This is shocking

[namechangedforthisposttt]

This man was clearly very very unwell and it seems wasn't willing to engage with the mental health team. It's scary that he was walking around in such a bad state of mind.

apple.news/AyxJ3PZXwRUKhVXIW0qwloA

A question though - why is it people with schizophrenia or psychosis always think it's something to do with the goverment/spys/god ?

Sorry to be clear the link is about Valdo Calocane

A preventable tragedy - horrific for everyone involved.

Yes it seems that way reading the article. His family apparently didn't know about his diagnosis until after his arrest

I know in medicine there is patient confidentiality, but in cases like this can that be dismissed when the person is a potential danger to themselves and others ? Surely his mum had a right to know ?

He was let down but unfortunately it’ll only get worse with the proposed changes to the mental health act. Mind charity for example are campaigning for the end to community treatment orders which will make it even more difficult to recall people such as this into hospital.

What changes are these ?

This really triggers some awful memories for me of when I had psychosis and heard voices. Initially it started with a deceased relative visiting me and then it became God himself. The voices told me what to do and I had zero control over it, I obeyed the voices and trusted them full heartedly. Psychosis is often linked to divine powers, there’s many articles available online if you’d like to learn more OP.
I am so so thankful I had the right support from family and the NHS because the voices did tell me to do things such as break doors while sectioned. Thank god the voices didn’t tell me to harm an actual person. I nearly committed suicide over it as well - this wasn’t what I would want while feeling well, but I was so unwell and the voices threatened to kill me if I ate or drank anything.
This medical condition needs to be taken extremely seriously and the resources aren’t always there to help.
Not everyone gets psychosis as a result of drug abuse, mine was genetically linked and the trigger was stress alone. Yes, stress. It could happen to anyone, I have never experienced anything like it before or after. It took me over 3 years to fully recover and over 80% have recurring episodes. It’s a scary, scary disease. My heart breaks for those affected.

A question though - why is it people with schizophrenia or psychosis always think it's something to do with the goverment/spys/god?

Paranoid delusions take the form dictated by the society the sufferer lives in. Currently many people don't believe in god, magic, witchcraft etc and when their troubled mind is seeking an explanation for strange things happening to them, they go to government or police or the Russian FIS etc. In the past (or another culture) it might be a powerful witch or wizard, or a curse. Basically the mind seeks an explanation other than "madness" for their experiences.

Schizophrenia manifests it's,way in different ways ,people can hear voices ,have delusional beliefs have command hallucinations ,have ideas of reference ie think that the radio /,TV is talking to them
It's a very serious illness

Unfortunately many people relapse and stop taking their medication sometimes because they lack the insight into how unwell they are and the need to take medication
however once a person is treated and starts to get better they can't be detained just in case they relapses
It can be a very difficult to mange condition.

Yet another thing the Tories ran into the ground. Mental health services were never well funded and then came austerity. It will take a long time to build up services to a decent level, but that's what we need to do - real care in the community, not the pathetic excuse for it that the Tories introduced when they shut down the old asylums and sold them off to property developers. It's such a stupid and short-sighted thing not to fund adequate support services for people of all ages, from childhood up, who have mental health problems. When things go wrong for that one person, there are so many knock on effects for their families, neighbours and the whole community.

I was redeployed in the mental health Trust i worked for twice in 12 months in 2005/6 due to cuts so it wssent just the Tories that didn't care about mental health services
The same Trust wasted money left ,right and centre
One example being they spent £1000,000 on refurbishing a ward I worked on to just close it less than 12 months later .

I'm sorry for your terrible experience.

I think it is important to remember that the vast majority of those with mental health conditions such as this do not commit such acts. Not to take away from the tragedy of this case but between 2 and 3 women a week are killed by their partners or ex partners who are not mentally ill. And again, the vast majority of murders are committed by those of sound mind.

I think what terrifies about these cases and makes them more prominent is the randomness of them. We rationalise that we wouldn't 'let' ourselves get into the position of a woman in a violent relationship but any one of us could be walking down the street and attacked as we go about our daily lives.

The main issue as I see it is the absolute piss poor state of mental health services. I too have experienced them and there is no accountability, no joined up thinking or care, a shifting of responsibility from one provider to the next (see the article reporting that this man was simply discharged back to his GP when he didn't respond to his mental health team - as if a GP is equipped for dealing with this level of complexity!). Mental health services desperately need investment, not just for those suffering mental ill health but for society as a whole.

