To find a lot of psychiatrists uncaring

[Sevendaysaweek]

Dn 19 has been admitted to a mental health hospital. I’ve found out today that she told her community consultant how low she was and that she felt at risk. He dismissed her feelings told her she had got through it before and that he was fond of her. Then told her she would see her worker the next week. The worker left suddenly and didn’t even tell dn she was leaving. I’m thinking to complain to pals as this could have been prevented and I feel so sad for her that it hasn’t been.

One person's behaviour doesn't mean a whole profession is uncaring.

I agree. To many, they've seen it all before and are not naturally empathetic. To them (not all), this is a job like every other job. They clock in, tick boxes and clock out.

I would talk to the consultant or the worker or both about it. I wouldn't go to pals..

You don't know that the psychiatrist "dismissed her feelings", only that they didn't feel they warranted an admission. That is very common feeling at risk is not enough alone to be admitted to hospital. There is good reason for that, mainly because hospital is not a good place for most people to get better, so it is preferable for people to stay at home if at all possible.

Sadly, empathy can be a difficult trait to maintain when you are training to be a consultant. They are the engineers of the body, not the priesthood, if that makes sense. Sensitive caring types do not survive the road to that career.

The ward consultant is also dismissing her and saying she would be fine at home. She’s clearly not fine at home as otherwise she wouldn’t have been sectioned. The worker has gone so not point attempting to contact them.

Im not sure what you're asking?
I don't think you should complain - I assume DN is still receiving adequate care..?

She wanted crisis team he was rushing her out the door.

I’m not a big fan of psychiatrists or psychiatry TBH. I’ve only seen one who I’d consider to be decent, the rest, and I have seen many, have been dismissive/patronising/have their own rigid ideas and will ignore what doesn’t fit their prejudices or preconceived narrative/rude/too keen to medicate/keen to push their pet medications, even when you’ve already tried them with horrible results/desperate to slap on incorrect and unhelpful diagnoses on the strength of 5 minutes consultation, mostly taken up by them talking, the list goes on.

Mental health is absolutely chocked full of people who shouldn’t be doing the job though IMO. I’ve been left with impression that a lot of them are in it to reconcile their own fucked upness as much as anything. I’m not kidding when I say I’ve seen mental health professionals who’ve brought more baggage into the room than me.

Is she at home or at hospital? If she's at home she will have been given a number to call when she's at crisis point or something similar to refer to on her care plan.
If she's at hospital, she'll be looked after there.
The ways the mental health system work don't always fit what we expect of them

IME of a colleague & a relative both in & out of mental health units for years, I have found psychiatrisys to be usually disinterested, socially inept & not up to date on mental health theory. I found the whole ethos was you're here til meds kick in & I'm ticking boxes. What really distressed me was a deaf, schizophrenic lady , no family, with the mental age of a 9year old who bounced in & out of there on a regular monthly basis. There was no effort to get her more support. At least my colleague & relative had MH aware friends, relatives , support networks. She had nothing & no-one. I still think about her, she used to love attention of any kind.

Hospital currently but wanted crisis team a few weeks back and he wouldn’t offer it.

Did you sit in on the consultation ?

I also think you should raise it with consultant, by raising it locally they can solve it faster and your DN would get more support and faster. I think raising it with PALS would be premature because it may not resolve immediately.

As for the worker leaving suddenly - her psychiatrist may not have been aware and it’s not really her fault. That worker could have had something serious change in personal circumstances that meant she or he had to leave, for example a death or a family member in a bad accident.

Yep bunch of uncaring, unempathic clock watching bastards the lot of us.

Never done a seconds overtime or thought of a patient outside work in our lives.

Never shed a tear for any of them
Never lost a wink of sleep worrying about them

I mean mental health is the ideal career choice if you don't give a shit about people right? Stupid buggers never thought of pathology.

