The suggestions under the forthcoming draft Discrimination Bill - giving mentally ill people the same rights as physically disabled people - sound promising, as does this idea of a "nominated person" with rights to help the patient challenge the use of compulsory powers in the proposed new Mental Health Bill - but there are a lot of not so good points to that proposed bill. There seems to be far too much talk of compulsory treatment orders there for my liking.
Yeah, that's roughly the response of the assorted pressure groups, including the Mental Health Alliance - including a suggestion that there should be more compulsion on the government to fulfil their election promises about sorting out mental health services. I suspect that there's a lot of knee-jerk Blunkettism going on.
Yes, the compulsory teatment bit worries me too for exactly the same reason mentioned in the article.
Mum's paranoid schizophrenic, living on incapacity benefit in the community. She is currently having cognitive therapy, which works, because she refuses to take drugs after bad experiences with them in the past. (And the less than shining example of drug teatment of her sister who's on lithium for the same problem.) Obviously, cognitive therapy is much more expensive than drugs, as it requires regular time with a therapist.
I'm worried that if she's forcibly treated, she will not be able to say no to drugs. I know if she is given them she will just flush them down the loo if she can get away with it, and that means more psychotic episodes. While temping I've typed up accounts of forcible treatment of older patients including ECT and I still don't know if deciding not to ring the papers/lawyers/charities/whoever was the right thing to do.
[A sample case in brief, no names etc: old lady is bonkers, wanders round in nothing but big fur coat, is repeatedly arrested and taken to hospital and escapes. After ECT treatment she becomes much more docile, less given to escaping or indeed moving or speaking, dies within 5 months. This is considered successful treatment.]
And this morning my boss comes in... "I need a copy of the Mental Health Briefing Document - phone parliment and get one couriered across" "Thats ok" says I "I know where it is on the internet"
Hmmm ... while we're one of the assorted charities with an "official opinion" on the subject. Had to help the Director of Strategy upstairs with a 3 copies of the thing yesterday morning. Surprised she'd managed to get them to the taxi!
Glad to be of service ... and if there's anything else I can do, madam ... [grin]
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Mum's paranoid schizophrenic, living on incapacity benefit in the community. She is currently having cognitive therapy, which works, because she refuses to take drugs after bad experiences with them in the past. (And the less than shining example of drug teatment of her sister who's on lithium for the same problem.) Obviously, cognitive therapy is much more expensive than drugs, as it requires regular time with a therapist.
I'm worried that if she's forcibly treated, she will not be able to say no to drugs. I know if she is given them she will just flush them down the loo if she can get away with it, and that means more psychotic episodes. While temping I've typed up accounts of forcible treatment of older patients including ECT and I still don't know if deciding not to ring the papers/lawyers/charities/whoever was the right thing to do.
[A sample case in brief, no names etc: old lady is bonkers, wanders round in nothing but big fur coat, is repeatedly arrested and taken to hospital and escapes. After ECT treatment she becomes much more docile, less given to escaping or indeed moving or speaking, dies within 5 months. This is considered successful treatment.]
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"I need a copy of the Mental Health Briefing Document - phone parliment and get one couriered across"
"Thats ok" says I "I know where it is on the internet"
;-)
brownie points....
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Yeap its the whole 384 page she-bang.
but it was helpful to know there was a short link instead of having to wade through the joy that is the government website!
;-)
I think the boss is sorted now, she is one of the 'expert consultants' to the committee so she just needed a copy of what they are discussing.
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Glad to be of service ... and if there's anything else I can do, madam ... [grin]