The affectiveness of teatment for mental illness........

Thank you Skorpion

Yes PTSD treatability is a thorn.

I really do appreciate your candor in talking about medication affectiveness.

I can relate.

It's a lonely road to walk when you have to deal with a partly treated illness.

I do feel that the support we give freely to each other here is invaluable.

It is peer support.

This is where to come on a good day and on the bad.

Thanks so much for your honest comments

Rick

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For me, I lived around 30 years with something I didn't even have a name for. It was called several things over the years, poor anger management and depression to name but two. It was also suggested I may be suffering bi-polar disorder and once, an anti-social PD. Around my mid 40's, I began to drift away from people and isolate myself. My life then calmed down enough so that I was able to totally re-invent myself. 14 months ago, I was told I had borderline personality disorder and the pieces suddenly feel into place. Now to the treatment side of things.

To begin with, it was therapy. Couldn't afford private, so went down the Mental Health Care Plan route. That gave me 10 sessions with a psychologist who (although I realised he was treating me for BPD) wouldn't tell me what he believed was wrong with me. I also saw a private psychiatrist who wouldn't tell me either, yet he told my GP. I had to practically force my GP to tell me I had BPD. I already knew, but didn't want to appear to be one of those self diagnosing types. My GP was pretty much useless now and kept shoving all responsibility back onto the private psychiatrist who clearly didn't know how to deal with a creature like me. It simply wasn't his field, plus his practice is an hour and a half from my home which made it an expensive proposition. In effect, I wasn't being treated properly by anyone. If my psychologist had only told me what he was treating me for, I might have worked harder to apply myself, but as it was, it was a complete waste of 10 Government funded sessions.

Following the diagnosis, I've had (through my workplace) three free sessions with another private psychologist and so far we've clicked. She says she's not ever going to give up on me no matter how resistive to treatment I am. As soon as the new year kicks off, I can get another 10 Government funded sessions back, so I'll use them with her and hope I get something out of it. She's been effective so far, but paying for a private service like that without private health care cover is out of my league.

I'm also now on the public psych service's books. This has proven totally useless. They will not address my situation in a crisis, except to tell me to listen to mindfulness "aps" on my tablet, do deep breathing exercises or "try" to get the bad thoughts out of my head! Yeah, good luck with that!! I saw their psychiatrist, a very young person from another country (one that produces great tea) and has a poor grasp of English. In fact, the entire psych services has a large proportion of people from the same country and older people find them extremely difficult to understand, therefore making treatment ineffective. The one I saw was only there to take a brief history instead of having to wade through my file which is getting thicker each time I contact them. She thought a particular drug might help my disassociation on top of my regular mood stabiliser. As her instructions were difficult to follow because of the language barrier, I'm only taking it PRN to help me sleep.

I also have a couple of very young (to me at least) social workers from the public psych sector who come out to see me every two week. If I have a problem, I write it down so I can remember to tell them my concerns. I tend to clam up when faced with a stressful situation like visits by psych services. These people are young enough to be my grand-kids and have no life experiences, yet they're trying to tell me how I should live?? They told me to call a number they gave me if I was in a crisis, but I haven't bothered. I know other "clients" who, upon having rung the same psych service, have been told to hang up and call Life-line!! I'd expect the same as any crisis of mine would be deemed to be a "cry for pity" by a manipulative borderline. The same two "kids" are coming out to see me next Monday and I've already got lots of things written down to put to them including the fact that so far, nobody has drawn up a crisis plan. I aim to ask them why not.

Sorry about the long post, but hopefully I've got things into perspective.

Incidentally, I also work in the field of mental health and am a strong advocate for my patients (yes, "patients" as I work in an acute setting) and one of the things I hear repeated over and over is that the psych team members giving them care in both a hospital setting and in the community are far too young to recognise their needs. Something to think about for us older people!

When i was really unwell and thinking suicide medication and specialists (physologists, phyciastrists, councellors) helped me to remain stable. They said ah depression,major depression, bipolar, mood swings Im on medication yet there has been not real formal test to say what i have. I contacted a research site recently that were doing a program for bipolar someone called me and i devulged all my anxieties and private experiences to them only to be told i dont have the bipolar that they are looking for ahhhhhhhhhhhhh then why am i diagnosed with bipolar and why am i on medication. I am visiting my next specialist in January and want to ask for a re-assessment i have minimal to no highs and coast along monotone until im overwhelmed with anxiety depression and paranoia I hate these feelings and the continual negative thought process its exhausting.