I'm so sorry for what you've been through. It sounds terrifying. I didn't mean to bring back some bad memories pried with the post. I'm glad you're on your way to recovery now ❤️

It does interest me, is that weird ?
I myself don't have the greatest mental health. I've always suffered from quite bad anxiety and ocd, which has gotten alot worse since having my babies. I've had two babies in less than two years and I've had (still have) post natal depression. The first time I was convinced men were following me in the street, that dogs were going to snatch my baby out of the pushchair etc it was awful.
I get intrusive thoughts that awful things are going to happen to my baby, I saw my baby hanging from a rope, this time I even felt like my baby wasn't mine. And this is just ocd!!
Thankfully now I'm on the right medication and those intrusive thoughts have basically stopped, but I did at one point think I was going to absolutely lose it

Do you know what a community treatment order is? Sorry I’m being in no way condescending asking that

DB was sectioned aged 26 in 2004. We took him to the hospital as he was catatonic. They interviewed him for one hour and got one word out of him which was his name. And on that basis he was sectioned for a month. I'm not sure how they arrived at it but he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. We, the family, his mum and dad (divorced) and me, were called to a meeting before he was discharged with about five medical professionals, doctors, an occupational therapist etc.

Has He had any further episodes,of psychosis?
Whilst Psychosis can be a symptom of schizophrenia, people can have psychotic episodes for any number of reasons
If it was a one of epusode as frightening aa that is doesn't necessarily mean he's schizophrenic.

@Eggnogg90 no?

Thank you @Treeper22 and @namechangedforthisposttt - I am well now and that’s what matters. I’ve come full circle but am always very conscious of where I’ve come from. The crisis team told me that’s how they know someone is able to wean off medication - when they’ve truly understood how they got there in the first place. For me, whenever I’m in an incredibly stressful situation, I make sure to give myself the time I need and I also have an amazing outlet through lane swimming. Exercise is hugely important for your mental health.
I’m really really fortunate that my psychosis happened pre covid as I’ve got friends whose family members are now suffering the same illness and they’re not getting the support they need or deserve. And that’s unfortunately how these kind of things happen - as rare as they are, they shouldn’t be able to happen full stop.

Mental health services are in a terrible state and one of the things that is so bad is that if people don’t “engage”, then they are discharged. But very often the fact they are ill means they won’t engage. They won’t answer the phone, or go for appointments etc etc. My ex was suffering from depression and only got any attention after a suicide attempt. And even then it was really very difficult as they didn’t feel he was too bad!

I don't think it's weird to be interested in the phenomenon @namechangedforthisposttt As a PP has said, it's like the brain looks for someone or something 'powerful' - could be God, a royal, a politician, a celebrity, the CEO of a big business, those are all delusions I have heard of.

It is awful our mental health services are such a mess - acute mental illness is still such a taboo that people are scared of it and don't seem to be able to feel as much sympathy for extremely ill individuals who are of course far more likely to be a danger to themselves than to anyone else. And of course it's hard to treat because many people living with acute issues aren't capable of recognising they are ill, and also there's just not enough beds to support people who need it.

This is an absolutely tragic case

sectioned four times in less than two years, no insight no remorse and then a psychiatrist on record saying that he considered Valdo Calocane such a risk he could commit murder

and once again a family are trying to get support and it’s just not there

people are interesting what we do not understand is interesting I don’t think it’s weird you are interested. We all are complex some people are far more complex to live in their heads is often utterly miserable and schizophrenia is such a cruel condition

I feel for his family, they seem like nice people. It's almost like it's controversial to say that with the depth of feeling around the case and I'm sure someone will be along to tell me they're not the victims and the only people they feel for are the family of those that were murdered and those that were run down by him. But I'm glad we got to hear their side-I'm sure it was very hard for them not knowing how it would be received and whether they should just stay quiet. None of this is their fault at all.

I can relate to them as my brother is a paranoid schizophrenic, his behaviour when psychotic is so completely different to what he's normally like and he had a real problem controlling his anger. I had to call police on him once. He was sectioned at one point but only for a month so it just meant we knew he was safe for that time. He came out just as bad. Finally after about a year and a half he was back to normal. Seems to have a psychotic episode every few years. Started when he was 19.

I've never really asked him what it's like as we don't really have that kind of relationship-funnily enough the longest conversations we ever had were in the middle of his psychotic episodes. Well more like he'd rant at me for an hour than an actual conversation! I doubt he remembers any of it.

Obviously we need to know what led up to the tragedy. I feel like mental illness is understood even less now than in the past and people have a lot less sympathy and want mentally ill people tried as if they don't have a mental illness and think they have full capacity which is so wrong.

@x2boys he voluntarily readmitted himself twice when the voices got overwhelming. He's taken anti psychotics for over 20 years.

There is talk of reclassifing schizophrenia as psychosis spectrum disorder. Through DB I know there is a huge range. DB has a lot of protective factors - talks to family, able to ask for help, engages with services, takes his meds, able to live independently, hold down a relationship etc.

I know there is a lot of stigma about mental health. I think that is something that really needs addressing. In some cultures it's still seen as 'woo' and evil spirits etc.

I suppose it's a way of making sense of hearing voices etc