What could be different in mental health care, what helps, and what have you found to be useful reading?

[OwFriggingOw]

First off - this is a thread inspired by another thread - not about another thread.

I am a lecturer who teaches mainly MH nursing students, but also Adult, Child and Learning Disability field nurses about MH, and also occasionally medical students. I have no agenda for this thread bar a genuine desire to listen, share ideas, and have an open discussion about what is helpful / less so. I worked in NHS MH for 13 odd years.

In case anyone links the other threads that inspired this thread - I have been comissioned to edit a book about people's experiences (service users and carers / family / friends) within MH services and with MH issues. NONE OF THE POSTS HERE WILL BE USED IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM FOR THIS BOOK. You have my ABSOLUTE word on that. Similarly, NONE of the posts here will be used in any of my teaching.

My aim in starting this stems from several PM's and several on-thread comments about how this would be useful/ I hope it can be a helpful, supportive and productive meeting place for thoughts and ideas about what people have found helpful with regards MH care / services / support (statutory and non statutory) and what has been less helpful. Most importantly with regards the less helpful - what can be done differently?

And - beacuse I like books - maybe we can share reading ideas :)

Would it be helpful if I shared parts of my long thread from earlier regarding what I see as needed, without any other details from the thread?

it really hasn't turned into a thread about one poster, i don't think. there are lots of contributors here and others have said similar things to daisy but that has been ok. i am at a bit of a loss here. i would like to think everyone can post even if their experiences are different to another. ow?

do you want a thread for you daisee so we can listen and be more specific than this one?

Apols for interrupting, folks, but Daisee we have mailed you. Have you received our mail?

iliketea -I think this is very worthwhile and contains unprecedented amounts of positive suggestions - hope you come back - I found your comments on specialist nurses v helpful & eldercare mh is v close to my heart

Can't see why you dismissing valuable contributions as "rants" Maryz though I can see why you were surprised yur post was deleted .Thank you Ow for your hard work here

Must have been extremely grim not knowing if your daughter was getting proper medical care , Alameda-presumably not , at that point . .
Perry has unfortunately left so can't ask her about her reply saying she was on a medical ward , thus care of diabetic patients was excellent - sorry if I missed smething in her previous posts but I didn't think that was the case for most mh wards ? I know P isn't returning , but have you any insights on the additional needs of physically challemnged clients , please, Ow ?
I have some personal experiences of such lack of provision - only in the community - that I feel would be too identifying

That 's very interesting Upward about decisions on internet, phones etc potentially being made on basis of clinical decision-making rather than blanket "rules"... either could still be very stressful for the client , obviously - very difficult .
Sorry you don't feel comfortable here now ,JoyfulPuddleJumper[sadafter your excellent contributions]

Thank you for your posts Daisee - I'm really pleased a range of different perspectives could be put forward regarding what could improve people's experiences of MH services - and, equally importantly, what's currently very good practice to aspire to.

I desperately don't want this thread to be deleted as there are some fantastic links and resources that people have been kind enough to share.

Nor do I want to silence or push anyone off the thread, at all. It's also not 'my' thread, and I fully appreciate this point.

I don't think it's helpful to carry on discussions regarding only one person's experiences particularly if that means other posts with different or similar views get missed. I hope this thread has been more of a balance for people than more recent threads.

Is it worth confining discussion more towards to signposting, linking and resources, that people have found helpful or useful? Just aware that this thread may be becoming unhelpful for some?

I have BPD. A couple of books I have found useful are Irrationality by Stuart Sutherland and Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Neither of them are particularly about mental health, but I suppose they explained to me a lot of the things that were confusing and upsetting me.

They're both very easy to read and full of fascinating stuff.

Hang on a sec. I've written that a staffer took my insurance & benefits forms off me, which definitely made him a clot in my eyes. I've also written that some of the staff bought drugs from patents' dealers (whom they admitted to the grounds) and some had sex with the sex/love addicts and the anorexics which, in my eyes, makes them monsters. This was in a very well-run posh hospital.

I have no doubt there's even more controlling and abusive behaviour from staffers at less well-run, less posh hospitals. I have heard first-hand accounts from more than one ex-patient of abuses such as those described here.

Why don't some of you read the Mind report?

yea would hate to see this thread deleted too. happy to talk on a personal thread tho daisee and sure others would be too

I have also given up on the NHS since they just don't seem to have the resources to deal with BPD, particularly high-functioning BPD. I am perfectly able to work most of the time, to have a social life and to appear relatively "normal". But inside, everything is wrong and horrible a lot of the time.

I think if people HAVE the money, they should really think about a private therapist. I only work part time so it is a HUGE expense for me, but it is worth it. Do speak to a few people til you find someone you like and who is helpful for you. My therapist is really great, understanding, wise...I always feel better after an hour with her and I've gained a lot of self-confidence.

Thanks future - physical health needs of people in contact with MH services are very well acknowledged as being lacking - there's masses of evidence around this. Some of the strategies being put in place include things like more physical health training for new MH nurses - and, importantly, more MH training for Adult / General nurses - which may start to help reverse the trend.

I think the recent 'No Health without Mental Health' government directive addresses this too - will have a look when on PC.

this is a us article daisee:

www.behavioral.net/article/latest-methods-reduce-suicide-risk-after-psychiatric-hospitalization

and one from the british journal of psychiatry:

bjp.rcpsych.org/content/188/2/129.full

Hi yellow - thank for those book recommendations - always looking for more reading :)

Re: post discharge suicide rates - I'm not sure the data has been collected in a way that would mean figures were accurate if that makes sense - tho they may have been - but I think that after are provision and 7 day follow up care for people who'd been in under a section (and in some areas, for all inpatients) was set up in response to the general knowledge that the period post- discharge can be an incredibly vulnerable and frightening time, potentially increasing a person's risk?

Ah thank you Aesop!

They are excellent Ow and very cheap on amazon. They're basically about how life isn't really fair, how humans have set up a system that doesn't really work...somehow both of those books just really helped me understand that I wasn't just a shit person like I thought.

Thank you for excellent answer, Ow - will look up No Health without Mental Health .

Am working my way through all these useful links between chores, thank you all

I was thinking about the role of wider systems, both as culprits and more helpfully, beyond the mental health services but it keeps going all shouty here.

I think if people HAVE the money, they should really think about a private therapist.

Agree wholeheartedly with this. Like every other frustrated 'service' user, I value talking therapies far more highly than the government seems to. Bunging a few do-gooders and social workers on a CBT course really won't cut it - if people like me need long-term psychotherapy, the needs of other patients must be even greater.

I was astonished to read further up that funding is available for peer groups! Had I known about this before getting worse, I'd have set one up. I was going to Narcotics Anonymous meetings, despite not being a narcotics user, for the supportive interaction. (Very nice groups, btw, for anyone who's interested. You have to say "I am an addict" but not what to!)

Couldn't funding be made available for psychotherapists to set up groups? And make them well known?

No Health Without Mental Health

Please don't delete this thread before I have time to read it, MNHQ!

Just delete the nasty posts!

I think all these threads have useful and interesting stuff on them. Stuff you don't usually get access to.

re: funding for peer groups... cunnalingo is my partner and could probably come up with many more suggestions than i due to her career.