Addiction/Mental Health: Girl dead of overdose 'wasn't getting the right help'

mrsmags16

In this link, there is an article about a young girl who sadly died of a suspected drug overdose and whose family feel the 'system' let her down.
As someone who works in acute mental health services (public), I am interested to know what people think of this article as similar opinions crop up frequently in the media about being let down by the mental health services and an implication that some tragic deaths could have been avoided by hospital admission. I am not doubting that this is sometimes true, but also wonder if people generally are under the impression that it is permissible to detain people for treatment of addiction difficulties against their will, for example?
This is a very sad case and my heart goes out to the poor family who undoubtedly tried their best to support their daughter and sister. As I deal with similar pleas for admission on a daily basis though I am curious to know of similar opinions/experiences.

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r93kaey5p2izun

I think mental health services in this country are just horrifically awful and unable to deal with anything complex (ie realistic) at all. It seems to me that the whole system is unrealistic in what mental health services are required and that unless you are presenting voluntarily seeking help for a straightforward condition the services available are useless .

I know involuntary admission is legally very difficult in a lot of circumstances and I don't blame the mental health professional individuals in that regard. However I feel our society, including the voice of the wider mental health profession, is failing completely to address the huge issues around mentally ill people who require treatment for the sake of themselves and those around them and I don't think the current set up is even close to adequate. Society seems to expect families to deal with those with untreated mental illness and offers nothing but token support. Society also criticises and condemns families who walk away from untreated mental illness, while at the same time advising individuals to do just that, rather than offer realistic support options. Society is happy to be reactive and wait until someone is dead before acting in the case of violence due to untreated mental illness and in my experience our systems for holding violent involuntary patients are completely inadequate.

I understand that addiction is an added layer of complication and the issue of personal freedoms and personal responsibility is huge in this regard before treatment can be considered. However the current situation regarding services for people with mental illness who also engage in substance abuse is imo laughable given how common the connection between the two issues.

Anyway, my own experiences don't involve any addiction issues, just total failure of our mental health services in dealing with serious mental illness involving violence. I'm have been a member of a support group for family members of those with serious mental illness and the suffering of those people is just so sad and completely ignored. They are abandoned to little more than tea and insincere sympathy and their family members with mental illness are left to fate. The system is not fit for purpose or at the very least, it is my opinion that the narrow purpose of the system is failing too many individuals, families and communities.

Graces7

This thread makes me so sad.

I was trapped in the mental health/ drug "therapy" / forced admissions in the Uk for 30 years over a total misdiagnosis.

Once I had the correction to that I got myself off all the meds, ie 24 tabs a day including benzo, and left the country.

The real help I had in that was through voluntary organisations online who were very knowledgeable and experienced , and in finding the exact side effects of meds both the makers sites and support groups. Also they had more time than eg a GP

eg the suicidal thoughts I was plagued by were a side effect,

Getting off eg benzodiazepines is they say worse than getting off heroin and I can believe it, BUT with all addictions really the only person who can do it is the person themselves and you have to be totally committed to it and never waver
And many cannot do that.

All the programmes and help will come to nothing, else. It is a long hard road

And i have met families tormented as you describe and felt helpless

The last GP I had in the Uk who was the one who corrected my medical notes to "Was never mentally ill; was always M.E" explained that he was a western trained dr who worked with drugs/ medication and I think that that is a large part of it. That is still a first resort.

I have lost count of the times I have been offered eg benzos since. Seems a first resort?

All meds have side effects. Which have to be balanced against good effects,

I have no real answer but huge sympathy

Wondering what people would LIKE to see implemented?