Mental Health Crisis

[Sir Slash]

I saw all that and more in my 35 years in Mental Health including those behaviors listed in mentally ill juveniles. It doesn't help that the lawyers are involved start to finish along with bureaucrats and overly educated professionals( Psychologists in particular) none of which work directly with the patients and usually have no clue what works and doesn't work with the mentally ill. It usually boils down to medicate them or lock them down. Or both. I could go on a real rant about this but it's a battle that's no longer mine to fight so I'll shut-up about it for all our sakes.  :clap:

[Gusington]

If you can't vent about it here...

[Sir Slash]

My good friend Johnnie Cochran told me, "If you want to vent... take it out to da tent". Also, "Nobody wants to hear you cry, so go bake a pie". He was a hard man to carry on a conversation with. But a danmed-good lawyer.

[Gusington]

You won't vent but you'll quote Johnnie Cochran??

Ok...if the dude won't vent I must relent, I guess.

[Sir Slash]

If you have to guess, better let it rest.

[airboy]

Some mental illness is treatable, other is not.  The more of these issues you have, the harder it is to treat.  That is similar to a lot of medical conditions.

Second problem, the person has a diagnosed illness, the meds work, and they stop taking them because they "feel better."

Third problem, people who are looking for an out to be on the dole and use mental illness as an excuse.

I have three chronic conditions that I have to medicate:
diabetes
high cholesterol
depression

I take meds for all three.  I'll be taking meds for these conditions until I die.  If I stop taking the meds for the diabetes or cholesterol, I'll die pretty fast.  I take my meds and I stay healthy.  All three conditions are genetic and all three can be treated.  I'm no more "upset" about having depression than I am having diabetes.  For both I do the daily living stuff that helps mediate the situation, but I have to take medical treatment or its game over.

Those of you who have met me know I'm pretty thin and in reasonable physical condition plus I get regular exercise.  I still have diabetes and high cholesterol.  It is what it is.

[Centurion40]

Healthy attitude AB.

Sir S, in a way I'd like to hear your venting... but I also don't want to open Pandora's Box!!!

But I will take the liberty of asking you a couple questions.  If you mind, please take the liberty of ignoring me!

1. Do you think that some are incurable, and if "yes" were the front-line staff pretty-much able to identify which cases had hope of improvement and which did not?

2. In the dark humour of the lunch room, was there ever joking about installing a wood-chipper?

[Sir Slash]

Yes to both Centurion. Mental Illness can't be cured, just managed with meds and counseling. I don't know how many times I heard some new drug sold by a Drug Company Dealer to a Psychiatrist as 'The' drug that would cure mental illness. Some worked very well, or worked very well for some clients, but almost all in time worked less well the more it was used and had unforeseen side effects in time. That said meds are essential in treatment and that's where I came in. As a ward nurse it was my job to get the meds in the patients and watch for effect, good and bad.

When I was assigned to 'my' ward, the ward I worked most often, being around the same patients every night I could tell when somebody wasn't acting to their normal, usual behavior-- maybe too quiet or too talkative or withdrawn or even up later than they normally would be. Sometimes this was just a mood thing and then sometimes it was a precursor to a more serious behavioral episode, self injurious, violent or assaultive. And if you could move quickly enough to get them something to get ahead of the episode then things usually turned out fine. But the increasingly bureaucratic system was often too slow or didn't trust the guys on the front lines to make that call and then bad things happened. And usually to the good people I worked with, staff and other patients.

It became very frustrating and particularly because the emphasis was so strong to get our patients stable and then discharged, they rarely stayed out very long and just came right back to us and then we started all over again, like Ground Hog Day. But to answer your question, we usually could tell who did and did not belong in our facility and felt bad for the clients who were forced to deal with the clients who really needed to be there. And dark humor was always a part of my work and relieved so many frustrating situations.

[RommelFox]

Sir Slash is correct in that the powers that be have no clue how to handle mental health.  That includes many of the professionals.

One night had a scare where the wife took off, and it ended with the police taking here to a hospital, where they put her under watch in a special section.  They then proceed to treat her like she's a waste of time, drugged her up to help her "sleep", and generally treated her like she was a waste of space. 

Thankfully I was able to get her out in less than 24 hours, because if you want to make the situation worse for a depressed person, throwing them to the hospital is a bona fide way to to it. 

[Sir Slash]

I can relate Fox. My wife's sister was a long term alcoholic that needed to be committed often but nowhere was allowed to keep her longer than it took her to dry-out even if she was a threat to herself. Fortunately we found a local religious based private facility that did take her. She was able to stay there and complete their program and was discharged but, ultimately went back to drinking again. But the average person who needs a help with a loved one gets doped-up and shuffled to the back. And the costs of Psych meds are prohibitive.  :arr:

[Gusington]

How difficult is it to get someone committed these days?

[bbmike]

How difficult is it to get someone committed these days?

Let me guess...you're asking for someone else?  :P

[Gusington]

Of course...

[Staggerwing]

Uh... why are you all lookin' at me?

[Gusington]

No reason.