Table of contents for Cynics Guide
- Job Adverts
- Cynics Guide: Psychiatric Hotline Protocol
- Define My Madness ?
- You Don’t Have To Be Mad, But It Helps
- Better Than Butlins ?
- Stop In The Name Of My Law !
- Sectioning Detrimental To Self Esteem
- Avoiding Becoming A Patient
- Cynics Guide: Staff Retention (Part 1)
- [Cynic's Guide: How To Blog]
- Cynic’s Guide: Not Taught At University
- Major And Minor Psychoneurotics
I was chatting on the phone last night discussing this series of posts. I was quite proud of myself. Then it was pointed out that I was doing it very much the wrong way. I’ll summarise the conversation:
Mental: Surely it’s better to be sectioned so it clarifies to the patient exactly what their position is ?
Person On Phone: No it is not you idiot !
Turns out they were right.
Was intending to use this post to deal with the legalities and suchlike of longer term sections and compulsory treatment orders. Now I am not. Here are some links though.
England
Scotland
That will cover all the stuff you might actually need to know.
Right back to the conversation.
The person I was arguing with chatting to on the phone works in acute psychiatry, whereas most of my experience recently has been with people who have full time contact with the psychiatric services.
I was arguing from a very nursey perspective about the clients I worked with. The other person, Bob, was arguing from a proper person focused approach, more applicable to his client group.
My feeling was that being sectioned was better than being left in the Neither Fish Nor Fowl category.
Which possibly for some people is the case.
Bob on the other hand took a more holistic view. He pointed out that being sectioned was far more than a bit of paperwork with ramifications only within the mental health system.
Obviously.
Being sectioned could have serious consequences on self esteem and life off the ward.
Even having seen some of the post here. People asking about their chances of getting onto a nursing course with any mental health history. If someone has been sectioned it may prevent them even trying for employment. Either through fear that they would fail, due to being mad, or fear that they would have to explain their life, yet again, to another ear that does not understand.
On the ward someone may feel their choices and options are closed off after being sectioned. Instead of being allowed off the ward for an afternoon on a good day they may instead only be allowed of the ward for an hour per day, even on a good day, accompanied by staff. They may feel they are no longer allowed to refuse or even question any medical or nursing treatment they receive. So on and so forth …
You get the idea.
Bob was saying his patients told him they found being sectioned dispiriting.
I was very upset at the thought that people outside the mental health system would react negatively to the idea of employing someone who had been sectioned. Which probably shows my increasing detachment from the general publics worldview.
I suspect, after speaking to several idiots, that, sadly, it may not make much difference. People still say to me that they are surprised any psychiatric patients accept treatment quite happily and voluntarily. The general public still seems to be under the impression that everyone in a mental health establishment is detained.
At work Stu feels like he is being stalked by Nurse Thatcher. Anywhere he goes she is sure to follow. Paranoia increasing … (previous post)
Welcome madnotbad readers.
Tags: cynics guide, legal, mental health act, sectioning
5 comments
November 1, 2005 at 11:24 pm
flawedplan
Cool site, found this via MadnotBad, and want to mention I have a board too dealing with mh and psychiatric reform. Many of my members have experienced sectioning, but we don’t really talk much about their experience, so I’m interested in what you’re doing here, I’m grateful for your tone, and down to earth attitude. What you’re doing here should help de-stigmatize and get people talking.
Please feel free to visit my site and post a link:
http://p214.ezboard.com/bourcommoncondition97317
November 2, 2005 at 10:34 pm
roseymnurse
Hm, interesting. Of course I have no opinion as I (happily) admit I do not know enough about this stuff - yet.
Mental, I notice you have tidied up your links (or maybe I have never actually looked at them before and they have always been like that) but is my blog that shite I don’t even get a mention? I have read several of the blogs and mine is not the worst. (in my humble opinion :p)
Mind you, if you read my last entry you will see I don’t actually want anyone to read my blog anyway.
