Making A Bad Situation Worse (the draft mental health bill)

My name is Rachel, I’m 25 years old and I am currently diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder (a heady mix of schizophrenia and manic depression – the extra value pack of the mental health world). I’ve experienced problems since I was a young teenager, but only sought help whilst at university. Since then I’ve been a regular at the local psychiatric unit (though less so recently) and have needed a lot of help from the mental health services. Some of my admissions have been ‘voluntary’, others under force of a ‘section’.

The help I’ve received from the services has been so varied it’s hard to know where I stand. I try to work with the system, and in the beginning I truly believed that they knew best, but I’m increasing becoming jaded. Some ‘professionals’ are worth their weight in gold – this can even include psychiatrists, who at the moment wield a worrying amount of power over my care - but many just don’t seem to have the time, the resources or sometimes the impetus to help effectively.

When I’ve had psychiatrists that I haven’t gotten on with it’s been an impossible situation. My diagnoses have been changed a number of times, and attitudes to my care have ranged from me being ill and incapable to me being manipulative and attention seeking. I’ve even had the much feared ‘personality disorder’ label attached to me for a while (which is much like the plague – no one will touch you with a barge pole). The point here is that so much of the help you receive is dependant upon your relationship with your doctors, nurses and OTs. It’s easy to end up in a bad situation where you don’t agree with your medication, diagnoses etc, and increasing the power imbalance (as this bill will do) will make this worse.

‘Sectioning’ itself is a horrible experience (obviously). It made me feel caged, trapped and frustrated. I spent so much of my time and energy fighting against it that it made real therapeutic gains impossible. Hospital has the potential to be somewhere where you can get support, talk through problems and feel safe (ask most people and they’ll tell you that’s what they want when their world is falling in). If it was like that, then I wouldn’t have to be dragged in there – I’d admit myself when I needed to. As it is – if you put people in an environment that feels scary, tense, mind-numbingly boring and then refuse to let them out, they’re not going to want to stay (or, indeed, go back there – EVER).

Despite the (very large) problems with being in hospital it is still true that many people who are really suffering with mental distress will still know themselves that they need to be admitted there. If you’re feeling suicidal, and are having a crisis, there’s very little option. I mean, there are a few ‘crisis houses’ dotted around the country that offer a much better option (note: these are generally run by non-statutory organisations), but this is the exception not the rule.

A big problem is that people are still turned away from psychiatric units when they need help AND want it. This was brought home to me quite recently when one of my closest friends, Susan, committed suicide. We’d spent the best part of a year trying to get her admitted to the local unit as she knew she needed it – but her psychiatrist said ‘no’. The whole system needs an overhaul, and deluding ourselves that bumping up the compulsive elements to ‘protect people from themselves’ is the way to do it is just crazy.

There's so much in this bill that scares me it's hard to no where to begin. When the government decided to update the current Mental Health Act they had to opportunity to provide basic rights to treatment, assessment and dignity for service users, instead they chose to do the opposite and go with the sensationalist media's cries to protect the public and lock up the mad person. The fact is the public is less at risk from, say, a schizophrenic than someone tanked up on 12 pints of beer - the statistics prove that.

Increasing compulsion is likely to wreck any chances of a trusting relationship with mental health professionals - it's already tenuous, but if 'sectioning' and 'compulsive treatment' are increased it'll be difficult for us to be honest about how we're feeling. It may even stop us going for help at all (or until things get so bad help is forced upon us).

What we need is approachable services that don't just react to crisis, but help us avoid them. One that listens to us, and acknowledges that the medical model (ie. medication) isn't for everyone and supports us in finding alternatives. Basically one that respects our rights as human beings. This one is just going to make the existing problems worse.

Rachel Studley © 2003

For more information on the draft mental health bill, and a conference (OUTCRY) being organised by service users and survivors to oppose it go to www.outcryconference.co.uk