. Far from being serious offenders in the making, the events involved in these cases are often tragic and the so-called crimes extraordinarily trivial, i.e. the case of a sectioned patient being pursued through the courts for two years for calling an NHS manager a 'fat idiot'. The police expressed clearly that they were unhappy about charges being pressed, and possibly also unhappy that the man who had been called a fat idiot called them eight or nine times in the course of a single day to complain about this particular incident and insist that charges be brought. These charges are often pressed in the context of the 'zero tolerance' policy of threat to NHS staff."
"The notion of individual responsibility is extremely elastic, and it is this versatility that contributes to its usefulness as a means of undermining the status of the client. In the case of people who have been sectioned, the client by definition has had choice and responsibility removed from them. In many of these cases there seems to have been no discussion of the legal principles of McNaughton where the intentions and presumed responsibility of a person committing an offence can be called into question if they are mentally disordered."
"Many of the adult mentally ill are being cared for by parents entering old age and we have heard of carers themselves being told that they must also take responsibility when, at breaking point, they make demands on the services."
"In the course of our work so far we had many conversations about 'individual responsibility' with practitioners, discussing the possible ideological or political reasons why, after generations of seeing the mentally ill as predominantly not responsible for their actions, we should now be encountering such a forceful promotion of the opposite notion - that they should 'take responsibility' is clear that as our prisons swell with the mentally ill, as they continue to become destitute and as they (and
sometimes their carers) kill themselves, that some people cannot take responsibility, no matter how severe the sanctions. At a time when our mental health services are scandalously inadequate, one of our interviewees observed: 'if we deem the mentally ill responsible, it absolves us of our responsibility to help them'. EXACTLY WHO IS REFUSING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY?"
Sunday, October 22, 2006
RISK ASSESSMENTS - THE KEY TO A PATIENTS TREATMENT
From a survey of complaints received by the K&C MH Carers Association.
Risk Assessments (AOR1 and AOR2) often contain subjectively written assumptions and misunderstandings and exaggerate the "danger" of particularly African Caribbean & BME patients. A history of forensic assessments is often created even without orders from the criminal justice system, thus prejudicing the patient for life and impacting on referrals to more secure wards and hospitals, loss of liberty, long hospital confinement, denial of mainstream rehabilitation programmes including talking therapies, misdiagnosis, higher dosage of medication, fierceness of restraint, limited or compulsive choice of accommodation in the community and lack of prospects of employment. Psychiatrist tend to protect their sole responsibility by "erring on the side of caution", - which is an 'error' nevertheless and against the interest of the patient.
Because of the absence of "Strength Assessments" (cultural, creative, spiritual, religious,academic, occupational,capability, belief & value system etc.) the perception of the person is biased and out of proportion measures are taken.- A human rights issue.
Carers and family concerns are logged in the medical notes of the patient and equally assessed as a risk.
All carers feel very strongly that carers concerns for confidentiality reasons should be kept on a separate file and not be part of a patient's medical notes.
A patient can obtain his risk assessments and medical notes under the Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection Act from the hospital manager, but nevertheless often 'sensitive' information is witheld at the discretion of the psychiatrist.
Risk Assessments (AOR1 and AOR2) often contain subjectively written assumptions and misunderstandings and exaggerate the "danger" of particularly African Caribbean & BME patients. A history of forensic assessments is often created even without orders from the criminal justice system, thus prejudicing the patient for life and impacting on referrals to more secure wards and hospitals, loss of liberty, long hospital confinement, denial of mainstream rehabilitation programmes including talking therapies, misdiagnosis, higher dosage of medication, fierceness of restraint, limited or compulsive choice of accommodation in the community and lack of prospects of employment. Psychiatrist tend to protect their sole responsibility by "erring on the side of caution", - which is an 'error' nevertheless and against the interest of the patient.
Because of the absence of "Strength Assessments" (cultural, creative, spiritual, religious,academic, occupational,capability, belief & value system etc.) the perception of the person is biased and out of proportion measures are taken.- A human rights issue.
Carers and family concerns are logged in the medical notes of the patient and equally assessed as a risk.
All carers feel very strongly that carers concerns for confidentiality reasons should be kept on a separate file and not be part of a patient's medical notes.
A patient can obtain his risk assessments and medical notes under the Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection Act from the hospital manager, but nevertheless often 'sensitive' information is witheld at the discretion of the psychiatrist.
