[PsychiatricEnigma]

Hiya, this topic is something interesting to me and close to my heart due to personal experiences. I had a topic like this on another forum and it took off really well, not sure how it'll do here, but still, it would be interesting to hear your experiences (regardless of country etc).

Have any of you ever dealt with police due to a mental health incident? For example, a detention for your own safety, and were you treated well by the police or not-so-well? Additionally, have you ever had any problems with background checks because of your mental health? Like here in the UK and in Canada, they can write about mental health incidents with police involvement in enhanced CRB checks and other types of background checks and it's lead to some people having a difficulty getting a sensitive job, like working with vulnerable people or joining the military.

P.S. If your experiences were too Triggering or you would find reading this kind of thing as Triggering, it would probably be best to either avoid this thread or read with caution!

[Victoria'smom]

I had one run in with the police because of an overdose at 17. The officers that responded had known me scene kindergarten. One of them I was friends with his son. The other had escorted me from school to church every week and had children on my swim team. They both seemed genuinely concerned and saddened when they saw it was me and not someone else. I kinda with the hospital treated me with a similar caring and respect that they did. I'm sure I would have been DX faster if the hospital had listened to me. I have seen some altercations between police and MI so it scares me to call them for help.

I have had incidents with the police because of my mental illness. I was younger and was having psychosis and mania at those times. I wasn't suicidal and did not break any laws. I don't have a record and I do live in Canada. But I don't have it on my file because I have something else in it's place. I was detained more than once for being intoxicated, even tho I was not, psychosis yes, intoxicated no. Police need to be trained better about mental illness. If they listened to me and paid attention it would seem obvious as I displayed no physical symptoms of intoxication. The police did know me, small town.

In my current city police were called to a house because a young man was suicidal, he was also a mental health patient. 8 police officers I believe went to his house, he was tasered to death. I don't feel safe calling the police for help, sadly but it's true.

Also, with that on your record in Canada you cannot even cross the border, It will be on your criminal record if they were called to come help you wether you committed a crime or not. They have been talking about changing this in Canada, but who knows if that will happen anytime soon.

[Melancolic]

At 18 i first went to doctor over my mental health and was put on fluoxetine/prozac it started working over a few weeks and i felt great. At a friends 18th birthday party i was amped, people asked me pointless questions and told me to calm down but i was a great and powerful person of importance. I was MANIC. When the police turned up and barged through the crowd i demanded to know what right they had to do so. Without a response from the officers i asked again much louder and directly questioned them as human, swine or fecal matter demanding they acknowledge me and i was deserving of explaination over there unwanted presence.
I was then assaulted and beaten by two officers for no reason. People at the party tell it different i was excessivly verbal through bottles at officers struck two and it took all 7 to get me to the ground and cuff me. But i was then still assaulted by the two officers who took me to the cells. I remember not being able to help myself on the trip but respond to there comments of slander with quick wit, pure disrespect, hate-rid and lack of fear over threatened repercussions while cuffed, drunk and outnumbered by armed men.

[PsychiatricEnigma]

Originally Posted by Anika

I have had incidents with the police because of my mental illness. I was younger and was having psychosis and mania at those times. I wasn't suicidal and did not break any laws. I don't have a record and I do live in Canada. But I don't have it on my file because I have something else in it's place. I was detained more than once for being intoxicated, even tho I was not, psychosis yes, intoxicated no. Police need to be trained better about mental illness. If they listened to me and paid attention it would seem obvious as I displayed no physical symptoms of intoxication. The police did know me, small town.

In my current city police were called to a house because a young man was suicidal, he was also a mental health patient. 8 police officers I believe went to his house, he was tasered to death. I don't feel safe calling the police for help, sadly but it's true.

Also, with that on your record in Canada you cannot even cross the border, It will be on your criminal record if they were called to come help you wether you committed a crime or not. They have been talking about changing this in Canada, but who knows if that will happen anytime soon.

