General When does something more need to be done?

[Whattodo]

My partner was diagnosed last year with PTSD - he had 7 months of therapist with a psychotherapist who made him worse and since May has been having weekly sessions with a Clinical Paychologist.

Since June this year - he has started to be impulsive in his behaviour. He disappeared in the night and was away from home for three days - although there was a bit of communication. His day to day is unpredictable- go out to work but I don’t know if or when he will be home. The full story is too long, and this isn’t a case of infidelity- he has episodes which makes him run away - stay in random hotels / or even as I type, outside somewhere.

I’m starting to think he needs more than just one therapy session a week…but how do I make that decisions and what happens next? I have this horror vision of men in white coates taking him away, and I’m so scared to make the wrong decision.
Has anyone been through a process of making this decision, and what happened?

 

[Sweetpea76]

Do you believe he is a danger to himself or others? Or is he just isolating himself?

 

[Whattodo]

I really don’t know - he has developed this impulsivity of doing silly things. He can handle himself well, he just makes silly decisions - he has driven at night whilst drunk and very tired, all because of desperation to escape - that one is the latest. The other times, he’s just ‘run away’ to hotels or bars etc

Do you believe he is a danger to himself or others? Or is he just isolating himself

 

[Sweetpea76]

As far as making a decision about my vet’s psychiatric care… I don’t. I would only step in if I believed he was going to hurt himself or somebody else.

Isolation sucks, and I don’t blame you for being a nervous wreck. It’s a somewhat common coping mechanism for sufferers when they get overwhelmed. It’s easier to hunker down alone or run instead managing a stressor.

You have very little control over any of this as a supporter. Butting into treatment plans tends to blow up in faces. Trust is hard earned and easily lost.

 

[Friday]

I have this horror vision of men in white coates taking him away, and I’m so scared to make the wrong decision.

In the US… It would be the police, (usually 2 units); unless they’re known to be a combat vet, in which case it would be a SWAT team.

EMTs, Paramedics, & doctors/nurses are not put at risk with known suicidal risks or unknown EDPs (emotionally disturbed person; covers not just mental illness but also out of one’s mind with grief, sleep dep, recent trauma, drug use, as well as head injuries/fevers/etc. mistaken as the person being drunk/high or crazy).

Ideally, the person being sectioned/committed/5150’d against their will is lucid, calm, and both understands and follows all requests promptly. (Including being handcuffed or ziptied). If not? The police will subdue, restrain, and transport by force. They have zero to little interest in the mental/emotional health of the person they’re transporting; their concern is the physical health & lives of everyone present …that the disturbed person might otherwise assault or kill (including themselves)… and getting the patient to the hospital safely.

Even if Fire/EMS arrive on scene? And are trained/equipped to transport exceptionally dangerous (mental illness, suicidal, etc.) patients with 8 point restraints & sedatives? AND there is a mental health team present to make the fairly brutal process of taking someone against their will anywhere? Much less taking someone who is out of their mind, anywhere? (You’ll only find this in large cities, and even then, it’s rare). The house -and people involved- have to be cleared, first, by “blue canaries” (police).

^^^

I would absolutely NOT jump from “1 appointment a week isn’t enough” to making the decision to have someone committed against their will… unless they’re actively suicidal/homicidal, or have completely lost their minds, and you NEED armed escort to take them away. For everyone’s safety.