Great video, agree with everything you are saying! I was sectioned in March, I had a breakdown at a funeral following my Dads death. First I was in a police cell for maybe 2 days as no beds were available. It was so terrifying I refused to go in my room or a toilet when I got to hospital for fear of being locked in. The told me if I didn't' take meds they would inject me and never mentioned side effects. They made me so drowsy I fainted in the toilets hitting my head on the concrete sink. They said I was bipolar and compared it to diabetes but I know better. Refused the label, stopped the meds as soon as discharge and have not only recovered I've excelled. Currently in Psychology which is great. I want to know the meaning of it all, my whole paradigm has changed. If anyone is on meds don't just stop like I did, I was on a very low dose by that point having pleaded with the doctors for a reduced dose due to terrible side effects. Thanks for sharing this, hope more people will start rethinking the way we deal with Mental health issues.
Samantha Pressdee It is disgusting how they compare it to diabetes. Diabetes is a real illness, mental health labels were just invented - there is no brain scan or blood test.
Most accurate, down to earth description I've heard...it is the same in U.S. I've been there...I am still recovering from the trauma of being labeled, being imprisoned, forcibly drugged...the treatment is actually harder to recover from than the original violent trauma that brought me there...this really needs to change..
We have something in common....I agree with what you say.How ever will it be put right?the treatment/section (incarceration) is so traumatic,cruel and disempowering.I am a bundle of nerves every breath I take!
i understand,,,years later still a bit afraid of people, just finding myself again, cause I never used to be liker that....can only work part time.....how long since your stay?
Sorry for the slow response....I haven"t got used to the new g+ system....it was much easier to correspond on youtube.I had a beautiful page with my pic and lost it for some reason. In reply to your question 12 months ago...the system sucks.I have found some interesting info though.A professor by the name of Barbara TAYLOR(not Barbara Taylor BRADFORD)has just released a book (Feb 2014)called the last asylum.Go check it out. Peace and love & keep in touch
ang 2034 Agreed. There are a number of vested interests that act as obstacles to change. I am, however, more optimistic that some meaningful change can be achieved in the near future given the varied range of voices expressing discontent - service users, journalists, voluntary/3rd-sector organizations, dissident psychiatrists and a wide range of other mental health professionals. Here's hoping!
Every psychiatrist that ever 'saw' our son Nicky before he died should be held down & forced to watch this video - whilst being given injections of Olanzapine to calm them down! This is a very good summation of the issues that many people face, after finding themselves placed in mental health institutions. I wish we had seen this while our son was still alive, and I wish our son had been able to speak to an advocate like Sian.
WONDERFUL video! Very nicely communicated with excellent first hand information, and no distracting antagonism. (Personally, I would have found it difficult to refrain...) I have spent a dozen years as a lawyer and advocate for involuntary psych patients in Illinois. My experience totally validates EVERY statement in this video. I was amazed -- watching this was like listening to myself, or what I would say if I had the chance and the patience.
good for you mate. More people should speak out. They are abusers and perpetrators of actual crimes against humanity but it appears we are expendable. Plenty more where they came from. Watch out. You'll be labelled next or might even disappear. I'm not joking.
Thanks to people like Jake patients can find help and solace in such inhospitable, dehumanizing places. His work is so important. Thank you for sharing this video.
My son suffering all this and more for last few years after losing 90% of his bowel, 2 comas, ITU 6 months, then never allowed appeals, he has never done anything wrong, confirmed by police etc and the drugs they keep giving stop my sons 10% of bowel as they dont refer to previous medical records :(
Hi Sian, how about a video demonstrating successful cures outside conventional psychiatry? I could point you in the direction of many successful outcomes. I have no idea how to stop the abuses you observed, but continuing to expose how wrong they've got it by showing how right others have got it, may help pave the way.