Or could it be that
A) he made a mistake in risk assessment due to being a human
Or
B) that admitting every patient who asks for it is not a logistical possibility or even a good idea and reminding someone of times they've got through before is giving them hope and encouraging coping strategies which might be better in the long run than admission...

Nope couldn't be that 'cos all psychiatrists are uncaring hopeless bastards.

Does she have a diagnosis of EUPD/BPD? If so, I think it's considered best practice to treat them in the community rather than in hospital.

No she’s diagnosed with depression and ocd.

WTF is 'not up to date on mental health theory'?

Not believing that everyone's ex partner and their MIL has a narcissistic personality disorder?

Theories tend to come and go and I guess a lot of Drs do prefer actual evidence based medicine eg randomised controlled trials and the like to theories that someone made up.

Super surprising that psychiatrists often prescribe medication! I mean why bother with psychologists and social workers when psychiatrists should also be dong talking therapies and arranging care packages exactly like they were taught at medical school.

@DougRossIsTheBoss

Yep bunch of uncaring, unempathic clock watching bastards the lot of us.

Never done a seconds overtime or thought of a patient outside work in our lives.

Never shed a tear for any of them
Never lost a wink of sleep worrying about them

I mean mental health is the ideal career choice if you don't give a shit about people right? Stupid buggers never thought of pathology.

Or could it be that
A) he made a mistake in risk assessment due to being a human
Or
B) that admitting every patient who asks for it is not a logistical possibility or even a good idea and reminding someone of times they've got through before is giving them hope and encouraging coping strategies which might be better in the long run than admission...

Nope couldn't be that 'cos all psychiatrists are uncaring hopeless bastards.

I work with lots of psychiatrists and honestly most of them are very lovely this thread makes me sad. Thanks for what you do

That's kind of you

I shouldn't have replied really but the thread title is hard to ignore

Left work 9pm tonight. Started 8am this morning. Overun was all spent listening and talking to patients and relatives. Like the uncaring bastard that I am.

first of all you can complain but you would need your DN consent for them to share any information with you. You have second hand information around the discussions. It is not unusual for Consultants to suggest discharge as being in a acute mental health ward is pretty horrendous. Most if not all patients in hospital have been detained under the MHA and have severe mental health issues and high levels of violence. Minimal psychology input and very much an assess and discharge to home treatment team attitude as admission is seen as a failure. Those that stay in usually are a risk to others and need medication and support in accepting this.

Sounds like your DN needs CBT or access to IAPT services. So perhaps focus on her getting the right support .

@DougRossIsTheBoss

That's kind of you

I shouldn't have replied really but the thread title is hard to ignore

Left work 9pm tonight. Started 8am this morning. Overun was all spent listening and talking to patients and relatives. Like the uncaring bastard that I am.

It's hard when people generalise a whole profession based on one individual. I think a lot of people this psych is an easy area to work in but I would disagree.

I’m sorry that I’ve offended people. I was just so upset the at my niece had been let down like this.

I agree with you OP. There are a lot of very poor ones. My DSis has unfortunately been plagued with MH issues and I've seen her dismissed and shouted down when she's been begging for help. She nearly came to very serious harm when a psychiatrist was insisting she was fine and she was pleading to be sectioned because she knew she was a danger to herself. Like anything, some good, some bad, but unfortunately MH patients don't always get taken seriously when they complain and if they come to harm, no one is held responsible even when they should be.

My mum has bipolar disorder and had been leaving worse than when she went in so I went into one of her meetings with her.
He was goddamn awful and unkind to her, even started mixing up his theories and techniques to make it sound like he was helping, I corrected him on them and said for a professional he was incredibly rude and lacking in empathy and I’d like her moved to someone else. He was ridiculously better after that and started to actually provide her the care she needs, has been great with her since.

Must admit I also get the impression that a lot of people working in mental health / counselling etc. seem to have become interested in the subject due to their own mental health problems!!

That being said, I think there are reasons why the patient / health worker relationship shouldn't become too close.

I would focus on what the workers are doing wrong, rather than how you perceive their attitude.