Friday, October 13, 2006
SAGB
These are excerpts from the last SAGB Newsletter Oct. 06. "Please WRITE to the Home Secretary, John Reid, to express your disgust at the large-scale imprisonment of the mentally ill offender. The Rt.Hon John Reid House of Commons London SW1A 1AA DISREGARDED MCNAUGHTON RULES: Thus we punish, in increasing numbers, the mentally ill offender. The McNaughton Rules of 1843 seem to be totally ignored these days and yet these rules made it clear that if an accused person was of unsound mind they should not be punished for any criminal action they had committed. It is a most terrible indictment of our present-day society that we so often add cruel punishments to the suffering endured by the mentally ill.
URGENT NEED FOR MORE HOSPITALS AND NOT MORE PRISONS
The discovery of the NEUROLEPTIC DRUGS was undoubtedly a blessing, but they certainly are not a cure. If the drug is withdrawn then the symptoms return. And they have their own side effects. There are also reports that they can alter the structure of the brain. The real answer for cure will only come when the cause of the brain symptoms is discovered.
IT IS THE CAUSES WHICH MUST BE THE FOCUS OF ATTENTION AND NOT MORE NEUROLEPTICS.
Research on physical causes of mental illness has been going on through the 20th C. The hypothesis of a genetic link between mental illness and coeliac disease is still being investigated. For details write to the SAGB (The Schizophrenia Assoc.
of GB, Bryn Hyfryd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2AG) for a copy of their No.42 Newsletter.
URGENT NEED FOR MORE HOSPITALS AND NOT MORE PRISONS
The discovery of the NEUROLEPTIC DRUGS was undoubtedly a blessing, but they certainly are not a cure. If the drug is withdrawn then the symptoms return. And they have their own side effects. There are also reports that they can alter the structure of the brain. The real answer for cure will only come when the cause of the brain symptoms is discovered.
IT IS THE CAUSES WHICH MUST BE THE FOCUS OF ATTENTION AND NOT MORE NEUROLEPTICS.
Research on physical causes of mental illness has been going on through the 20th C. The hypothesis of a genetic link between mental illness and coeliac disease is still being investigated. For details write to the SAGB (The Schizophrenia Assoc.
of GB, Bryn Hyfryd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2AG) for a copy of their No.42 Newsletter.
Monday, September 04, 2006
SUMMER PARTY
The weather was perfect for a garden party in the beautiful grounds of the Moravian Church in the King's Rd. The tables were set by the fig trees and a large bunch of sunflowers could be seen from a distance. Nearly everybody brought something
interesting to eat. We had elegant vol-au-vents, home made doughnuts, salmon and cucumber sandwiches, stuffed dates, a large cake, bowls of fruit... Familiar and unfamiliar faces met and it was slowly getting dark when we all left.
interesting to eat. We had elegant vol-au-vents, home made doughnuts, salmon and cucumber sandwiches, stuffed dates, a large cake, bowls of fruit... Familiar and unfamiliar faces met and it was slowly getting dark when we all left.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
The ladybird
When most young adults of my age have found the end bit of the reel, undoing it apparently unworried, I myself seem to have been like a wild cat pouncing on a ball of wool and frenetically trying to do what, I don't really know. In fact, I, like the cat, am amusing myself; even if in the last few years I have been facing all sorts of worries trying to make out what this existence is about. Things sometimes have been dreadful, painful but now at this present moment I laugh, tears of joy rolling down my cheeks.
Ten years ago the ball of wool and the cat were both panting of exhaustion. Yes, for the first time I was contemplating to finish with my life. But how could I have practically committed such an act. I remembered that I tried some life saving tactics like reading useful accounts of people facing the same situation but I know I wanted to write. Put down in words something: the flow of my thoughts! Life saving thoughts! It has been successful in many cases. Not for me. I was not ready. I had to wrestle with the ball of wool again. With little strength left, talking to a close one was the solution. I talked. I confined myself. Then, gradually, with heaven always assisting me, I came back to London and carried the fight with the ball. Although very calm internally, funnily enough my emotions and reactions can suddenly change. I am what is called an unpredictable person. I do remember as a child when I used to jump from very high walls and reach the ground with all the force of my agile body
with my feet trying to penetrate further in the concrete runway because straightaway I would run. That is how I feel now, but like a ladybird part of my head flies and every now and again I must be locked in a ward.
Am I trying to chase the ball with my tail instead of my paws? Why? For God knows what reason I am searching for the Truth, the Truth within myself, the union with a spiritual being. Usually this sort of pursuit can overturn the ladybird and when on her back God knows how difficult it is to get back on her feet. But no, I must try. I am aware of some marvellous powers that some believe are inside us, are manipulating us like puppets on strings. Well, I will be careful with my feet on the ground and wings of ladybirds growing and flapping in my head.
