Police interaction with people who are mentally ill.

Hi @Appleblossom

Not sure what you mean by is there an official position?

But I will try and answer what I think you're refering to: My understanding is that there are guidelines for media outlets to accurately and fairly portray people with mental illness. But this does not mean that media outlets follow them.

With the vast amonts of content that produced, it's certainly a tough task to monitor every news article. Stigma Watch relies on people from the public to report concerning media features. When items are reported they are then evaluated against this criteria. If its appropriate then StigmaWatch will act. Here's some of the work done so far

Is that what you were after @Appleblossom?

Thank you @CherryBomb Yes there is a lot of content generated and Yes, I think it was important for a moderator to respond.

I am not sure if the particular case of the mother and son in gaol is mentioned or the Brazilian student .. I will read the archives over time.

So far, there's very little positive in any aspect of the story of Fiona Barbieri and her son Mitchell. Anything positive quickly connects to something extremely negative. Two examples: (1) 15 yo Mitchell staying with his psychotic mother is a wonderful example of the love of a teenage boy for his profoundly ill mum - so many teens would likely have nicked off and abandoned her; the negative: within two years he was psychotic with her delusions, folie a deux described in French scientific literature in 1877 (NOT a misprint); and (2) both have apparently recovered in their gaols, Mitchell with extensive exposure to people not psychotic as his mother was, and Fiona with forced use of antipsychotics (known since the 1950s but not used during her 4 year illness): that is positive in being consistent with our current science, negative in occurring only while held in gaols for murdering the violent policeman breaking into their locked home.

In December 2014 (as their sentencing approached) I made a notification to Stigmawatch about a newspaper story claiming Mitchell released dogs against the police and stabbed Anderson after Anderson attempted to speak to Mitchell. I thought that story was a serious problem: the dogs were safely behind a locked door until Anderson had it kicked in, and the stabbing occurred after Anderson violently broke into the locked home AND capsicum-sprayed the dogs who rushed out. Failure to report those known facts makes Mitchell look a lot more violent than he was, and totally obscures the obvious remedy: don't initiate a violent break in.

I got back: "These reports adhere to the Mindframe guidelines and don’t meet the criteria for the Stigmawatch". I conclude that the complex guidelines and criteria do not cover all the problems with stigmatising media, and that Stigmawatch should also look at the bigger picture. They suggested I take it up with the newspaper: it won't print anything from me to do with the Barbieris and hasn't retracted the numerous misleading stories.

NSW has an enormous mental health advocacy industry: I can't see any that have publicly said anything about the Barbieris. In the absence of an explanation, I assume their government funding and other perks rely on NOT criticising NSW Police Force violence against people with mental illness. CarersNSW, their Young Carers, and Schizophrenia Fellowship NSW actually censor this story. The NSW Mental Health Commissioner (who's boss in the Minister for Mental Health) censors some aspects including the censorship of the other two organisations.

Begging to be proved wrong.

Thanks @bob300 for outlining more issues. I am interested in it as well ... in many ways, but mainly to be proactive for my own son.

My ex husband was seriously distressed by police for many years after his arrests before our marriage. I had to deal with it quite a bit. He was American and terrified of their policing style.

I put deliberate effort in cultivating a positive image and discussed good policing as I wanted my children to be law abiding citizens, yet also discussed the limitations and loss of the friendly Bobby style of policing..

Our son is a very large and tall man and not at all violent but can seem intimidating. He had one run-in with community police when he couldnt find his tram ticket, when he was 16, eventually found it by laying out all his things on the pavement. He was living with father at the time. His father had not matured (tho in his 60s) and cynically laughed at him, so my son decided to return to my care and studied music with me.

At 21, when he was muttering out loud and pacing on a railway station ... he was locked into a weird metal cage like area. Very surreal ... Now I see it regularly as we pass that particular station. He became more and more agitated and voluble and triggered into a serious psychosis. Did their handling of it escalate my son's negative experience .. I dont know. I do know .. that the authorities were quite happy not to be bothered by it and kept fobbing us off ... and I had to call a lot to have him seen by anyone from the YAT (Youth Assessment Team).

Regarding the folie a deux ... I think it was a journalist trying to be clever ... and make out the situation to be more bizarre and newsworthy ...

I witnessed my brother's deterioration in living with my mother for years til he was in his 30s and died.. I was (and still am a little) very scared to replicate the same sort of thing. My brother and mother did not share interests like my son and I .. which I am wary about .. because I value independence .. but it was not my decision.

I was particularly impressed by @bob300 mention of the loyalty and love of a teenage son for his sick mother. Mother and adult son relationships are often a subject of ridicule in the media ... and it makes it harder for us all. My son has a bit of that for me as he has seen my quiet suffering more than any other human ... though I would have loved to have shielded him from it and was very happy to let him to go to his dad. So as I have become more robust .. I brought out the blokey side in me and we would lightly tease and banter a lot. Now (in last 2 years) he is finding people his own age of both sexes whom he can relate to ... but it took this long ..

So I have very personal and general reasons for my interests.

To make pain and suffering seem more bizarre just encourages voyeurism among younger impressionable audience who just havent grown up yet.

I am glad you had the courage to contact the media outlet @bob300. I understand the difficulty of being a lone voice in the wilderness ... and it helps if there are more numbers to lend credibility to the message.

Hi @bob300 and Jacques,

It is very sad that we are still coming up against stigma and mental health. People who live with a mental illness are often portrayed in such a negative sensationalised way in the media. Sometimes it does feel as though we are fighting a losing battle in regards to acceptance and understanding from peope who don't really have a clue what it is really like to live with a mental illness. To be honest I really feel that people who live with a mental illness are legends!...because life at times can be hard enough let alone having a mental illness as well! This shows me that people living with a MI are super humans!

We can't give up! We must continue to offer support and education for each other and people who don't live with a MI. Yes stigma is still there, it is slowly but surely being understood and recognised that people with a MI are not just "freaks" and have an amazing amount of insight of how to be a compassionate human. We do have a long way to go and I am grateful for previous generations developing awareness, to have shone a light for us now. We must keep going, we have to keep shining the light for our future generations.