I agree with you. I'm sorry to hear about that and the case of that young man. Here in the UK, you don't get a criminal record for it per se, but the police keep a local file record on your mental health if they get involved or they're informed and it can be released under the "additional intelligence" box on an enhanced CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check which you need to have if you want to work with vulnerable adults or children or drugs, this isn't just your criminal convictions, but mental health info, known drug use info, relevant arrests (regardless of whether you were charged or not). I think it's very unethical and discriminatory, personally.

I don't know exactly how it works in Canada but somewhere I knew from there said that the RCMP wrote about her mental health in some sort of background check, which is why I said it in the OP.

Originally Posted by erraticpendulum

At 18 i first went to doctor over my mental health and was put on fluoxetine/prozac it started working over a few weeks and i felt great. At a friends 18th birthday party i was amped, people asked me pointless questions and told me to calm down but i was a great and powerful person of importance. I was MANIC. When the police turned up and barged through the crowd i demanded to know what right they had to do so. Without a response from the officers i asked again much louder and directly questioned them as human, swine or fecal matter demanding they acknowledge me and i was deserving of explaination over there unwanted presence.
I was then assaulted and beaten by two officers for no reason. People at the party tell it different i was excessivly verbal through bottles at officers struck two and it took all 7 to get me to the ground and cuff me. But i was then still assaulted by the two officers who took me to the cells. I remember not being able to help myself on the trip but respond to there comments of slander with quick wit, pure disrespect, hate-rid and lack of fear over threatened repercussions while cuffed, drunk and outnumbered by armed men.

I'm sorry to hear about that, even though you were manic, it sounds like a scary experience. Did you make a complaint? And did you get charged with anything or were you transferred to the mental health services? How does that kinda stuff work in Australia?

Anyways. Nice to see some replies. Much appreciated! I'll add my experiences. I apologise these are long stories. Feel free to tl;dr/skim lol.

In August 2010 when I was 17... but I was detained under Section 136 of the UK Mental Health Act. That (academic) year was ****, lots of things went wrong, I suffered something traumatic earlier that year (well end of 2009 actually), I was having issues with friendships and a failed relationship, and on top of that failed in Sixth Form, loads of stress just built up, basically. I was already planning to leave anyway, since I'd had enough of school, but it upset me, I felt like a failure. The day after the AS results were out I genuinely thought I had the bottle to throw myself off the top of a car park, I cut words into my legs and grabbed some money and got a bus into town. When I got there I realised I had no bottle to actually jump off, I was too scared to even get on the wall thing, I was scared of being seen, I just went to the slightly lower storey and tried ringing friends, my friend GP didn't answer, I had forgotten the numbers of two other friends so I rang my ex sorta on and off and just paced around. I didn't realise it but I was there for like 30 minutes, I didn't realise the CCTV was live and this security guard came out to confront me asking me what was wrong, I got confused and then freaked out when I saw two police officers, a man and a woman, walking up the stairs.
Anyway, they tried to talk to me when they confronted me, and when I tried to get away to throw myself down the staircase or something (I was really desperate) they jumped me and handcuffed me, of course I resisted, and two other coppers came up and helped. I was taken to the police station in the cage of the back of their van and then strip-searched (they found my self-harm cuts and believed I was hiding razorblades in my underwear), and I was kept in a cell for about six hours on suicide watch. I was mostly well treated, the main copper that detained me (a Sergeant) was very kind and attentive, the policewoman in my cell was a bit sarcastic and acted as if I was some attention seeking waste of time, and when I had my cuffs taken off they were acting as if they'd just caught the most dangerous serial killer or something, all careful and cautious, but it was mainly not too bad of an experience, I just couldn't get it off my mind for ages and I had damage in my wrists from the handcuffs for about 3 months. Oh and after my s.136 I was put in a psychiatric ward for 3 days, voluntarily.. I would've been sectioned otherwise.