Ten years ago the ball of wool and the cat were both panting of exhaustion. Yes, for the first time I was contemplating to finish with my life. But how could I have practically committed such an act. I remembered that I tried some life saving tactics like reading useful accounts of people facing the same situation but I know I wanted to write. Put down in words something: the flow of my thoughts! Life saving thoughts! It has been successful in many cases. Not for me. I was not ready. I had to wrestle with the ball of wool again. With little strength left, talking to a close one was the solution. I talked. I confined myself. Then, gradually, with heaven always assisting me, I came back to London and carried the fight with the ball. Although very calm internally, funnily enough my emotions and reactions can suddenly change. I am what is called an unpredictable person. I do remember as a child when I used to jump from very high walls and reach the ground with all the force of my agile body
with my feet trying to penetrate further in the concrete runway because straightaway I would run. That is how I feel now, but like a ladybird part of my head flies and every now and again I must be locked in a ward.
Am I trying to chase the ball with my tail instead of my paws? Why? For God knows what reason I am searching for the Truth, the Truth within myself, the union with a spiritual being. Usually this sort of pursuit can overturn the ladybird and when on her back God knows how difficult it is to get back on her feet. But no, I must try. I am aware of some marvellous powers that some believe are inside us, are manipulating us like puppets on strings. Well, I will be careful with my feet on the ground and wings of ladybirds growing and flapping in my head.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Sunday, July 02, 2006
To each his own
I cannot change the way I am, I never really try,
God made me different and unique, I never ask Him why.
If I appear peculiar, there is nothing I can do,
You must accept me as I am, as I,ve accepted you.
So God in all His wisdom, who knows us all by name,
He did,nt want us to be bored, that,s why we're not the same.
God made me different and unique, I never ask Him why.
If I appear peculiar, there is nothing I can do,
You must accept me as I am, as I,ve accepted you.
So God in all His wisdom, who knows us all by name,
He did,nt want us to be bored, that,s why we're not the same.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
APRIL
APRIL stands for Adverse Psychiatric Reactions Information Link. APRIL is a registered charity and provides information about Adverse psychiatric drug reactions (ADRs). If recognized quickly action may be taken to possibly prevent more serious consequences, such as worsening depression, psychosis, aggression, careless or suicidal behaviour.
Not everyone suffers from adverse effects as this depends on the individuals ability to metabolise the drugs.
Long term treatment for perceived mental illness may be prevented if the psychiatric adverse effects of many medicines is
recognized in time.
The medicines used to treat psychiatric symptoms are known as psychotropic, anti-psychotic or neuroleptic and can lead to further side effects too numerous to list. For severe psychiatric illness, these medicines may be required but are often prescribed in higher and higher doses when side effects are not recognized and are mistaken for a worsening mental state.
Some people become dependent on drugs which include pain killers, tranquilizers, newer antidepressants, psychotropic medicine and they need professional help to withdraw.
APRIL is supported by many doctors and professors who help with advice when needed. The thousands of reports of adverse drug reactions help APRIL to compile evidence to persuade the regulators and educators that there is indeed a problem. Please contact APRIL with your experiences which help their cause when presenting information to the authorities. Your personal information is confidential.
APRIL is to be found on www.april.org.uk
Among the titles of their booklist:" The Creation of Psychopharmacology"," Your Drug may be your Problem"
APRIL provides information about ADrs to * enable patients, their carers, family or friends to recognise ADRs in time to prevent more serious consequences; *to campaign for the medical profession to report suspected ADRs. In the UK only 15% of serious ADRs are recorded. ADRs and withdrawal syndrome can lead to long term physical and mental ill health.
Not everyone suffers from adverse effects as this depends on the individuals ability to metabolise the drugs.
Long term treatment for perceived mental illness may be prevented if the psychiatric adverse effects of many medicines is
recognized in time.
The medicines used to treat psychiatric symptoms are known as psychotropic, anti-psychotic or neuroleptic and can lead to further side effects too numerous to list. For severe psychiatric illness, these medicines may be required but are often prescribed in higher and higher doses when side effects are not recognized and are mistaken for a worsening mental state.
Some people become dependent on drugs which include pain killers, tranquilizers, newer antidepressants, psychotropic medicine and they need professional help to withdraw.
APRIL is supported by many doctors and professors who help with advice when needed. The thousands of reports of adverse drug reactions help APRIL to compile evidence to persuade the regulators and educators that there is indeed a problem. Please contact APRIL with your experiences which help their cause when presenting information to the authorities. Your personal information is confidential.
