BBC1 - Britains Mental Health Crisis

SonniLombardi

SonniLombardi

SonniLombardi

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So BBC1 now have a program on about the drastic cuts for mental health in the UK.

What are peoples opinions of this? do you think in some way that people with mental health problems are just pushed aside and left to suffer in their own devices? the goverment keep making cuts which means less beds and less help. As if to say; well you are not mentally fit for society so we can't place you in the same category as people who do not have issues.

I know there are many helpful places out there for people who suffer, and as someone who has suffered with it in the past and it runs in the immediate family, my stance on it is that there simply isn't enough manpower and budget to cope with it.

The human mind is such a amazing thing and very complicated, so I can understand why there isn't much help due to the high amount of work it will take to dissect and diagnose.

Do you think that is why doctors and psychiatrists are so quick to label people with certain disorders, such as personality disorders, schizophrenia etc and giving them pills willy nilly?

I would like to hear peoples honest views about the situation.
 
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The trouble with ignoring mental health is that it will affect physical health which will then put more pressure on a NHS already at breaking point.... I think it's an idea that will cost money rather than save it as you have those issues plus you have all the legal implications because of missed diagnoses as some of that will be crime-driven just shouting out for help etc.

We can't keep relying on volunteer organisations and charities...
 
Problem is cuts are everywhere. No sector is more deserving of immunity than another.

Unfortunately mental health is also a distinct victim of the postcode lottery, therefore certain areas will see more of a problem than others. Overall, I think it is still poorly understood and I have always believed that many physical disorders are manifestations of a mental disorder.

Again with all the cuts being made everywhere, the situation is not going to improve any time soon. And yes, a lot of people are on medication which is of no benefit to them at all.
 
The issue with mental health is in a lot of cases theres no 'cure' and pretty much its a case of long expensive treatment simply to reduce symptoms, money a cash strapped nhs is forced to spend trying like mad to keep up the top class emergency (i mean proper emergencies) healthcareand popping pills to the general populace.

It is a growing issue yes (iirc isn't suicide number 2 biggest killer of young folk these days after road deaths?) But we have to ask ourselves where it's all coming from, i have a suspicion our always on 24/7 socialise advertise and victimise culture might be placing slightly more strain on the human brain in ways it's not designed to cope with.

In a world where you return home from school only to find the same bullies on your computer that made your day hell and you don't know better to tell you to hit that block button, or close that laptop lid because this is 'normal' to always be there and just sitting quietly on your own is what boring sad lonely people do compared to the cool kids who are always chatting on facebook. Wonder how we've managed to fool ourselves into thinking thats not the cause
 
SonniLombardi said:
So BBC1 now have a program on about the drastic cuts for mental health in the UK.

What are peoples opinions of this? do you think in some way that people with mental health problems are just pushed aside and left to suffer in their own devices? the goverment keep making cuts which means less beds and less help.

I know there are many helpful places out there for people who suffer, and as someone who has suffered with it in the past and it runs in the immediate family, my stance on it is that there simply isn't enough manpower and budget to cope with it.

The human mind is such a amazing thing and very complicated, so I can understand why there isn't much help due to the high amount of work it will take to dissect and diagnose.

Do you think that is why doctors and psychiatrists are so quick to label people with certain disorders, such as personality disorders, schizophrenia etc and giving them pills willy nilly?

I would like to hear peoples honest views about the situation.
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From a personal working viewpoint, yes, it's a major issue.

I saw a quote not so long ago stating that around 60% of all 'jobs' that the police attend are in some way related to mental health issues. When I worked on a response team I couldn't go a set of shifts without dealing with it in some way or another, whether it be to dealing with high-risk 'mispers' (missing people) who've absconded from a local care home and suffer from MH or dealing with people who were having a full-blown breakdown in public and having to use Section 136 to take them into care.