In my second experience, it was really bad, it was only last year in June 2011 when I was 18, I was detained for being Drunk + Incapable (I think) I fell into this weird dark depression for no reason, I stopped speaking to friends and my sleeping pattern was weird. I stupidly decided after speaking to a friend I hadn't spoken to in a while get drunk on some wine and cream sherry and when I was drunk to cheer up I thought it'd be a good idea to go for some fresh air. Only I went and dropped my key on some grassy place and got dizzy looking for it and somewhat passed out, police find me and call an ambulance. In the ambulance the assisting police officers and paramedics strap me down and hold me down on the bed, laugh and insult me on the way there, I admit I was being flirtatious and agitated. At the hospital, I'm held down in an Obs Suite bed, with the usual bickering, and being held/pushed down with force (I'm a 5'4" girl, these are all built men, them and the security guards). One of the policemen was this ex Royal Military Policemen, he was the worst, he and his colleague held me in a wristlock and he deliberately bent it backwards hard to give me an "example" of what would happen if I talked anymore crap or resisted, this was whilst my blood pressure was being taken. I asked him if he was getting off on that.. and he said yeah, that he actually said became a cop to do things like this to people and because he enjoys locking people up for a living, bloody psycho himself, his colleague just sucked up to him.

I don't remember that much, but I do remember they handcuffed me to both the railings of the bed and threatened to arrest me for Drunk + Disorderly and Assault, despite the fact I didn't assault anyone, only resisted them hitting me and holding me down and etc. The security guards were worse.. they pushed me and held me down even harder, after the cops had gone I nearly got out, I couldn't stand being in hospital, so they rammed my face (nose) against the wall, one of them stood in the door way of my room/cell thing with his arms out, and I admit to calling him a thug, a grunt, a twat, etc. because he's the one that did it. I was told around then I was gonna be held for an extra few hours because at some point I had expressed a desire to kill myself and asked the police to get in an armed unit to shoot me. The nurse (who was *****y and patronising) complained about how they wished I'd said nothing so they'd get rid of me sooner, and the security guard said he agreed and that I should just go and commit suicide, I was pushed on the floor when I tried to get out (again) after coming back from the toilet.. oh and I had male security assist me to the toilet as well, I was told I couldn't complain because of my suicidal and resistant behaviour and lack of resources. I was denied a chance to phone my parents when I asked the nurse politely. So, after all that I fell asleep for a few hours and I saw a doctor on the advice of the Crisis Team (I suspect it wasn't a formal assessment) who wanted to have me back in the psych ward, I said no and no to meds as well, she went to get a psychiatrist to try and maybe section me or something, but he sided with me on the condition I allowed the Crisis Team to come over the next day, which they did. My parents had no clue where I was in those hours, as I was supposed to be at college, they called the police who had no idea where I was and etc. so I was classified as a High Risk Missing Person for a few hours (my parents suspected I may have went and attempted suicide again), after I got out of hospital I had to sit in their car outside my home and sign a release form to get my name taken off the police national computer. In my medical records I was written down as being "resistant to treatment" and "abusive to staff" which is why I never pursued a complaint.

I am not sure how much of this would appear on a CRB check or whatever, I don't think the second episode was because they didn't get my name and details until after the police had left, except for fact I was missing. I acknowledge that I was in some aspects stupid in the second incident, but I still don't believe I deserved to be mistreated or verbally abused. My memory is a little foggy, since I was drunk obviously, so there's gaps in memory. I am scared of getting drunk now because that's how unpredictable I am, especially whilst depressed, I got drunk in year 11 at school twice, but thats another long story.. me and alcohol don't mix! And yeah, surprisingly I didn't have any broken ribs or a broken nose, but my body was in pain for about two weeks afterwards.

Never again, I hope. Thanks for reading if you did anyway .....

[Melancolic]

Originally Posted by PsychiatricEnigma

I'm sorry to hear about that, even though you were manic, it sounds like a scary experience. Did you make a complaint? And did you get charged with anything or were you transferred to the mental health services? How does that kinda stuff work in Australia?