APRIL is to be found on www.april.org.uk
Among the titles of their booklist:" The Creation of Psychopharmacology"," Your Drug may be your Problem"
APRIL provides information about ADrs to * enable patients, their carers, family or friends to recognise ADRs in time to prevent more serious consequences; *to campaign for the medical profession to report suspected ADRs. In the UK only 15% of serious ADRs are recorded. ADRs and withdrawal syndrome can lead to long term physical and mental ill health.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Friday, March 24, 2006
"YOU HAVE TO TAKE YOUR TABLETS FOR LIFE"
is not being accepted by people who are researching into how to come off prescribed drugs safely. MIND has published a
booklet MAKING SENSE OF COMING OFF PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS with relevant information. At a Conference last year on the
subject, a proposal was brought forward to campaign for psychiatric drugs to be manufactured in lower doses and/or liquid forms to make it easier for people to reduce the dose gradually. The COPING WITH COMING OFF report by Jim Read and the information booklet MAKING SENSE... can be ordered from MIND PUBLICATIONS 15-19 Broadway, London E15 4BQ,
T. 0844 448 4448, e: publications@mind.org.uk, or you can buy it online at www.mind.org.uk/shopping
booklet MAKING SENSE OF COMING OFF PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS with relevant information. At a Conference last year on the
subject, a proposal was brought forward to campaign for psychiatric drugs to be manufactured in lower doses and/or liquid forms to make it easier for people to reduce the dose gradually. The COPING WITH COMING OFF report by Jim Read and the information booklet MAKING SENSE... can be ordered from MIND PUBLICATIONS 15-19 Broadway, London E15 4BQ,
T. 0844 448 4448, e: publications@mind.org.uk, or you can buy it online at www.mind.org.uk/shopping
Sunday, March 12, 2006
"BROKEN DOWN
Mental illness among young people is common but still not commonly discussed. For her first novel, a satire set in a psychiatric unit, Claire Allan drew on her own personal experience." This is the headline on a feature article which appeared in the Telegraph Magazine on Saturday 11th march 06.
Quotes: "The only way I can put it is that the future had ceased to exist. The world closed its doors and I was locked out"
"ONE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS IS THAT THE VERY THING THAT YOU ARE SUFFERING FROM REMOVES THE RESOURCES YOU NEED TO DEAL WITH IT. I SIMPLY DID NOT RECOGNIZE MY PROBLEMS AS SYMPTOMS OF ILLNESS"
"Each time I had a case review, my medications were increased until I walked like a puppet on a string."
"Poppy Shakespeare", by Claire Allan (Bloomsbury) is available from Telegraph Books on 0870-428 4112
Quotes: "The only way I can put it is that the future had ceased to exist. The world closed its doors and I was locked out"
"ONE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS IS THAT THE VERY THING THAT YOU ARE SUFFERING FROM REMOVES THE RESOURCES YOU NEED TO DEAL WITH IT. I SIMPLY DID NOT RECOGNIZE MY PROBLEMS AS SYMPTOMS OF ILLNESS"
"Each time I had a case review, my medications were increased until I walked like a puppet on a string."
"Poppy Shakespeare", by Claire Allan (Bloomsbury) is available from Telegraph Books on 0870-428 4112
Sunday, February 26, 2006
INAUGURAL PARTY AT CANALSIDE HOUSE
In celebration of the K&C Mental Health Carers Association's new Office.
Monique, Chair of the Association welcomed our special guests, the Mayor of Kensington & Chelsea, Cllr. Lightfoot, who professed a special interest in Mental Health, Claire Murdoch, Director of Nursing and Operations and Chris Bumstead, Joint Head of Adult Mental Health Services K&C, of CNWL Mental Health NHS Trust as well as Mrs and Mr. Mohammed Nasir, MBE, Chair of TMO, RBKC.
The Association has new projects in preparation and has made great strides in establishing itself firmly in the Sector of Voluntary Services.The party soon started swinging, enlivened by an excellent Buffet and good wine and most certainly by Claire's encouraging words regarding Carers Partnership with the Mental Health Trust.
Everybody left in good spirits.
Monique, Chair of the Association welcomed our special guests, the Mayor of Kensington & Chelsea, Cllr. Lightfoot, who professed a special interest in Mental Health, Claire Murdoch, Director of Nursing and Operations and Chris Bumstead, Joint Head of Adult Mental Health Services K&C, of CNWL Mental Health NHS Trust as well as Mrs and Mr. Mohammed Nasir, MBE, Chair of TMO, RBKC.
The Association has new projects in preparation and has made great strides in establishing itself firmly in the Sector of Voluntary Services.The party soon started swinging, enlivened by an excellent Buffet and good wine and most certainly by Claire's encouraging words regarding Carers Partnership with the Mental Health Trust.
Everybody left in good spirits.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Humour
Jerry went to see a psychiatrist.
"Doctor," he said, "I've got trouble. Every time I get into bed, I think there is somebody under it. I am going crazy!"
