I am appalled by the state of the mental health system in
Yorkshire, specifically Kirklees. I am disgusted with the apathetic doctors and
the inappropriate demeanour of the mental health nurses of the mental health
team.
My dear friend suffers with Asperger’s syndrome. For those
of you who don’t know what that is, basically it is a high functioning form of
autism. She also suffers from severe depression and anxiety. She needs her
routines, she has poor to no eye contact and talking to people she doesn’t know
is almost impossible.
Lately she needed to have her antidepressants changed.
Anyone suffering with severe depression and on medication will know that this
needs to happen when the pills you are taking aren’t working, you get used to
them or the side effects outweigh the benefits. It can be a very stressful time
to someone who is suffering as there is almost always a noticeable change in
your mood and/or thought process while the other pills are coming out of your
system and the new ones are taking effect.
She went to see a doctor we do not usually go to as he is
generally unsympathetic and rather rude. She was desperate. She explained to
him that she was overly suicidal, irrationally angry and at a greater risk of
harming herself on these pills. He reluctantly changed them after lecturing her
about getting better quicker. This is not what outraged me, unfortunately in
both of our experiences, this is the norm. It seems to be the understanding
doctors that are few and far between these days.
It was what followed me that outraged me. A few days later,
she returned to the doctor's for her top up of pain killers (for various
ailments) and after being lectured about taking them and being told to drink
water instead as it will cure everything including her depression (!) she
looked at the notes the previous doctor had put. They were as follows:
“She displays no signs of suicide, has good eye contact and
generally has good rapport”
Now, I was not there but I know she (having Asperger’s)
cannot lie. He was not only out rightly lying about her suicidal thoughts but
in the mood she was in as well as not liking him, I know for a fact her eye
contact would have been worse than poor.
I wish I could say this was the only way she has been failed
by seemingly trained professionals, not only in her life but just this week.
She had recently been contacted by The Mental Health Team
for her second time; the nurse who spoke to her was pressuring her to go in for
another assessment. She couldn’t get there by herself and so asked for a home
visit. I was in the room when this conversation took place. He told her to get
her priorities in order and basically threatened her to go in otherwise she
wouldn’t be seen. She was so upset by the time she got off the phone, she
couldn’t speak.
Outraged, I called him and demanded to know exactly what he
had said to upset her. I was met with an appalling attitude coupled with “I
don’t think that’s any of your business” and “I am not prepared to answer any
more questions”. I was not asking for any personal details or any information
that could have even sounded confidential. He simply refused to talk to me and
said he would not apologise for his manner.
The matter was passed on to my friend's mother, as I was not
being taken seriously. She informed me that he apologised to her and said he
was simply in a bad mood. He then arranged a home visit.
Being Miss Manners and not wanting to hold a grudge, I
welcomed him in to my home so he could assess my friend. She was understandably
upset and therefore displayed very guarded body language (looking at the floor,
folded arms and shaking legs) but I prompted her to answer as many questions as
she could and I filled in the gaps.
I thought it was going as well as it could possibly go until
he said “I don’t know if there is anything I can do as she clearly doesn’t want
me here” in the most vindictive way, like a child who had been cast out. I was
astounded. I politely informed him that she is like this with any new person
due to the concoction of ‘issues’ she has and that he should not take it
personally. He childishly interrupted me with “I’m not!” Yes, it sounds like
it.
I am simply shocked that any of this behaviour was allowed
to happen. He is in a position where he is supposed to display empathy and
rational behaviour at all times…am I incorrect in thinking this? I know they
are human too and have ‘bad’ days but surely in this crucial position, you need
to display a level head and an understanding nature?
Both she and I are being failed on every conceivable
level in regards to out mental health. This is the sole reason I have the
knowledge and insight in to my own condition as if I relied solely on the
‘professionals’, I have no doubt, whatsoever, that I would have committed
suicide by now.
Unbelievable, I can't believe this happened!
ReplyDeleteTrue story :(
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