Once you've 136'd someone, your aim is to take them to a 'place of safety'. This could be the local 136 suite (a specialist MH hospital), a local hospital via A&E, or to the police station. The police station would be the last resort of these and shouldn't (in theory) happen. If I took someone I'd sectioned to the local A&E I'd more often than not have to babysit them for an entire shift to prevent them from absconding from care. That's me, off the road and not being able to deal with policing matters for 8+ hours. This is because my local hospital didn't have a secure unit to be able to cater for the detention and treatment of 136 patients, and hospital security were either reluctant to get involved and watch over a patient or lay hands on should they become violent. As soon as that person attempted to leave that hospital of their own accord, security would attempt to persuade them to stay but ultimately, as soon as the patient left the boundary, security would desist and call us sometimes 30 minutes to an hour after they absconded.

This brings me to dedicated suites. The dedicated suite we used wasn't in the area I policed which meant extra travelling time to the suite from the place 136 occurred. When I arrived at the dedicated suite (and staff knew I was en route as the operator had phoned it in) it wasn't unusual to have to wait at least 30 minutes to be greeted by a nurse and allowed access. This meant having to wait outside, with a detainee sat in the back of a cramped police caged van, getting more and more agitated as the minutes went by. The last time I went to the suite I was waiting outside for an hour at four in the morning before I was greeted by a nurse who had quite obviously been sleeping. After I finally handed the detainee over to staff who placed this person in a secure room, I would relay the details of the 136 to an often disinterested member of staff who would reluctantly take my file and bid me farewell.

On several occasions over my stint on response team I heard of people who were being detained for quite serious incidents (i.e. a serious attempt at suicide) being released the same day, only to to have another go at ending it all and being back at square one. On one occasion, my local MH suite was full and on attempting to take a detainee to a neighbouring suite, was told that I couldn't get access as the suite didn't take people unless they had been sectioned in a certain area. Go figure.

The TLDR version? In a nutshell the government is seriously failing people with mental health issues and people are dying because of it.

It's an extremely frustrating situation for emergency services to deal with, and I've no doubt if the general public had any idea how bad it actually was there would be an uproar.
 
I've witnessed first hand what the cuts have done. Driving my mother to the brink of suicide...

Nearly causing my cousin to die from multiple organ failure caused my anorexia which wasn't handled due to lack of places at a suitable facility.
 
The goverment's solution to this that I have seen, has been to just shove a load of pills down the problem person. Normally making the person worse along with major addiction problems.
 
Half my work is mental health related now and last week I dealt with a suicidal youth who was basically underestimated and put down the queue by the crisis team and told to stay at home. He went out the next night to kill himself however I managed to locate him en route and he openly admitted that he needed help - my conversation with the crisis team turned heated as they again wanted him taken home to which they were told that I was travelling to the 136 suite and they should call their on call doctors and a mental health worker to assess the lad - strangely enough they didn't argue.

The lad was admitted to an appropriate hospital that night and my report VC report was scathing. Crisis Team often pull the busy or short staffed excuse - join the club. The difference is I get on with it however there is no question that mental health is grossly underfunded.
 
Von Smallhausen said:
Half my work is mental health related now and last week I dealt with a suicidal youth who was basically underestimated and put down the queue by the crisis team and told to stay at home. He went out the next night to kill himself however I managed to locate him en route and he openly admitted that he needed help - my conversation with the crisis team turned heated as they again wanted him taken home to which they were told that I was travelling to the 136 suite and they should call their on call doctors and a mental health worker to assess the lad - strangely enough they didn't argue.

The lad was admitted to an appropriate hospital that night and my report VC report was scathing. Crisis Team often pull the busy or short staffed excuse - join the club. The difference is I get on with it however there is no question that mental health is grossly underfunded.
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My step dad had many similar issues. Talking someone down from one of the bridges in Newcastle was literally a weekly occurrence. Sadly he wasn't always successful.
 
My aunt said this would happen years ago when they started closing down the big old mental hospitals and replacing them with 1 or 2 6-12 people wards in general hospitals. I'm sure there was bad points about them but they had space and some people were institutionalized (but in some cases maybe this was the best for them?)

I can't be sure she was right but she had worked with disabled children in one of these wards for years as a nurse and I remember them having lots of 'open days' with the local people and it seemed fun at the time to me as a kid.
 
