tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post1996382243701330953..comments2024-03-26T10:03:51.827+13:00Comments on Karl du Fresne: Ross Bremner and the great mental health experimentKarl du Fresnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054853925940134404noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post-49429815256216715512016-10-22T15:16:48.627+13:002016-10-22T15:16:48.627+13:00Karl for PM. Brilliant. Why doesn't Labour gra...Karl for PM. Brilliant. Why doesn't Labour grab this with everything they have? They need something and this is something we can all grasp and is actually caring about the struggling end of NZ.Ronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15002173078113209487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post-69970341558294494822016-10-22T09:33:27.353+13:002016-10-22T09:33:27.353+13:00Well said Karl.
You speak of mental health patient...Well said Karl.<br />You speak of mental health patients. The same - of course - is true for anyone previously institutionalized: the intellectually or severely physically disabled etc. I know of now very elderly parents caring for an adult who can scarcely move, with little practical help and little financial support. They are terrified as to what will happen when they simply are not here any longer, as is their fully compis mental adult child. As you allude, part of the move to wrap around community care (!) was to build on the stigma of how awful institutions were. <br /><br />What should have happened is that residential care be made available in small settings with high staff numbers all of whom were professionally trained and well paid. It still needs to happen. Yeah, I know, dreams are free.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03896679769770442235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8442430064359197279.post-18867771355066847332016-10-21T18:24:10.941+13:002016-10-21T18:24:10.941+13:00How right you are. I've worked as a psychiatri...How right you are. I've worked as a psychiatrist in both the old asylums (including the huge ones near London, known locally as 'bins') and in what we loosely call 'the community'; we have truly thrown the baby out with the bath water. For sure, the institutionalisation of long-term patients, who were the passive recipients of a sheltered environment, was an evil in itself, but the ideologically driven, zealous reformers couldn't see any potential hazards in expelling these ill-equipped folk into the tough world outside. Those of us who expressed reservations were accused of paternalism, elitism, and any number of other -isms.The catch-phrase was 'community care', but it soon became evident that this really meant'community neglect'. No wonder that a large proportion of ex-patients (now redesignated 'health consumers') found themselves in jail, and the 'revolving door policy' became part of the social landscape. <br />Is there a solution? Perhaps. Two things are required: money, and a radical change in mindset. I'm not sure that there is the political will, or public motivation, or again, the practical resources, to achieve it. <br />For a start, proper mental health care is horrendously expensive; it probably needs as much funding as the whole of the physical health services collectively. Where will it come from? The glamour of surgery, the emotional pull of cancer and heart disease, and the 'lifestyle diseases' will all take precedence. Schizophrenia and dementia aren't sexy. <br />And then, despite the trendy chat about awareness of mental illness, there remains a huge stigma associated with it; this comes from fear derived from ignorance, and plain prejudice (both of which, I'm ashamed to say, I've encountered not infrequently amongst my former medical colleagues). Those working in the mental health sector suffer low professional status, and tend to earn considerably less than those in other areas: no wonder there's a chronic recruitment problem.<br />And further, for as long as we allow ourselves to be bamboozled by politically correct ideas such as 'cultural safety', and take the principles of privacy and rights to ridiculous extremes, the mess will remain insoluble. We need to once again provide shelter - places of care and safety - for those who, because of incapacitating mental illness, just can't cope in open society. That's not paternalistic, or demeaning: it's humane. <br /> Nemesishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05393886454567664382noreply@blogger.com