Mental health services who think overdosing is an attention seeking thing

[BM2A]

Thankyou guys for all your comments. Much appreciated. Im feeling a little calmer today finally. Ive been through a lot, this past couple of days wont break me ;)

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

She had the therapists phone because hers was broke they were sharing a phone. Sorry its complicated. It was a very bad day

Sounds to me like they were making you suffer for their problems.

@BM2A First off I am in the united states

If it were I would be telling them this "I can no longer trust you to be there where I need help so I won't bother calling"
I have found making them worry with open ended statements sometimes breaks thru BS in the system. Basically coming down to their level, fighting fire with fire leaves them not being the ones in control of the moment.

I know with my current team my silence would cause a major response, I did that once and I had a hoard of people at my door, I did not answer until the sheriff came to do a safety check on me (he said he would break the door down). I let them in. I was evaluated in the ER and not kept, but watched until I got into Sheppard Pratt. But I have a wonderful team.

But it was not always that way, I spent decades in Virginia, and I ran into a lot of BS, a lot of stuff being rammed down my throat as some would say it, and I got as bad as they did. Sometimes it worked and they would stop the BS and actually talk to me, sometimes it not work, and I got hospitalized or placed in the respite center. Needless to say, I never opened up in the virginia system, and never got any real help.

 

[joeylittle]

I have found making them worry with open ended statements sometimes breaks thru BS in the system. Basically coming down to their level, fighting fire with fire leaves them not being the ones in control of the moment.

This behavior can (and will) backfire. I personally wouldn’t recommend this as a strategy in the US.

@BM2A - I’m sorry to hear you are struggling to navigate the system. It does sound like you might need some way to augment your care, somehow.

If you can’t trust yourself sometimes - like becoming desperate and disoriented and overdosing on meds - it’s a good idea to put some steps inbetween you and the pills. You can keep them in a lockbox with the key in a different location, and do what you can to set up grounding tools at those stations. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it can help re-direct away from non-lethal overdosing. Pills can do serious damage, and it’s not worth the risk.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

@BM2A I agree completely with @joeylittle about augmenting your care, and strategies for handling your medications, I already and have for sometime used similar approaches for similar reasons. But I do have a suggestion, get one of the pill boxes that covers the times of day you take your medications and covers a week. And make bulk of your medications inaccessible easily, like having someone else how them until you need to refill your pill box, or placing a lock box at other end of the house with the medications, and a sign on and in the box for the crisis number to call if you're in crisis. You probably have some ideas of your own, but like I already do, sabotaging my opportunity to S/H has gone a long ways to keep me safer longer, and keep me out of the hospital longer, and keeping choices instead of them being taken away.

@joeylittle Maybe sometimes, when I was in virginia I had to deal with a lot of my way or the highway type of treatment planning, coercion just makes one want make it as hard on them as possible. The strategy worked for me, but I had a lot forced down my throat and never really got any real help like I am getting now. But it will backfire in most normal situations, mine was not normal, and my needs were not getting met, and instead dictated to me. Britain is a much different system but in many ways the system in virginia mirrors the british model. For instance in maryland for someone who is a danger to themselves, a petition has to be filed with the court clerk, and wait to the end of the judges docket, where he reviews the petition and asks the petitioner questions. The subject is taken to the ER by the sheriff, and the ER certifies the need for commitment if the subject is not willing to get treatment voluntarily. And if beds are available the subject can be treated in the hospital's psych unit either voluntary or involuntary.

In virginia they have Community Service boards in each county, under the CSB are mental health centers, day treatment, emergency services who go out and evaluate a person for need of psych detention, which ends up being no cause, court mandated admission (voluntary), or Involuntary. The CSB has the power to order detention for psych reasons first, then a judge or magistrate looks at the petition. I have many times been threatened with detention for refusing to accept a coercive item in a treatment plan I did not agree with.
The state even provides medications thru the state pharmacy.

So in some respects the british system structure is similar to the system in virginia that I had to deal with. Where I am now, I don't need to use the strategy I mentioned, because they are giving me the care I needed all along that virginia failed to. Where I am now, I can be open about everything including s/h and s/i and not loose choices or anything else. I have no need to treat the "system" as an adversary where I am now.

