survivors
The interests of carers, governments, mental health services and consumers of mental health services, do not always line up.
A few independent mental health consumer groups lobby government and protest for better treatment and rights but most are geared to represent the needs of drug manufacturers, mental health professionals and carers.
Mental health lobby groups are mostly organised or populated by carers and mental health professionals sometimes with just one or two token members with a diagnosis of mental illness. Pharmaceutical companies may contribute pamphlets, videos and funding.
ECT
ECT was discredited years ago. Now it's on again and is profitable for hospitals and professionals. Patients are now tranquilised so that spasm doesn't cause spinal fracture.
All the recipients I have known experience short term memory extinction, long term memory loss and often incapacitating confusion after ECT. They don't give as much trouble afterwards. Confused but grateful for the attention.
A joking “ECT as a last resort” is sometimes suggested after acute ward patients annoy staff.
compensation
The harmful side effects of treatments for mental illness are well established so patients are beginning to seek damages for treatments that have caused physical and psychological harm. Hundreds of law firms have added drug class and contingency actions to their services and provide information on side effects.
survivors
Most western countries have legislation and agencies that protect the mentally ill from abuse and financial exploitation. Often the protection involves detention, forced medication, or taking over personal finances that is unsought and unwanted. Many survive.
There is almost no protection from official abuse. One client told me that he was discharged from a psychiatric ward with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia into public housing under a compulsory Treatment Order.
He was forcibly injected with medication every 2 weeks sometimes with police attendance. He was so drugged that he could hardly understand what was happening, was barely able to find the words to communicate, smoked and drank coffee incessantly to counter the effects of the medication and get a little clarity.
He felt like a zombie. He said that he was a vegetable for 5 years. He sat in front of a TV all day and night, could not cook, spent most of his money on junk food and cigarettes and went from 10 to 18 stone in weight. Whenever he got into an altercation with neighbours or complained to his housing authority they would ring the mental health services instead of talking with him. A nurse would come with police who would threaten him or hold him down to inject him with a tranquilizer.
One day he walked out and caught a train to another state where the Treatment Order had no legal effect and slept under bridges and ate at soup kitchens for a few months until he lost weight, regained his health and got work and accommodation and resumed a normal life. A few years after his treatment order expired he returned home and after 10 years has heard nothing more from them.
|
Mind Freedom |
mindfreedom.org./ |
copyright (C) John Brasted 2008
updated 06/11/11
