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What I wish the rest of the world knew

catalyticSenior Contributor03 Sept 2015, 12:53 pm AEST

What I wish the rest of the world knew

First time poster here. It's been a long time since I've bothered with forums, to be honest I don't usually get the sort of support I'm after. I haven't had much luck finding support anywhere, even from my own family. I have had a lot of negative experiences while trying to access support services, I could write a book on the failures of the mental health system where I'm located. Many of you would be shocked by the way I have been treated over the years.. My official diagnosis is Bipolar II and Borderline Personality Disorder. My current psychologist believes the BPII diagnosis is incorrect and that I just have BPD.

I've held off posting until I've been in a more stable frame of mind, I don't want this post to be overly negative but part of sharing my story is letting overs know of the challenges I've faced with accessing support. In doing that I can't help but rely the negative experiences I have had and also name the support services that have let me down. Some of those support services are the very ones that are linked to Sane Forums. If that moderators could please indicate whether is is appropriate or allowed for me to share my experiences about these particular services. My only goal is to share my story as a way for these services to improve and for others to be aware of some of the issues they may face.

I live within the bounds of Frankston here in Victoria. The hospital has the 2nd highest mental health admissions in the state. Local support services are unable to keep up with the demand. My local hospital will only deal with people who have attempted suicide or are experiencing psychosis, any other issues you are given a psychological assessment through the community service and then discharged back to the care of your GP in less than a week.

I'm sure I can't be the only one here that has fallen through the cracks of a broken system. I want to do something about it....this is part of my recovery. In the coming weeks I will be having meetings with some of the key people from these organisations that have let me down. Change can only happen if people speak out about the inadequet care people with personality disorders often recieve in the public mental health system.

57 replies

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In response to: What I wish the rest of the world knew

catalyticSenior Contributor14 Sept 2015, 6:21 pm AEST

Re: What I wish the rest of the world knew

they don't service victoria

In response to: What I wish the rest of the world knew

AppleblossomSenior Contributor14 Sept 2015, 6:22 pm AEST

Re: What I wish the rest of the world knew

I did read that second post ... dont give up .. the sane forum is a good outlet and we need to know of the difficulties you describe so that we are realistic about our own expectations ... just remember when the going gets tough the tough get going .. YOU have personal resources too.

In response to: Re: What I wish the rest of the world knew

AppleblossomSenior Contributor14 Sept 2015, 6:23 pm AEST

Re: What I wish the rest of the world knew

Who dont service Victoria?

In response to: What I wish the rest of the world knew

NikNikSenior Contributor14 Sept 2015, 7:50 pm AEST

Re: What I wish the rest of the world knew

Hi @catalytic

You & I have swapped a few emails tonight. I just wanted to flag this site again for yourself and other members. It's called https://www.patientopinion.org.au which is a website that takes feedback from people who have used health care services. They take the feedback to the service and give them the opportunity to respond too. I believe it's all published on their site too.

You have come to the right place if you're looking to connect with others with BPD. Something that might be useful is using the 'Search this forum' section. If you type in there 'BPD' or 'borderline personality disorder' all the discussions about BPD will show up. This will help you find the members who you may want to connect with.

As I said in my email, I'm sorry you haven't had the best experience here. I really want to work with you though so your posts don't get deleted.

One way to manage the defamation issue is to list the organisations that haven't worked for you and avoid the details of their actions. eg:

I have contacted the following organisations -

etc

and I haven't found them helpful, are there any other options people have tried and found useful?

I hope this helps.

Nik

In response to: Re: What I wish the rest of the world knew

ivanaSenior Contributor14 Sept 2015, 8:45 pm AEST

Re: What I wish the rest of the world knew

In response to Niknik-

I just wanted to add that i'm not sure that www.patientopinion.com.au will be able to provide the change that Catalytic is probably seeking.

Patientopinion is an excellent company that is highly devoted to exposing and improving customer/patient experence in hospitals.

The main problem with Patientopinion though is that ONLY healthcare services that already are interested in and commited to change will respond to the feedback.

If the hospital has a cultural climate that is not interested in bettering customer service and isn't responsive to patients feelings and negative experiences,then they dont respond.

The reality is that this is the culture in many public hospitals,so without being forced to change,patients such as Catalytic continue to feel that their voices arn't heard and that theres no way to implement cultural change amongst doctors/hospitals.

In response to: Re: What I wish the rest of the world knew

ivanaSenior Contributor14 Sept 2015, 9:09 pm AEST

Re: What I wish the rest of the world knew

Catalytic-

I hope you keep posting on these forums

I love your determination and i personally dont believe you should stop feeling critical of services (telling it how it is) or that you should "accept they're trying their best" or any other such nonsense.

In the same way as hairdressers that ruin hair,do an ugly job,burn hair or leave it in a much worse condition shouldnt get paid for it,neither should Psychiatrists or Psychologists who are sub par and not commited to customer service and excellence.

To avoid being triggered or mad when people suggest the services you have already tried and have been "useless",so to speak,perhaps you could put in a different thread the services you have tried?

That way people would know what you've tried so they wouldn't resuggest it and that thread wouldn't be tied/related to this thread,if you know what i mean?

In response to: What I wish the rest of the world knew

MoonGalSenior Contributor16 Oct 2015, 4:18 pm AEDT

Re: What I wish the rest of the world knew

Hi @catalytic, what a struggle you have been through, so sorry to hear of the never ending bouncing about with medical professionals. Please stay, be focussed on looking after ypurself and not listeneing to the impuslses that would have us checking out permanently, be gentle with yourself (and kids and S) and I hope some good solutions come your way to help.

I made a pact/commitment to my partner that I would never harm myself again. And that deep vow holds me in good stead when the deep and concuming wish to just have it all over comes my way. I stay with gritted teethsometimes, but I stay.

Glad you managed to post your story (lived experience) and hope you will continue to visit the forum, I have only been here a week or so and am finding it helpful to have other people who "get it and get me".

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