Tbh I think one of the problems is that everyone thinks they are mentally ill. Some of the things people get depressed or whatever over are ridiculous and I think a lot of people do it just for the attention. I'm not saying that everyone is like this, but I think the shear number of people that are doing this waste a lot of resources and dilute the effect of any help. The problem is, is that you can't tell if its bs or whether they are actually ill, because you can't really see or measure metal illness.
 
Von Smallhausen said:
Half my work is mental health related now and last week I dealt with a suicidal youth who was basically underestimated and put down the queue by the crisis team and told to stay at home. He went out the next night to kill himself however I managed to locate him en route and he openly admitted that he needed help - my conversation with the crisis team turned heated as they again wanted him taken home to which they were told that I was travelling to the 136 suite and they should call their on call doctors and a mental health worker to assess the lad - strangely enough they didn't argue.

The lad was admitted to an appropriate hospital that night and my report VC report was scathing. Crisis Team often pull the busy or short staffed excuse - join the club. The difference is I get on with it however there is no question that mental health is grossly underfunded.
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Police budgets are being stretched but you are expected to be everything to everyone.
 
Jumper118 said:
Tbh I think one of the problems is that everyone thinks they are mentally ill. Some of the things people get depressed or whatever over are ridiculous and I think a lot of people do it just for the attention. I'm not saying that everyone is like this, but I think the shear number of people that are doing this waste a lot of resources and dilute the effect of any help. The problem is, is that you can't tell if its bs or whether they are actually ill, because you can't really see or measure metal illness.
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Have you ever experienced people with mental health issues?
 
Jumper118 said:
I don't even know. I find it hard to believe any of it tbh. I suppose in some cases its obvious, but its such a wide thing.
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I think it's pretty clear and obvious if someone is mentally ill, due to a number of factors
  • Their behaviour towards themsevles and others
  • Their state of mind
  • The way they perceive the world
  • Sucidal tendecies, self harm etc
  • Managing their emotions and feelings
  • Coping strategies like locking away from the world and substance/alcohol abuse
  • Their overall personality

That is just minor the list goes on and on.. but I do understand some people do play on it, but it is not hard to distinguish.
Studying their behaviour for a short while will show you, I think I can tell better because I've been around it most of my life.

By the way there are some very good comments in this thread and I appreciate them.
 
OldCoals said:
It is pretty clear once you have experienced it, until then, I would argue that it is not always obvious.
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I suppose you are right in that context, as some people who have do infact hide it away very well, but there are some tell tale signs there if you observe. But you are right, people who have got experience with it will obviously know and tend to distinguish easier than others who haven't or don't understand about mental illness.
 
SonniLombardi said:
I think it's pretty clear and obvious if someone is mentally ill, due to a number of factors
  • Their behaviour towards themsevles and others
  • Their state of mind
  • The way they perceive the world
  • Sucidal tendecies, self harm etc
  • Managing their emotions and feelings
  • Coping strategies like locking away from the world and substance/alcohol abuse
  • Their overall personality

That is just minor the list goes on and on.. but I do understand some people do play on it, but it is not hard to distinguish.
Studying their behaviour for a short while will show you, I think I can tell better because I've been around it most of my life.

By the way there are some very good comments in this thread and I appreciate them.
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There were some people at school who used to disappear for weeks on end because of metal illness, but they seemed perfectly normal when I saw them. I think if you know someone and see or speak to them all the time you will see but for say a work colleague or a friend at school I'd say its hard to tell. Tbh I just avoid people like that as I am not really great at understanding things like that as I am very chilled most of the time. I just stopped talking to them, so I don't say something stupid.
 
I have mental health issues. Until recently if I didn't take my meds I heard voices. Obviously this caused depression as well.

I can see what the cuts are doing to mental health services. I was lucky enough to be seen before they really bit hard. I had gone visits daily, and weekly they would take me to my psychiatrist.

Now it seems to be a 5 min chat a week if your lucky.

Fact is mental health is easy to cut. You can't really see it for the most part. And their is the whole "snap or of it" attitude, we even have it in this thread. The stigma attached to mental health is incredibly damaging.
 
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