For me I had to play their game the way they play it, just to get my needs met if that was even possible. It's a strategy that works sometimes, but only in situations that where all the power is on one side, and no one on the other side cares what you think or want, and your being dictated to. When the other side does not know what you're thinking because your mum, it makes them come to you to communicate. For me it has led to them hearing what I want or think and compromise, instead of being dictated to with threats of our way or the highway. This was so much a problem that when I served on the first committee member panel for the CSB human rights committee (Each CSB was required to have one, VA was in violation until I took issue with the CSB). We had to some human rights rules for the CSB to operate by, I made sure one of those items prohibited coercive treatment plans.

There are probably others on the board who have had similar experiences in Virginia.

In any case in any approach to anything involving people especially systems/organizations/agencies consisting of people, you need to know your adversary, then know the right approach. The wrong approach for any situation always backfires. That's why it's good to get ideas.

 

[BM2A]

Thankyou @recoveringfromptsd and @joeylittle for your comments and I will take them on board.

Im mainly just angry at myself now for such poor decision in over dosing in the first place.

The paramedic i met was one i had met the first time i was taken to hospital to a psych ward a year ago. She had been so kind then. I was terrified and didnt want to go in. She took me in and stayed for a cup of tea, when she got up to leave i started to cry, and then she started cry and gave me a big hug. Beyond the call of duty. I was ashamed seeing her again and she was sad. It made me feel i had come full circle. The paramedics do an amazing job.

Im going to do my best with managing the meds now in a safer way as suggested, thanks @joeylittle

 

[The Albatross]

Anger understandable but to me... this is a repetitive pattern/history that needs addressing pronto.

 

[Tornadic Thoughts]

I live in Virginia, used to work within the mental health system of Virginia, attempted to utilize their services for help with my own issues after having worked there over 13 years, and have a sister who has been at the mercy of that system (and parents who wouldn't believe her) since the age of 17.

I agree with what @recoveringfromptsd has shared regarding how they operate and how difficult it is to get genuine help. It's not a healthy scene for anyone involved, unfortunately. And if you try to speak up about unethical happenings taking place within those facilities, or you'll be marked/scarred for life.

The place I used to work would punish students for trying to take their life. It was treated as a behavioral infraction, so all they had to look forward to upon getting better physically, was facing a damn hearing panel made up of administrative staff about trying to end their life. So f*cked up. Not a nurturing space to try to heal and grow, that's for sure. Rather a space to remind you how you must conform and dare not stray from their way.

My sister was treated like a prisoner rather than a mental health patient when seeking help at a local hospital and the CSB "help" she receives, sporadically and mostly half-assed, leaves a whole lot to be desired. Crazy shit that leaves my heart very unsettled. No healing is actually happening, but rather continually masking symptoms and avoiding reality as heavily and harshly as possible. Grrrrr...

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

@Tornadic Thoughts Thanks for echoing my sentiments about virginia. I spent from age 17 to 1ge 45 under the virginia system, over 50 hospitalizations, even when trauma and abuse was known to them all the did was talk about it in the records, and never got any help for it.

In fact my abuse came with the approval of social services in arlington Virginia. Someone had to die before the abuse was publically revealed even then no one was held accountable.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

paramedic i met was one i had met the first time i was taken to hospital to a psych ward a year ago. She had been so kind then

Reminds me of my last hospitalization (ptsd related), I was transferred by amb from local hosp er to psych hosp, the amb guy in the back was great, he said he was at the same point himself not long ago as he was a vet with ptsd. They see everything just like hospital er's do, except they often are kinder to us, where er staff tend to chastise us for being unsafe.

 

[DharmaGirl]

I used to be an RN care manager, and it would piss me off how the Pdocs would talk about people in my office. One guy got ahold of a razor blade in ER mental health section and slit his wrists so badly that they had to have a vascular surgeon come in to save him. The Pdocs were saying it was just attention seeking. I called them on it and they said he was a pain in the ass. I was wounded by that. What the hell are you doing in that profession if you are so cold and self-righteous. Another time one said that she had a great answer for suicidal people, let them kill themselves. See? No problem. I was so horrified. When I was in the hospital for one of my many suicide attempts, she came in my room and I told her to leave. I never felt that way about patients even before I was suicidal