"Just put yourself in my hands for one year," said the shrink. "Come to me three times a week, and I'll cure your fears."
"How much do you charge?"
"A hundred pounds per visit."
"I'll sleep on it," said Jerry.
Six month later the doctor met Jerry on the street. "Why did'nt you ever come to see me again?" asked the psychiatrist.
"For a hundred bucks a visit? A bartender cured me for £ 10."
"Is that so! How?"
"He told me to cut the legs off the bed! Nobody under it now."
"Doctor," he said, "I've got trouble. Every time I get into bed, I think there is somebody under it. I am going crazy!"
"Just put yourself in my hands for one year," said the shrink. "Come to me three times a week, and I'll cure your fears."
"How much do you charge?"
"A hundred pounds per visit."
"I'll sleep on it," said Jerry.
Six month later the doctor met Jerry on the street. "Why did'nt you ever come to see me again?" asked the psychiatrist.
"For a hundred bucks a visit? A bartender cured me for £ 10."
"Is that so! How?"
"He told me to cut the legs off the bed! Nobody under it now."
Saturday, February 11, 2006
ONE WHITE MALE, REMOVED
THE DUALLY DIAGNOSED - patients or criminals?
Even the patient who goes into a psychiatric unit substance free runs the risk of leaving it addicted to alcohol or drugs or both.
What often happens is this: during a hospital visit the User tells his Carer that he is economising and is going to roll his own cigarettes. The Carer is pleased by this sign of responsibility on his part and goes out to buy his loose tobacco and Rizla papers (she does not realize that the tobacco is going to be mixed with cannabis). She is mystified when he urges her to leave early because he is worried about her going home alone after dark, but touched by his concern.
During the next hospital visit, a nurse tells her that her User is now psychotic, that he has seen a devil on the ward and that his medication has been put up. The Carer does not realize that he is now taking two toxic substances, one legal, the other illegal.
At the end of his hospital stay, the User is urged to become independent and is packed off to a hostel among other Users
taking drink and/or street drugs so that his substance use is powerfully reinforced. He then makes a rake's progress through
various hostels, ending up in the grimmest possible accommodation because by now he cannot be housed anywhere else.
He has become known to drug dealers, is haunted by them, terrified of them. His money is extorted from him. He continues to drink, partly because alcohol provides a quicker fix to mental health symptoms than medication. (Anyway, most people would prefer a pint of beer to a capsule of Risperidone.) His non-drinking friends fade away. He sometimes lives on the streets.
The User becomes psychotic but is not admitted to hospital because he is being cared for in the community, and he has in fact a list of out-patient appointments which he rarely keeps. His Carer makes an appointment at the CNWL Trust to ask about lack of in-patient treatment for him. The man at the Trust screws up his eyes as he reads her carefully-prepared notes:
he obviously needs reading glasses and is literally blind to her concerns.
"Why can't my son be treated in hospital?" the Carer asks. "He is mentally ill as well as alcoholic - he has dual diagnosis".
"It is government policy. Funding is directed towards care in the community - the Crisis Team, Outreach Workers, etc. The beds have been cut."
"Does the policy work?"
"I don't know" A half smile and a shrug. "I tell you what, why don't you try counselling?"
The Carer finds a counsellor. He recommends that she should lead her own life, get some hobbies and let her son hit rock bottom. "Let him drink, take drugs, get into debt, go on the street. What are your hobbies?"
"Well, swimming."
"Swimming, good." He writes it on the board. "What else?"
"Well, I used to do yoga but I hurt my shoulder."
"Yoga." He writes on the board. "What else?"
"I don't really enjoy hobbies, I feel too worried the whole time. What if my son hits rock bottom and dies?"
A half smile and a shrug.
The User leaves the hostel and comes home to Mother, swearing that he will never drink again. Together he and his carer draw up a plan: she will provide all his needs but not give him money, he will not have a latchkey, he will do his share of the housework. She tells him that if he gets aggressively drunk, he can't come into the house; if he is already there, and drinking, she will turn him out, even if she has to call the police.
For some weeks the user's health improves dramatically, the carer feels that they are mother and son again rather than carer and user. However, she assesses his state when she lets him in at the door, ready to slam it shut again. One afternoon the mother comes home carrying the fatted calf, in the form of a cake, and looking forward to tea when she hears a commotion coming from her house. ("Dear God, I don't mind too much about the furniture but please don't let there be a fire. How did he get the money?"). When she gets in, she eventually calls the Police.
Until recently being arrested involved a night in the 'accommodation suite', a mild reprimand and a cooked breakfast. But this time the police escort him out of the house and leave him in the street, frightened and frightening."
