Mental illness is a serious problem and despite all the media attention on it recently there is still a massive stigma about it and a shocking lack of investment and support in mental health services
The average wait for 6 sessions of basic counselling at most gp services is 6 months !
Imagine going to your doctor with a broken ankle , a far less serious illness than clinical depression ....and being told oh we can help but its 6 months ! Feck me if you break your ankle you are in and out of hospital in two or three days
The funding from the public for cancer , heart disease , children's health dwarfs that given to mental health and the HHS is the same , mental health funding is bottom of the pile
It seems in this case substance misuse complicated this person's treatment but mental ill health and drinking or drug taking go hand in hand
As for lifestyle changes like healthy eating and exercise they are of course part of an overall treatment plan but if there are no therapists , nurses or psychiatrists to back this up then its pissing in the wind
A holistic approach to mental health treatment is what is required and we simply dont have that at the moment
It's either poor treatment in the community or hospitalization
I told my psychiatrist a few years ago that if I was discharged from her care I would end back in hospital in weeks , she discharged me and I was back in llandough
If she had kept me under her care with a psychiatric nurse , support worker and community psychiatric nurse I wouldnt have had to go through the horrific ordeal of a month in a mental hospital with some seriously disturbed patients
It is those patients who require intensive hospital support , those of us who have lifelong battles with mental illness need care in the community with properly funded nursing and psychiatric support and , if needed , help to come of alcohol or drugs , if applicable
This lady had serious problems and in many serious cases people are unable to be saved , they are hard wired to self destruction but for most , even with severe mental health difficulties a better life can be attained
The problem is it takes money and as we live in a society where people want good services but are not prepared to pay for them through taxation , the rate of suicide and people falling through the net will continue