I had all of those symptoms from 28 days of haldol and olanzopine. death in a bottle turned me into a zombie. and coming off left me suicidal for 17 months
'The veiled evil of psychology...' comment from a previous poster is unnecessarily harsh and completely uninformed. My wife is a forensic psychologist and has worked with some of the UK's most high-profile offenders. Psychiatry and Psychology shouldn't be lumped together in one whole 'evil'. I would like to thank Jake for a balanced and forward-thinking look at the situation of care in the UK's mental health institutions. Well done for speaking out. My grandfather, a sufferer of advanced dementia, is currently benefitting from the care offered by Ribbleton Hospital and for that I am am extremely grateful. We have exhausted numerous care homes, including those who specialise in dementia, and found ourselves at a loss. Social serices stepped in, removed him from the care of specialist homes, sectioned him in a mental hospital and, quite frankly, I haven't felt so confident in years. My grandad is enjoying a level of care that was just unavailable in the private sector. He is treated with respect and is being cared for by true professionals. Whilst I'm certain that mental health institutions are lacking in many areas, I'd have to say, that in the case of my grandpa, they are providing him with a level of care that simply isn't available anywhere else. And yes, I've tried to look after him at home. He is 92 and suffers demetia. Thanks to all at Ribbleton Hospital for your love and dedication.
This description of a psychiatry ward is exactly like the one in the Glasgow area I visited in 2006 & 2007. This practice is inhuman and degrading and should be changed immediately. We were told that all patients had to take drugs for at least 28 days, your priest was not allowed to visit you and your family not allowed to visit you either if they complained about your treatment.
Excellent interview. psychiatry would never survive a debate. My theory is psychiatrists are paid drugs commission. Imagine being a salesperson who can force customers. The customer has no rights. Right to advocacy is not a human right. I need my human rights.
The staff believe that poisoning people is the most essential part of their job -- and they love taking blood pressure as this is the only part of their job that makes any sense !!
There were no advocates when i went in last year, its so scary reporting abuse, like you only have the nurses to tell or ask for a complaints form but they are the ones giving the abuse and handling the complaints forms🙄 theres no way to lock your door or feel any sort of privacy or safety
Thank you much for this! It is going the rounds in my Twitter feed (I am @ivaalsg), and I have posted it in my blog under the title "What not to do to people with mental problems, and what is much too often done". Also in my native Norway. Link here: freudfri.blogspot.no/2014/02/what-not-to-do-to-people-with-mental.html And I'm wondering - has what Jake says been transcribed? If not, I would like to do so, posting the transcription in my blog and, of course, giving it to you to use as you will.
The 6 C's of nursing present in general nursing are absent in psychiatric nursing -- Care, Compassion, Courage, Communication, Commitment, Competence -- and Candour -- the only thing they're committed to is not being found out !! The people who know how bad things are are powerless -- advocates, solicitors, patients and carers -- but often the so called carers are the problem !!
The description of restraint is absolutely disgusting. I am absolutely appalled and have had to stop listening because it is so awful. I am a medical student and am struggling to see how I can become a psychiatrist and function in such an awful system.
Yeah I don't know if the system can be changed from the inside. From my experience most psychiatrists just tow the line and are too busy to question anything. The system has not changed much since I made this video unfortunately... although I feel there is more awareness about the dangers of medication and the need for a holistic approach
Ok I only partly agree with what this guy is saying. People who are delusional/psychotic/hallucinating often cannot reason with the professionals so what else are they to do than force the medication? This often but not always makes the person lucid enough to realise they were ill to begin with. If you are sectioned then you obviously do need forced treatment. Don't get me wrong i'm a psychiatric patient myself but was never sectioned. Money saving always comes into play medication is cheaper than therapy but that dosen't make it right. This is often where the line is crossed between the medical profession and the patient
A ruling by The European Court of Human Rights declared a fair balance must be struck “between the competing interests emanating, on the one hand, from society’s responsibility to secure the best possible health care for those with diminished faculties (for example, because of lack of insight into their condition) and, on the other hand, from the individual’s inalienable right to self-determination (including the right to refusal of hospitalization or medical treatment, that is, his or her ‘right to be ill’). Psychiatry cannot also be trusted to offer the best possible healthcare- far from it and often people are not a danger to themselves or others but do not have the right to be "ill" or self-determining. Forcing harmful medication on vulnerable people as then they are easier to look after is not a decision made for the benefit of those being medicated and could be said to be a violation of human rights.