"Aren't you going to arrest him?"
"No, you wanted him removed, did'nt you?" The policewoman talks into her walkie-talkie: "One white male, removed."
Two hours later the carer rings up the police and asks them to find her son and send him back, but by then he has been arrested in another borough. He is taken to court and fined.
The alternative to calling the police in this situation is to take your ill and drunk user to the psychiatric unit where he is not admitted because he can't be assessed while drunk. While the carer is pointing out that he is also mentally ill, the user disappears. "He walked out, we can't detain him against his will." It is now 2.30 am. The carer runs round the nearby streets looking for him and eventually returns to the psychiatric unit and finds him there again. She is skilful at finding taxis in the small hours and persuading their drivers to take drunk men, so she and her user return home again, exhausted.
The next day the carer is so saturated with tiredness that she would do anything for some sleep. When she spends a day in bed, her user is distraught: he is afraid to see her looking ill in case there is no-one to look after him. She does not know what to do: if she continues to call the police when he gets aggressively drunk, she is afraid that he will be taken to court again and again and eventually sent to prison. As the professionals keep telling her that there are drugs everywhere, even in prison, she does not feel that prison will be redemptive. Her need for self preservation has wiped out her maternal instincts.
In any case, mental health workers do not seem to approve of parental love. It is seen as "over-involvement". even though it is age-old. The father of the prodigal son did not say "You made your own choice, you wasted your benefit in riotous living, I have my own life to lead, I have my hobbies." He said,
"For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." Barbara Robb
Even the patient who goes into a psychiatric unit substance free runs the risk of leaving it addicted to alcohol or drugs or both.
What often happens is this: during a hospital visit the User tells his Carer that he is economising and is going to roll his own cigarettes. The Carer is pleased by this sign of responsibility on his part and goes out to buy his loose tobacco and Rizla papers (she does not realize that the tobacco is going to be mixed with cannabis). She is mystified when he urges her to leave early because he is worried about her going home alone after dark, but touched by his concern.
During the next hospital visit, a nurse tells her that her User is now psychotic, that he has seen a devil on the ward and that his medication has been put up. The Carer does not realize that he is now taking two toxic substances, one legal, the other illegal.
At the end of his hospital stay, the User is urged to become independent and is packed off to a hostel among other Users
taking drink and/or street drugs so that his substance use is powerfully reinforced. He then makes a rake's progress through
various hostels, ending up in the grimmest possible accommodation because by now he cannot be housed anywhere else.
He has become known to drug dealers, is haunted by them, terrified of them. His money is extorted from him. He continues to drink, partly because alcohol provides a quicker fix to mental health symptoms than medication. (Anyway, most people would prefer a pint of beer to a capsule of Risperidone.) His non-drinking friends fade away. He sometimes lives on the streets.
The User becomes psychotic but is not admitted to hospital because he is being cared for in the community, and he has in fact a list of out-patient appointments which he rarely keeps. His Carer makes an appointment at the CNWL Trust to ask about lack of in-patient treatment for him. The man at the Trust screws up his eyes as he reads her carefully-prepared notes:
he obviously needs reading glasses and is literally blind to her concerns.
"Why can't my son be treated in hospital?" the Carer asks. "He is mentally ill as well as alcoholic - he has dual diagnosis".
"It is government policy. Funding is directed towards care in the community - the Crisis Team, Outreach Workers, etc. The beds have been cut."
"Does the policy work?"
"I don't know" A half smile and a shrug. "I tell you what, why don't you try counselling?"
The Carer finds a counsellor. He recommends that she should lead her own life, get some hobbies and let her son hit rock bottom. "Let him drink, take drugs, get into debt, go on the street. What are your hobbies?"
"Well, swimming."
"Swimming, good." He writes it on the board. "What else?"
"Well, I used to do yoga but I hurt my shoulder."
"Yoga." He writes on the board. "What else?"
"I don't really enjoy hobbies, I feel too worried the whole time. What if my son hits rock bottom and dies?"
A half smile and a shrug.
The User leaves the hostel and comes home to Mother, swearing that he will never drink again. Together he and his carer draw up a plan: she will provide all his needs but not give him money, he will not have a latchkey, he will do his share of the housework. She tells him that if he gets aggressively drunk, he can't come into the house; if he is already there, and drinking, she will turn him out, even if she has to call the police.
For some weeks the user's health improves dramatically, the carer feels that they are mother and son again rather than carer and user. However, she assesses his state when she lets him in at the door, ready to slam it shut again. One afternoon the mother comes home carrying the fatted calf, in the form of a cake, and looking forward to tea when she hears a commotion coming from her house. ("Dear God, I don't mind too much about the furniture but please don't let there be a fire. How did he get the money?"). When she gets in, she eventually calls the Police.
