The below article represents the writer’s personal experience of stigma in the mental health services and with psychiatrists working within that and are not necessarily representative of all experiences. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own.
Based on my experience, the greatest obstacle facing anyone with depression is psychiatry, and those who practice it. I know not all psychiatrists are cut from the same cloth, but there is no doubt that it is a controversial profession. The history of psychiatry in this country is fascinating, disturbing and appalling. They prescribe, in many cases – cocktails of psychiatric medication while at the same time telling you that they don’t know how it will work. Or if it will work. Or when it will work. Or whether it will even work at all. The stark reality is that they don’t know what they are prescribing, whether or not it will work or whether or not there will be any side effects. They have no scientific evidence to back up their claims that medication will cure depression. They subscribe to a theory that depression is simply a chemical imbalance in the brain. This, in my opinion is an extremely simplistic way of treating an incredibly complex disease.
The biggest problem within the mental health services in County Clare, and I can only presume that it is the same around the country, is that the treatment offered is dictated by psychiatrists. Despite the claims of the HSE, the vast majority of patients, myself included, do not get to access the ‘multi-disciplinary’ teams that they say are available to provide treatment. You get to see psychiatrists, and consultant psychiatrists. No psychologists. No counsellors. No social workers. No occupational therapists. Just prescription after prescription after prescription. And unlike other areas of our health service, where we know there is a problem with recruitment and retention of certain professions, there is no shortage of psychologists. No shortage of counsellors. No shortage of social workers. No shortage of occupational therapists. The HSE just doesn’t employ them. Why? Is it because the litany of mis-management that exists within the HSE doesn’t actually know what is needed? Maybe. Is it because our Minister for Mental Health doesn’t know what is needed? Maybe. Or is it because of the professional snobbery that exists within the psychiatric profession won’t recognise what we, the patients, actually need and want? I would say that is the answer.
More and more people are talking about mental health, particularly this week. That is very obvious and very welcome. But we need to ask ourselves that question, how far have we come in terms of treating people with mental health problems? Unfortunately, I don’t think we have come very far at all. This week, our Minister for Mental Health was using several social media platforms to promote an initiative of his – yourmentalhealth.ie – Is this website informative? Yes. Could it help people? Yes. Is it an improvement on what was there previously? That depends on how you interpret the information on it. The simple reality is that Jim Daly was advertising this as though it was some sort of revolutionary, radical reform of our Mental Health Services when in fact, all it does is signpost people to tell them where to go. The State, through the HSE and under the watch of Jim Daly is claiming as little responsibility as possible for treating patients. Imagine this, you discover that you have diabetes. You go on to the HSE website to find out about treatment. And the information on their website tells you to contact a charity for treatment or support. There would be public uproar. And rightly so. Why then is there not public uproar over this initiative of Minister Daly? Because that is exactly what this website does. It tells people concerned about their mental health to contact GROW, Aware, USI and MyMind amongst others. It confirms my belief that this State does not want to, and in many cases will not treat people with mental health issues. I, like many others, suffered with severe insomnia as a result of my depression. For a brief period, I was partaking in substance abuse. Both legal and illegal. I ended up suicidal. Our mental health services way of treating me for all these things – medicate me to a point of feeling like a zombie to treat the depression. Refer me to another doctor, who also prescribed more medication with the intention of treating my sleep problems. Tell me to get private treatment for addiction problems (even though I told them then, and I’m proving to them now that I’m not addicted to anything). And they told me to go to Pieta House for treatment for suicidal ideation. That’s 4 out of 5 working days a week where I’d need to make appointments to address my issues. Try holding down a job while doing that. Impossible. But money has to come from somewhere to pay for all the medication they’re prescribing! The point I’m trying to make is that the treatment offered by the mental health services in this country is in no way conducive to making a recovery. We will only start making inroads when we start treating mental illness as serious as physical illness. By his own admission, Minister Daly isn’t qualified to make a judgement on a ‘clinical decision’. With respect to the man, he doesn’t seem to have any experience in the field so that begs the question, why should he be a Minister for it?
My criticisms of our mental health service are not going unrecognised. I was invited to the Dail a couple of months ago to meet with Minister Daly. I helped organise and addressed a well attended public meeting in Ennis back in July. I’ve taken part in a podcast for A Lust For Life. Next month, despite not being a church-goer I’ve been asked to address a Novena here in Shannon on the subject of mental health. Next Tuesday, I’ve been asked to go and meet the executive clinical director of the mid-west mental health services to discuss my concerns. Has any progress been made? I believe it has, albeit minimal. Will I continue doing what I’m doing? Absolutely. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. I don’t know if or when any of my family or friends will need the help of our mental health services in the future. When that day comes, and I’m sure it will, I want them to get the treatment they need. The treatment they deserve. And I want them to get it when they need it. I want our mental health services to be fit for purpose. At the moment they aren’t. They are nothing more than a glorified prescription writing service. I want to play my part in making them fit for purpose.
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