> . People who are delusional/psychotic/hallucinating often cannot reason with the professionals so what else are they to do than force the medication? Potentially you can wait for a while and see if the symptoms disappear of their own accord (this can be relevant for bipolar disorder or drug induced psychoses) > . If you are sectioned then you obviously do need forced treatment Or potentially just time. > Money saving always comes into play medication is cheaper than therapy but that dosen't make it right. Some of the side effects of these medications might alter this. Antipsychotics have been found to cause brain damage... of course there aren't really any clinically tested interventions for psychosis - so that's a problem.
On the contrary Paul I think it is excellent as a mother who has watched the shocking awful care of my two daughter's under the appalling mental health system which is rife with bullying and no thought towards physical health only drug pushing I really identify with what is being said here and after 14 mind altering serotonin reuptake inhibiting drugs that do not work and labelled treatment resistant I think Jake has done a great job and he is just the kind of person I would like involved in my daughter's care.
I really wanted to like this guy. To give him the benefit of the doubt: his heart is in the right place. But, so much hyperbole, inaccuracy and downright ignorance is dangerous and frankly unforgivable. There are so many factual errors i don't even know where to begin... in short, independent mental health advocates (IMHAs) and their related but distinct colleagues the independent mental capacity advocates, play an invaluable and often unrecognised role in the treatment of serious mental illness, and many of them are great assets to their clients and to services. This gentleman though, seems to be more on a power trip than anything else, i assume that's why the scene keeps cutting randomly, to prevent anyone passing from correcting him as they hear the howlers he confidently spouts - with little evidence but anecdote. You're not helping anyone with this and if this is the attitude you take to your clients: i fear for their ongoing mental well-being.
This guy isn't really helping. He could actually encourage a psychotic patient to keep up the delusion they aren't ill and create delayed treatment. Stay away from making medical analysis and diagnosis. Worse thing is having someone who thinks they are a lay expert. His role is to make sure there isn't abuse and that policy and procedures are followed. I think, and agree, that a poor system and bad communciation and not treaing people as people isn't good. But lets not be naive and quick to judge. This guy is making his own perceptions about why something happens. Let's take the issue of injections over tablets - sometimes the tablets aren't available in the dose or manner needed for the patient. The patient may also have a history of hiding or vomiting up tablets also. A person needs ongoing doses to recover. Not giving it because they aren't angry or seeming to be violent is only one consideration.
> Worse thing is having someone who thinks they are a lay expert Hmm... the issue here is that sometimes criticism has to come from outside a profession to actually happen. It's interesting to note that the country is run by lay experts. I guess there is a duty to be familiar with the most up-to-date literature when making comment... but fundamentally there must be criticism and comment from outside a profession. As someone who is neither a patient (whose opinions may be discounted as delusional) or a psychiatrist (who may not want to think of themselves as causing harm) and has a close view of what is going on, his viewpoints are useful. > A person needs ongoing doses to recover. Well... some psychotics disorders will resolve of their own accord (some will not). Also there is a question about the necessary dose. Psychiatrists can use very large doses with very nasty side effects... and the ability to refuse can be a useful bargaining chip in reducing doses.
You are articulate, and a lot of what you say is logical, but if essentially somebody IS talking bollocks. Eg: They are CONVINCED that they are being followed by armed soldiers, they are having auditory/visual halucinations, and the pshchiatrists gently challeng them on these beliefs, and the patient INSISTS that this IS happening and that they are NOT mentally ill, well then, by definition, that patient has ZERO insight into their illness, and is by definition categorically: Mentally Ill. It's as simple as that. That is an irrefutable fact.