Until recently being arrested involved a night in the 'accommodation suite', a mild reprimand and a cooked breakfast. But this time the police escort him out of the house and leave him in the street, frightened and frightening."
"Aren't you going to arrest him?"
"No, you wanted him removed, did'nt you?" The policewoman talks into her walkie-talkie: "One white male, removed."
Two hours later the carer rings up the police and asks them to find her son and send him back, but by then he has been arrested in another borough. He is taken to court and fined.
The alternative to calling the police in this situation is to take your ill and drunk user to the psychiatric unit where he is not admitted because he can't be assessed while drunk. While the carer is pointing out that he is also mentally ill, the user disappears. "He walked out, we can't detain him against his will." It is now 2.30 am. The carer runs round the nearby streets looking for him and eventually returns to the psychiatric unit and finds him there again. She is skilful at finding taxis in the small hours and persuading their drivers to take drunk men, so she and her user return home again, exhausted.
The next day the carer is so saturated with tiredness that she would do anything for some sleep. When she spends a day in bed, her user is distraught: he is afraid to see her looking ill in case there is no-one to look after him. She does not know what to do: if she continues to call the police when he gets aggressively drunk, she is afraid that he will be taken to court again and again and eventually sent to prison. As the professionals keep telling her that there are drugs everywhere, even in prison, she does not feel that prison will be redemptive. Her need for self preservation has wiped out her maternal instincts.
In any case, mental health workers do not seem to approve of parental love. It is seen as "over-involvement". even though it is age-old. The father of the prodigal son did not say "You made your own choice, you wasted your benefit in riotous living, I have my own life to lead, I have my hobbies." He said,
"For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." Barbara Robb
Thursday, February 02, 2006
SCHIZOPHRENIA & NATURAL REMEDIES
WITHDRAWING SAFELY FROM PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS. There is a feature which appeared on the Internet under www.jungcircle.com. The author is Dr. Maureen B. Roberts, Dir. of the Schizophrenia Drug-free Centre, in Adelaide, Australia.
Dr. Roberts is one of many Scientists who warn against overprescription of neuroleptics, as generally practiced.
While relying solely on Natural Remedies, especially during a severe and florid crisis, is unrealistic, the overprescription of medical drugs can only lead at best to dependency, a very restricted lifestyle and certainly no cure. The ideal procedure should start with a thorough investigation into physical causes of mental symptoms, followed, if necessary by drug medication at a reasonable level, and slow reduction as and when appropriate, in conjunction with therapies such as OT, cognitive, solution focused and others. Diet should be of primary importance.
The following are extracts from Dr. Roberts article:
"The neuroleptic 'medications' prescribed (or forcefully administered) for schizophrenia are not medicines which heal, but rather toxic drugs which can produce permanent disability, irreversible brain damage, even death."
Alarmingly, over half of the people receiving 'treatment' for schizophrenia are being forcefully drugged. Safe, natural healing remedies are not funded, instead the authorities continue to condone biopsychiatric human rights abuse, by funding drug-based, coercive psychiatry."
"In the vast majority of cases, schizophrenia is an acute psychospiritual crisis which has usually been triggered by a traumatic life conflict. However, the following physical conditions can also trigger psychotic disturbances: cerebral allergies, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, toxic reactions to e.g. lead, or drugs (including psychiatric drugs), LSD, marijuana, etc., food allergies."
In 1993 the ROYAL COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRISTS published a Report entitled: Consensus Statement on the Use of High Dose Antipsychotic Medication where concern is raised as to the dangers of indiscriminate high dose prescription of medication and also polypharmacy, i.e. the use of several drugs being prescribed concurrently.
Dr. Roberts is one of many Scientists who warn against overprescription of neuroleptics, as generally practiced.
While relying solely on Natural Remedies, especially during a severe and florid crisis, is unrealistic, the overprescription of medical drugs can only lead at best to dependency, a very restricted lifestyle and certainly no cure. The ideal procedure should start with a thorough investigation into physical causes of mental symptoms, followed, if necessary by drug medication at a reasonable level, and slow reduction as and when appropriate, in conjunction with therapies such as OT, cognitive, solution focused and others. Diet should be of primary importance.
The following are extracts from Dr. Roberts article:
"The neuroleptic 'medications' prescribed (or forcefully administered) for schizophrenia are not medicines which heal, but rather toxic drugs which can produce permanent disability, irreversible brain damage, even death."
Alarmingly, over half of the people receiving 'treatment' for schizophrenia are being forcefully drugged. Safe, natural healing remedies are not funded, instead the authorities continue to condone biopsychiatric human rights abuse, by funding drug-based, coercive psychiatry."