:S
November 2, 2005 at 11:49 pm
CrazyGirlMadWorld
Hi. Just to echo Flawed Plan - i love this site too. Again, came to it through my site (MadNOTBad) and found it to be v refreshing. so yay … sectioning. It’s such a complex and emotive issue that it’s v hard to sort out all of my ideas into some kind of rational order. I’ve had nurses tell me and my family that i was better off sectioned before as i’d have more rights than if i was a voluntary patient. that argument doesn’t make sense, unless you consider that alot of people within acute wards feel ‘as if’ they were sectioned (but aren’t protected by what was the mh commission). as part of a service user group, i designed and carried out a survey asking people to share their experiences. A scary about of ‘voluntary’ patients felt that they were all but detained (citing threats of ‘if you don’t take your meds we’ll section you’, or ‘if you try to leave we’ll section you’ etc. whilst it’s probably done with the best of intentions (i hope) it has a massive impact on the patients. It emphasizes how unbalanced the power dymanic can be.
I’ve been sectioned a few times, and have actually (in retrospect) been glad of it on occasion. there are times when i’m really not in a state to make decisions as to whether i should live or die, and in extreme crisis situations being sectioned has probably saved my life. The problem i have with it is that it rarely lasts for just the crisis periods. it can feel like a one way street where the section is extended way past it’s usefulness for reasons you don’t quite understand. there was one time in particular when they tried to put me on a section 3 because if i tried to leave once the 2 had been lifted it would look bad in the paperwork. crazy, i know. luckily my father stood his ground and objected to it, and they didn’t really have enough grounds to push it. i was discharged only a few weeks later.
So yay, whilst short term sections may be life saving if they’re used v v v carefully - if they last longer than is strictly necessary then the the bad far outweighs the good. What i’d really love to happen, tho, is for the mental health system to become less reactive and more supportive. at the moment it seems to bounce from one wall to another with me - giving little support between each crisis. i want to be able to build up trust in the psychiatric services so that i can go to them when i feel myself slipping (instead of feeling i have to avoid it). i want to know that i can get the support i need before i hit rock bottom, and i want the support that i’m offered to be appropriate. I want the option of crisis houses. I want holistic care. I want to be treated like an individual and i want people to acknowledge my own self-understanding.
If i can begin to trust in the services i’ll recieve, maybe i won’t get to the point of being sectioned. This is why the government’s proposed mental health bill scares me so much. It focuses more on compulsion than mental health and will not do anything to increase trust and healthy therapeutic relationships. It’s these things that will help me in my recovery (and fortunately these things that a non-statutory housing support project has been able to offer me). i just wish that the very talented and caring professionals within the system were allowed to use their intuition and human skills more, and were less constrained my legislation, resources and risk assessments.
Also - if you do section someone, there’s alot to be said for the way it’s done. having it explained at the time is great (esp in a caring, non grrr way). but as emotions/headmess is likely to be high at the time - i always appreciate someone speaking to me when things have calmed down. also - just cus i’ve been sectioned before doesn’t mean i’m ok with the process. it throws up lots of control issues and can really highligh past traumas (both within the psych system and in my youth). being aware of, and sensitive to, these issues really really helps.
keep up the good work. tis cool you’ve invited the MadNOTBad members to have a look/comment. it’s great to be treated like the equals we are. tis also great to know that there are lots of interesting, human and disallusioned nurses out there who i can relate to. it’s easy to get caught up in the ‘them and us’ thing - but that’s not helpful at all. so YAY - thanx (and sorry this was so long … ) xxx Rai (MadNOTBad)
November 3, 2005 at 6:39 am
Mental Nurse
Sorry Rosey, fixed your link. I knew I was missing one …
Memoirs of a Mental (health) Nurse Student
May 21, 2007 at 10:00 pm
flowergirl
I find that patients are ’sectioned’ far too readily these days and not enough thought is put in as to the repercussions of it. I think as mental health proffessionals we can become very narrow minded and once the blinkers are on it is difficult to look at the perspective from the ‘joe public’ point of view!
We may fool ourselves at times and say that the mental health act is there to make the patients feel safe, but it merely makes them feel degraded alot of the time and makes the proffessionals feel safe, buying us some time to come up with yet another treatment to force upon them which leaves them with an uncontrollable tremor, memory loss or diabetes etc etc!
Ok maybe i’m getting carried away, there are some positive functions of the mental health act, and without it we would literally be stuffed and would be thrown back to the old days of being morally and ethically compromised! However, sparing a thought every now and then for the person on the recieving end wouldn’t be a bad idea…but what are the solutions? I guess the act makes us question ourselves at times, but often it allows us to become more caught up in legalities and ass covering and we loose sight of what matters…the patient!