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In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

From my research,and things I have seen in the past,stigma is still very present from Hospital staff and/or Ambulance workers towards people with Mental Illnesses, particularly Hospitals in more suburban areas outside of the main cities.
They are still treated very poorly and spoken to disrespectfully, and bystanders will say nothing out of fear of retribution or fear of ridicule.
I don't think any of the recent attempts to end stigma has "touched" these Hospitals at all as they are oblivious that these anti stigma campaigns even exist.
For example,these staff members are more likely to watch forty on TV as opposed to watching Abc Mental As programme or the Q and A programme about depression etc.

What ideas do you have that Sane could do to help expose and address the stigmatising/discrimatory attitudes that still exists at these suburban Public Hospitals?

My idea is that Sane could create a detailed survey questionnaire that would ask people who have been patients of these hospitals to rate out of 1-5 how respectfully they were treated,what tone they were talked to,what their experience was etc...
But Sane should give these surveys out in the hospitals grounds and not just online so they could reach people's views who may otherwise not go online or have access to or cognitive ability to use the internet.

That way,organisations like Sane would have a greater idea into what problems still exist,and in what areas,and be able to create a plan to counter them because sometimes I feel the only people that are tuned into "anti stigma campaigns" are people that either have a mental illness,their families or people that already believe mentally ill shouldn't be stigmatised against,but the "perpertrators" themselves are actually tuned out,if this makes sense.

100 replies

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In response to: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Hi @Terry

I'm sorry that you feel we are being unhelpful. We take our T&Cs, Privacy Policy and funding requirements very seriously. We are unable to be flexible around these critical policies.

Kind Regrads,

Nik

In response to: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Hi, I've been watching and following this thread.
@Terry when I signed up here on SANE I agreed to the "rules". Being anonymous. I am able to be open on here. I can speak honestly here, say how I am really feeling.
With saying that, I'd kinda prefer to know everyone is anonymous. If I knew others knew each other outside of here, I'd feel a bit awkward.

In response to: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Tks. It has actually been suggested before that I run the country - ha! Maybe I will one day.

In response to: Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Oh dear. 'Anonymous' means anonymous at the site, and 'third party' refers to external parties that might want people's contact details for marketing lists, etc. Neither of these stipulations precludes SANE connecting parties that request it. I know I have the benefit of age and have been blessed to have a good education too, but i do get tired of having to explain things all the time. That said, I am clearly arrogant and should put my education to good use, which I hope I usually try to do.

In response to: Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Siging off, guys. Apologies for my belligerance. In time we will get the same human rights as everyone else - there is already a huge momentum to achieve this on behalf of people with mental illnesses everywhere. In the meantime, hang on to your hats and turn to the divine - He is always there for you. Do consider writing your story - it is a way to share it directly with God and it will probably make a great book - these stories should be told. I might have a go on one of the SANE advice blogs - I am old and some of my advice might help someone. Writing it out can (I think) be as good as talking it out with someone trusted. Thank you for putting up with my arrogance and argumentativeness. Catch you tomorrow.

In response to: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

@Terry I feel like you are being rude. I'd like to hope that it is just a misunderstanding on my part.
I understand you have your opinion, and you are entitled to it. However, we are *all* entitled to have our own opinion. We should also be respectful of others.
I may not have the benefit of age, and I have not been blessed with a good education. However, I believe in treating everyone with respect. I believe in treating others how I would like to be treated.

In response to: Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

I wanted to bring this question back as the topic being discussed.

In which way do you suggest, Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally ill in public hospitals.

For me, I have been admitted into the mental health unit of a public hospital 5 times in the past 12 months.

I have spent a lot of time trying to get clear information on what i was being diagnosed with. In the mhu they have pamphlets for patients to read. Beyond blue have a few. But there is nothing that explains in real terms the things people are being diagnosed with.

I know that I entered not knowing what was wrong with me. But also being so overwhelmed when their diagnosis came in it seemed everyday they would add more to it. I didn't understand the terms being used, it was very confusing.

The information I have found on Sane website has been so helpful to me, helping me understand what is happening and that it is possible to be helped not a death sentence that I had originally thought.

If this information was available to me while I was in the mhu it would of helped me a great deal.

In response to: Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Thank you for your offer of advice @Terry. Age and the Divine do have many virtues. I will keep my eye open for your posts or ask a direct question if one occurs to me in the future. I have not self harmed for many years but live with the consequences ..

Lovely to see you contribute to another thread. @hiddenite

I am just glad that this thread has continued .. yes a few of us might have felt raw at times but .. in the interests of the wider social good ... more important stories were told...a diversity of opinion is a powerful thing .. the best way to establish better protocols etc.

Thank you all.

In response to: Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Yes, I think a way that SANE could help improve the treatment of people in mental health units is to lobby for a repeal of the mental health act. Obviously measures like seclusion and 'restraints' should be stopped immediately as they are inhumane. But forced healthcare, point blank, has got to stop (excepting in the instance where parents are not adequately caring for a child, obviously). While people with mental illnesses have to suffer 'forced healthcare', we will continue to be a target for police (about four years ago 90% of taserings in NSW were of people having psychotic episodes - I don't know if that figure has improved in the last four years but it's obviously yet another shocking mental health statistic). The police should have NOTHING TO DO with healthcare. At the moment police involvment puts police in a diagnostic role and this is ridiculous, like everything else about the mental health sytem. A friend of mine with a mental illness caught a woman stealing her purse at the gym. She started to yell (for some reason - that was just the way she reacted). Someone in the vicinity knew she had a mental illness and I believe they called, or tried to call the mental health services on her. I'm not quite sure what the outcome was but she says she is now too scard to say 'boo' in any situation. This very nice young lady was also left covered with bruises by security in a mental health unit - what great care that is! Stupid, nasty, inhumane.

In response to: Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Re: In which way do you suggest,Sane could help improve the treatment of Mentally Ill in Public Hospitals?

Sorry. I probably was being rude. The mental health system just makes me very angry, that's all. There are many better options for 'treating' people. There should be no forced 'care' of people with mental illnesses as it just leads to human rights abuses - power corrupts, and everyone of the surface of the planet is susceptible to that. When the mental health system detains people it has power over them and that leads to abuse. Power has to have checks and controls on it. At the moment the mental health sytem can practically do what it wants to people. Obviously people should be able to leave the wards if/when they want. No matter how severe the psychosis reality checks can 'get through' to a person (i have nursed people with mental illnesses several times and 'drilling down' enough will eventually 'reach' someone in psychosis and bring them out of it gradually - no need for meds). Anyway, I digress. The idea that people with mental illnesses must be taken control of by the state is insulting - human beings are extraordinarily tough and adults can get through and cope with a heck of a lot - it's not ethical to take a human beings rights away if they have not been guilty of a crime. I'm always hearing also how people have to be put in psychiatric wards for protection from the public - i always thought it was customary to detain the person committing the crime, not the victim. The whole approach to mental health is wrong - there should be no mental health act. I believe iceland leads the way on mental health at the moment with a very strong focus on talking therapy as early intervention - apparently people get back to work and back to life quite quickly, and this makes sense. Mental illnesses (whether or not there is a genetic basis for them) are basically caused by trauma. People should get help coping with traumas so they don't develop mental illnesses. As the situation stands at the moment, mental illnesses are effectively 'criminalised' - that is, as we all know, people with mental illnesses are incarcerated and subjected to brutal punishments. There is only so much a human being can take but we with mental illnesses are incredibly tough. They need to change to law immediatley, 'though.

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