"In the vast majority of cases, schizophrenia is an acute psychospiritual crisis which has usually been triggered by a traumatic life conflict. However, the following physical conditions can also trigger psychotic disturbances: cerebral allergies, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, toxic reactions to e.g. lead, or drugs (including psychiatric drugs), LSD, marijuana, etc., food allergies."
In 1993 the ROYAL COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRISTS published a Report entitled: Consensus Statement on the Use of High Dose Antipsychotic Medication where concern is raised as to the dangers of indiscriminate high dose prescription of medication and also polypharmacy, i.e. the use of several drugs being prescribed concurrently.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Psychosis Team
The EARLY INTERVENTION IN PSYCHOSIS TEAM started work in June of 2005 and is part of the Mental Health NHS Trust.
It is working to engage with young people, aged from 14 to 35, over a 3-year period, to promote recovery from a psychotic episode.
If you would like further information on this service, please contact: Jim O'Donnell 020 7886 1992
It is working to engage with young people, aged from 14 to 35, over a 3-year period, to promote recovery from a psychotic episode.
If you would like further information on this service, please contact: Jim O'Donnell 020 7886 1992
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Physical Causes of Mental Illness
There has always been research into PHYSICAL CAUSES for mental illness. One of the main bodies investigating the above is the SAGB, which explains their work in their latest Newsletter.
THE MOST IMPORTANT NEED IN MENTAL ILLNESS IS FOR PATIENTS TO HAVE AN INITIAL THOROUGH PHYSICAL CHECK
IF THE CAUSATIVE DISEASE IS FOUND AND TREATED APPROPRIATELY THE PSYCHIATRIC SYMPTOMS SHOULD BE REVERSED THUS ENABLING THE PATIENT TO RETURN TO A NORMAL LIFE, CURED.
WE MUST HAVE CURES AND NOT ENDLESS NEUROLEPTICS WHICH, WHILE THEY MAY, AND DO, MODIFY BRAIN SYMPTOMS,
ALSO HAVE DIRE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL EFFECTS.
the idea being that the brain becomes functionally disturbed by certain physical diseases, i.e. Coeliac Disease, Hypoglycaemia
Thyroid dysfunction.
Up to 1950 it was widely thought that schizophrenia was basically a gut disease which adversely affected the working of the brain. Damage was found in the gut with inflammatory changes.
Then came the neuroleptic era which tries to do away with SYMPTOMS but offers no cure. It is known that drugs are only palliative. They suppress the symptoms. If the drug is stopped the symptoms return with a vengeance. The drugs are not curative. It is astonishing that the psychiatrists keep trying the new drugs which the pharmaceutical industry provides. The pharma industry is very powerful and has a profound influence on doctors.
Families point out that normal life is rarely possible with drug "therapy".
The SAGB needs volunteers for their research programme (International Schizophrenia Centre, Bryn Hyfryd, The Crescent, GANGOR, Gwynnedd LL57 2AG) Tel. 01248 354048
THE MOST IMPORTANT NEED IN MENTAL ILLNESS IS FOR PATIENTS TO HAVE AN INITIAL THOROUGH PHYSICAL CHECK
IF THE CAUSATIVE DISEASE IS FOUND AND TREATED APPROPRIATELY THE PSYCHIATRIC SYMPTOMS SHOULD BE REVERSED THUS ENABLING THE PATIENT TO RETURN TO A NORMAL LIFE, CURED.
WE MUST HAVE CURES AND NOT ENDLESS NEUROLEPTICS WHICH, WHILE THEY MAY, AND DO, MODIFY BRAIN SYMPTOMS,
ALSO HAVE DIRE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL EFFECTS.
the idea being that the brain becomes functionally disturbed by certain physical diseases, i.e. Coeliac Disease, Hypoglycaemia
Thyroid dysfunction.
Up to 1950 it was widely thought that schizophrenia was basically a gut disease which adversely affected the working of the brain. Damage was found in the gut with inflammatory changes.
Then came the neuroleptic era which tries to do away with SYMPTOMS but offers no cure. It is known that drugs are only palliative. They suppress the symptoms. If the drug is stopped the symptoms return with a vengeance. The drugs are not curative. It is astonishing that the psychiatrists keep trying the new drugs which the pharmaceutical industry provides. The pharma industry is very powerful and has a profound influence on doctors.
Families point out that normal life is rarely possible with drug "therapy".
The SAGB needs volunteers for their research programme (International Schizophrenia Centre, Bryn Hyfryd, The Crescent, GANGOR, Gwynnedd LL57 2AG) Tel. 01248 354048
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