Do people genuinely believe 'you should get her/him sectioned' as some sort of option?

I guess I just come from the perspective of having a paranoid schizophrenic family member and trying to get them help over the years. There's just no doubt to anybody who knows him when he's in need of sectioning but I suppose some people do use it flippantly. And yes it was incredibly difficult for him to be sectioned the last time (very different to when he was originally diagnosed).

I can't say what he did to trigger the process as it could be a bit outing but without a certain encounter happening with a professional who finally saw the behaviour for themselves (and was scared for their own safety apparently) nothing still would've been done. He certainly got the ball rolling after that and he was sectioned within a couple days. But we knew it's what he needed months before.

I agree completely. Nearest relative should always be consulted during a MHA for their subjective opinion and history on their loved one’s condition. Sometimes it’s not taken for the weight it should have. Sometimes it’s more valuable than the patients own insight.

It’s actually difficult to section someone. quite rightly so too
I have some insight because I discussed this with a psychiatrist involved in the care of a family member.

But that’s part of the point of this thread? There’s a lot of ignorance and misinterpretation of what “sectioning” is, what it does and who needs that level of treatment. The term is thrown around flippantly and it (and other bad use of mh language) imo adds to the stigma of SMI.

I do wholeheartedly agree that getting someone help when they are unwell is the most important thing. But it’s as important for people to not throw around the “needs sectioning” term flippantly.

A lot of times the professionals don't listen to family. Just look at the case with the lady whose son who was schizophrenic went out and stabbed a dog walker to death. I believe she was or is suing the MH services because they left him in her care and she warned them he was obsessed with knives and she couldn't stop him going out. That tragedy could and should've been prevented.

You seem to be being pedantic about terminology. If I read a post saying ‘I got someone sectioned’ I wouldn’t take it literally. Is it really a point worth making?

Hopefully the outcome of the Nottingham inquiry will effect changes and it will in fact be easier to get someone sectioned (take that as literally as you choose) and harder to discharge without a clear, appropriate and tightly managed and monitored plan.

Surely the focus should be on getting someone help ASAP rather than worrying about terminology?

It reminds me of the Peep Show episode, "if you try to section me, Jeremy, I'll have you sectioned so fast..."

I’d take issue with that purely for what I’ve said above. How does anyone apart from trained mental health professionals know if someone meets the threshold or needs sectioning? It’s such a bad use of language.

Nobody has said that people with mental health illness should be left to get on with it, or that the FBI is coming after them? Not on this thread, anyway.

It’s always important to raise awareness and clarify the right use of language around mental health illness.

I’m really pleased your parents called a dr who was able to arrange it all but your parents did not get your brother sectioned, they reached out for help for your brother to be assessed by a dr. That dr would have then decided to refer your brother to be assessed under the MH act to see if his condition needed treatment in hospital, what his risk was and if that treatment needed to take place under section. A MHA has two parts. Two drs assess (one has to be section 12 approved) and then an AMHP (usually a social worker) does their own assessment and makes a final decision. It’s a complicated process. Not a decision made by any or one dr or nurse.

My point here being that by saying your parents reached out to a dr who organised it all is portraying the process as being easy and simple, when it is far far far from that in reality. A person may think the person they are caring for “needs sectioning” but do they actually know what that means? It is never that simple and cannot just be done. And oftentimes it’s not the right thing for the person they are caring for (please see my pp for why).

No harm or upset for what you’ve said, I just am very passionate about making sure people know the reality of inpatient mental health care.

Sounds fine to me?

@Youthinkyouareaniconoclast ok so you wouldn't mind someone saying "I think someone might need sectioning can a professional come and assess them?"

I haven't given thought about calling it anything specific other than urgently flagging concern about deteriorating mental health/ risk to self/risk to others to MH professional/emergency services.

I'm not sure it needs a specific "name".

I do think that language needs to be used accurately and with care and sensitivity.

Pah posted too soon. The thing I wanted to say was that my DH and children asked multiple times for me to be hospitalised and were refused. They wouldn’t even do a mental health act assessment.

I was sectioned multiple times but recently was the most unwell I have ever been and nobody would even consider me needing to be sectioned. I was keeping knives by my bed, writing notes I was going to kill people, seeing things, hearing things etc.
It’s scary how hard it is to get people hospitalised now. In the end, in desperation, my husband asked me to start taking leftover antipsychotic meds and I’ve stabilised. But my mental health team have discharged me and nobody will prescribe the meds. So I’m looking into buying them abroad because I honestly think if I get unwell again, I could seriously harm somebody.

OK so what do you want to call it instead. I actually got put off trying to help after I made a post on here asking about getting someone sectioned a few years ago. I thought why bloody bother when everyone was focusing on the fact I thought I could personally section someone instead of actually providing advice on what to do. But I knew if the worst happened his family (ie me) would get blamed for not doing anything. Anyway they did get sectioned in the end-so I was right. It's just a miracle nothing too horrific happened in the meantime.

True. I meant laugh in a bitter and ironic way

I actually think that was pretty irresponsible depiction of services.

It's not semantics.

It's accurate use of the English language.

And in this particular context it is crucial to get it right. Failure to do this can lead laypeople to think they have a power that they don't. As well as the guilt they might have by erroneously thinking there is something that they could have done. Which there wasn't.

No-one, at any point suggested sitting back and watching someone become more unwell.

It makes me laugh on Eastenders and Corrie when someone is just shipped off to a MH unit within minutes of showing any sign of mental illness. Help and support and inpatient beds in beautifully decorated MH units are available straightaway.

Exactly. People are just splitting hairs about someone thinking they personally have the power to do it. If you see concerning out of character behaviour that might put someone or others in danger of course you would try and look into the process of sectioning and contact a professional. Who cares about the semantics really! The Nottingham killer's family have been criticised for not doing enough so can't really win.

Its entirely possible that their are many individuals who are capable of extreme violence. Rukabana wasnt just "one of thousands" he was on the radar for several years before the atrocity.
Just like the Nottingham stabber

I'm confused: no one is suggesting that @Firefly1987 .

What people ARE doing is clarifying UK law as it stands in relation to the MHA.

@Toetouchingtitties thank you. I follow Paula, his mum on facebook.

I'm conscious that I may have derailed the thread so i'm going to screen shot and read up on DSR and CETR as a start.

I mean, someone does have to get the ball rolling and call a professional who has the power to section? When my brother started showing signs of psychosis my parents called a doctor and he arranged it all.

Do people genuinely think if someone is showing signs of being very mentally unwell that they should just be left to get on with it or even empowered in their thinking that the FBI is after them or something?