When I became stable enough to live my own life, my husband didnt want me as i was and had had enough of the emotional rollacoaster so we separated for 2 years now. I live alone and i have incredible lows that physically overwhelm me. It has been the suppport of my mother that has got me through everyday and i focus on her because she makes me feel logic and sensible. When I was really down it was the thought that I must live for her and it was her that I live for because she is so loving.

The affectiveness of treatment great at the time however for nine years i have lingered driffting from one specialist to another seeking answers that no one can seem to help me with, i give up and decide perhaps its a mistery and no one is suppose to know that answer to myself makes me feel balanced. My mum says that i cant stay with the same specialist cause I dont like them ? huh I dont understand that comment I was desparate for help for guidance for longing to belong to find a purpose to live my own life, I dont find specilasits help very much in the hour that you get to speak to them how can you be specific enough that they find the cause of the problem and then offer you a solution in the hour allocated??? Im frustrated....

I have felt really neglected that no one will listen to me, no one seems to want to be my friend their either busy or not interested and i slump into loniless and isolation in my mind as i always have my Mum and two sisters (two sisters that are busy with their own lives and dont really want to be troubled by me).

It came to a point where i cant afford specialists so i started seeking self help therapies i went onto a great website for cognative behaviour therapy and tried to teach myself to learn about my thought behaviours, ive tried to self help the emotion, thoughts, behaviour links and i draw diagrams and flow charts and write and write and write not so much as a journal but on my thoughts at the time. My thoughts can make me go crazy sometime and I am extremely paranoid. Ive tried to not be a hermit and started some volunteer work after loosing 7 jobs in a row because of my behaviour. I recently lost my 8th job because I am too slow they claim. The volunteer 3 month review told me i was too intense and sad and did not bring the right attitude to work, they caught me telling someone about my husband rejecting me as i was crying and told me that behaviour at work is not appropriate.

My biggest beef with my whole crappy expereince is that i can not find the right medium to express myself with others my behavious is never good enough, i can never say or do anything right i am never good enough. I recently met a new friend I thought you shared thoughts with new friends he told me I was too deep and very meaningful too soon ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

WHEN WILL I BE ACCEPTED AS I AM, i dont want to change I WANT TO BE MYSELF and to be accepted WHEN WILL I MEET SOMEONE THAT UNDERSTANDS.....

For years I focus on self help reading the internet and write and write and write and music thank goodness for music and walking and pet therapy did i mention writing yeah writing....

I wonder why Im on medication these days something tells me i must stay on it and so i do and remain hopeful and tell myself that I understand and thats its ok.

SELF HELP is the answer, they can only guide you so much in the 1hour at $120 !!!

Hey @Former-Member

Thankyou for yet another perspective of the treatment front.

I am so glad for you that you;ve found affective strategies and have balance your positive experience against the negative ones.

You actually prove a point to me. That treatment for complex mental health is based entirely on the person with the pathology. Not that the person must tackle these things alone but that each treatment must be designed and implemented based on the wants and needs of the person seeking treatment.

I want to thank you for your hope filled words and perceptions and thankyou for another perspective of illness and it's management.

Hope endures

Rick

Hello @kato

I am not all surprised by your words Kato.

Myself and many others have had to trial and error our way through treatment.Poor experiences with sector professionals are common.

I am very glad you shared this with us. I speaks to your courage and determination and your strength of will.

The whole in the MH sector are numerous and deep. The resilience required to engage with the sector is a big ask which I believe only complicates treatment for already complex MH.

I can identify with you on the mistust oone developes after negative experiences. The courage to keep trying only speaks to your enormous worth and strength of character.

All the input on this subject will be correlated as factual data when I present ideas to the MH sector.

I believe very strongly that professsionals in the MH sector are only partly informed and therefore only partly affective in their approach to treating complex mental illness.

I think it important to add that it isn't the illness or the symptoms which require attention but also the person themselves and the way they manage their MH which needs to be considered.

My experience thus far as an observer of the sector is that the biggest gap in mental health provision is human.

So again, Kato thank you for confirming in person that which I was thinking. And thank you too for the example you are as a person of great strength and courage. it is people like yourself who illustrate the massive resliliency of people with a MI.

As always I believe even when I don't want to

Hope endures

Rick