[WobblyWombat]

This is an except from a recent investigation showed on the ABC in Australia.....

_______________________________________

A landmark mental health study has revealed disturbing complaints of doctors failing patients, who report being shunned or avoided by health professionals.
The Mental Health Council report, obtained by the ABC's 7.30, found more than one-third of those surveyed were also advised to lower their expectations in life because of their mental illness.

This applied to patients with schizophrenia, personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

The report also shows that almost half of mental health carers believe doctors behave differently when they discover a person's mental health history.

In any given year up to four million Australians fight a mental illness, for whom public stigma is a huge hurdle.

The new study set out to quantify the problem in a survey of 400 patients and 200 carers.
GPs cop the most complaints of poor care, followed closely by psychiatrists. However psychologists fare the best.

The report includes the traumatic personal stories of mental health consumers.
"I'm very nervous about sitting in a hallway with 'mental health' plastered against the wall in a public area," one person said.

"I've been in the emergency area of the hospital and overheard a treating doctor asking another doctor if it was a full moon," another said.

"The staff attitude towards me changes when they realise I have a mental health history - it's as if they think they can catch it off me," another patient said.

"We sat in a room with a psychiatrist telling our 18-year-old daughter she should stop expecting anything from life because she has a mental illness," said another.

________________________________________________

I wanted to post this because I too have been at the receiving end of cruel behaviour from the very health care workers that were meant to be there to help me....I am still struggling with the aftermath of what happened to me. I have been told that it depends on the area you live in as to whether you can expect to obtain adequate health care. A friend of mine living with schizophrenia moved from Victoria and is shocked at the difference in her mental health care, here. This makes me wonder what it is like in America. Do you have similar experiences?

[Perna]

I think everyone gets poor treatment from somebody at sometime or another, with or without the mental health issue but when we have mental health issues, we often take it more personally and to heart.

For example, the "full moon" ER comment is common and, for doctors, covers accidents and violent crimes, fights in bars and drug overdoses, which literally seem to increase when the moon is full. I don't think anyone is equating people with mental illness with werewolves?

I've told the story several times here, of going to the ER with terrible stomach cramps, and being treated as if the stomach cramps didn't exist, once they found out I had a mental health diagnosis. I suppose they then thought it was all in my head, and they put me on the back burner. Fortunately I wasn't on a 72-hour hold or anything, so I walked out of there and went to another hospital, where they didn't assume it was all in my head, and looked at my stomach.

It was an ulcer forming. I later turned out to have food allergies.

Just because we have mental diagnoses doesn't mean we never get physical illnesses.

On another occasion, when I was at the ER for mental/SI reasons, I was kept within sight of the nurse's station because that's the way they did things there. I watched a nurse take a telephone call. After she hung up, she rolled her eyes and said to a co-worker with a heavy sigh in her voice, "We've got another psych coming in."

Oh, how dehumanized that made me feel.

[lizardlady]

Wobblywombat, I live in the US. I'm diagnosed with major depression. However, with meds and years of therapy I no longer look or act depressed. My pdoc and I agree I have it under control. That said, I can see the demeanor of medical professionals change as soon as they find out I'm on anti-depressants. I've also had doctors dismiss physical symptoms because "well, you're depressed." Having depression doesn't mean I can't have medical problems.

while vacationing in chez bin...i told them i was getting a kidney infection...they starting poking & prodding & asking which side...i replied.."right" ..i have 3 kidneys & they are all on the right side.

well obviously i was insane & unaware that my kidneys are located on both sides of my body & i should only have 2 of them (yeah r9ight..which is why i tell folks i have 3 in a know on my right side...been there done that...yep get stones & infections all the time..i may be crazy at times but i know my kidneys)..

so mr md sends me off for a scan to rpove to me i was wrong & that my kidneys did indeed live on both sides of my body...guess what..they don't. bet he felt pretty stupid telling the crazy lady that yeah i did have an infection in my 3 kidneys on my right side...

mental illness does not = stupidity.

When I was in school training to become a paramedic, the instructor made a big deal of telling the class what "the worst" kind of call we could expect. It was any call involving a person with a mental health history. Even if the person is suffering a heart attack, the underlying MI is supposidly the ONLY issue. It made me sick to listen to him. I experienced it first hand from EMT's transporting me. It totally sucks.

[jitters]

Oh, absolutely. Their attitude changes the second they find out you have a mental illness. I don't like to talk about it because it dredges up flashbacks of feeling humiliated and, in one case, suicidal, as a result of the treatment I've received from doctors. I've often wished there was an easy way to identify genuinely compassionate, well-educated physicians. They should be issued a "mental illness friendly" certification from an independent organization.

[Evis]

WobblyWombat, I'm originally from Australia and believe me, what you get in Australia is pure luxury in comparison to what we get in the US. Over here not only do we have to contend with the issues you raise but also have to battle health insurance issues.

Just my opinion though.

[Flooded]

I too read that report and was disgusted that so many people are mistreated.
I'm in SEQ and have had nothing but awesome treatment from everyone except one gp who refused to acknowledge my herniated discs until my neurosurgeon sent her the MRI report. The gp thought I just wanted narcotics

[Oxidopamine]

I briefly worked at a hospital and I agree, many doctors and nurses treated patients differently because of their psychiatric history. I'll admit, I did too for certain conditions, particularly because it was the long-term care section of the hospital and some of the newly admitted patients had a history of suicidal attempts, so the nurses were telling each other and myself to be especially vigilant and not "set him/her off", as though if we made the person uptight they'd instantly try to kill themselves. It was as though they were intentionally walking on eggshells. For non-suicidal patients with a psychiatric history, nurses were either reluctant to tend to the patient or were less sympathetic with poor bedside manners. Several of the patients were diagnosed with depression and some of the nurses told me the patient just whines and to ignore it. When they complained of the hospital food (because it isn't that tasty), some nurses came down hard on the patients by saying other patients eat the food and it's just the depression talking.

However, despite this, there were some nurses that were very sympathetic. One in particular was sympathetic to all patients no matter what they had or how they acted but if another nurse or even a doctor didn't treat a patient, collegue or visitor with enough respect, she'd practically bite their head off. She would always say that nurses and doctors are well-educated individuals, so they should show their maturity.

[elliemay]

Originally Posted by stumpy

while vacationing in chez bin...i told them i was getting a kidney infection...they starting poking & prodding & asking which side...i replied.."right" ..i have 3 kidneys & they are all on the right side.

well obviously i was insane & unaware that my kidneys are located on both sides of my body & i should only have 2 of them (yeah r9ight..which is why i tell folks i have 3 in a know on my right side...been there done that...yep get stones & infections all the time..i may be crazy at times but i know my kidneys)..

so mr md sends me off for a scan to rpove to me i was wrong & that my kidneys did indeed live on both sides of my body...guess what..they don't. bet he felt pretty stupid telling the crazy lady that yeah i did have an infection in my 3 kidneys on my right side...

mental illness does not = stupidity.

I really really hope you did not have to pay for that scan.

[elliemay]

I don't know. My experience has been mixed. The ERs around here are sooo crowded I don't think anyone gets very good care.

My primary care provider really doesn't seem to care either way.

I will say that mental illness doesn't fit very nicely into the streamlined model of care that most places want patients to neatly mold to. Sometime we require a little more attention for our provider than they are able to provide in that circumstance.

Depression can manifest as physical symptoms and people with a history of psychiatric care, according to most "studies" utilize heath care more often than those without such history.

Nonetheless, even in the absence of mental health issue, it's in your best interest to be your own best advocate - always. Health care in the US is not very patient oriented for anyone. IMO.

[Brokenwings73]

I have Chronic atomic issues.... Gastroparesis I'm ily 38 I've had to be hospitialized numerous tines bc if it once it my meds causes pancreatitis along with my other condition I also have migrants so bad I can't stop vomiting and have to go to the er. They have a SPECiAL room for me each tine I come in! It's bent to the broom closet and no bigger! It looks. Like they painted the walls white and shaved a bed in there! As sick as I am and as empty as the er can be it can take hours for a doc or nurse to come see me meanwhile I'm vomititng the entire time and they dint so much as put an iv in me to hydrate me all nc I have mental issues they see me as a "faker". Is this system ever gong to change? They need an extre couple semesters on mental health traing in med school and etiquette of treatment!