I dont remember feeling scared only disgusted at them. I was charged with resisting arrest a non-sensical paradox thrown in a detox cell and physically silenced several times over the night, officer who released me told me i was the slowest learner he had seen. No i didnt make a complaint instead i went from lock up to a medical clinic and got a doctor to list and photograph my injuries. When i appeared at court i was still manic i think and had to see a duty solicitor after i showed her my medical report, photos and asked over arresting charge was for me to resist she had the case dismissed. This angered me and i demanded my charges be presented to a judge i wanted my day in court. After a few minutes of arguing with court officials i was removed from the courthouse by police and told i would be arrested if i continued with my behaviour.
I was living in New Zealand at the time and unless someone is floridly psychotic or has a well known documented history of psychosis they are deemed under intoxication and treated as officers see fit.

[eskielover]

I know with all my attempted suicides at home, the police & ambulances seemed like they were continually at my home. Pdoc called them several times, psychologist other times & others, my husband (I suspect). I honestly don't have much memory of the experiences with the OD's, I was so completely out of it, I don't remember.....which also meant that I was in no physical condition to resist anything either. Usually ended up in the medical hospital before being admitted into the psych part of the hospital. Our local Sheriff department were the ones that showed up at our house with the ambulance because that's just how they work together. Many years later, had an encounter with the local sheriff department.....my car had been non-functional for a year & we were getting it back up to functioning, but drove it to the mall.....ended up not having the current tags on it so they ended up towing it......think the sheriff there was one that must have come to my house one time because for some reason he recognized me from somewhere.......no where I could remember, so that's the only thing I could think of.

I had a different experience with the sheriff however, after a guy who I'm sure was psychotic, followed me for 40 miles on the California freeway, all the way to the off ramp I needed to take to get home.....& then he followed us to the guard company my husband was then working at after loosing his engineering job. They had actually sent a couple of the guards to help us in the parking lot where we sat in my car while this guy paces all around the parking lot. He resisted their telling him to leave the private property of the guard company.....it took a huge guard to finally take him down with mace & even then he totally fought them. Because they had used the mace, the sheriff & an ambulance had to be called. The guy had a record....he had just gotten out of jail the day before......claimed that the he was the cause of the Viet Nam War......I was glad that they actually took him to the psych care part of the prison system rather than throwing him into jail without trying to get more help for him.....& the police actually treated him well.

Ah, with all the suicide attempts I had, & all the 3 day holds they put on me over all those years, I'm not sure how long they stay on your record. My days of needing my clearance for working on high security military projects were over when my firmware engineering career was over, so it really doesn't matter to me if it has any kind of effect in that area anyway.....but I'm sure it would......I never had anything above a secret clearance anyway...never needed the top secret that some projects required. I know that the 3 day holds (5150's think they called it in California) keep you from being able to purchase guns for so many years (maybe 3-5 years).....but that has long since passed......as my last 5150 was somewhere back in the late 1990's.

I think my worse experience with the police has absolutely nothing to do with any mental illness.....but it had to do with the trauma that I went through regarding the home care person who manipulated her way into caring for my mother who was dying of cancer......that happened when I first came to PC.

I caught a whole bunch of things being done around the house, but the worse when when I caught her on the phone giving out my mother's ID information as her own.....when I fought the phone away from her & was walking to the back room with it, I only grasped it was someone from a credit card company before the phone went dead.....to later find the phone chord was cut. The rest of that day, I spent trying to find qualified care to take over the care of my mother & scheduled them to come the next morning before I had to take my mother to her Dr's appointment. They couldn't come that day & told me to try to make the best of dealing with the person until they could come & take over. The next morning, the home care person had been there then had to leave......I had been sitting on the floor next to my mother's hospital bed, going through a list of all the strange & horrible things that had been happening & actually called & talked to the police about that was happening....but they said that unless the checks that were written were actually cashed, there was nothing they could do. I then got a phone call claiming to be a social worker with the same Cariabbean accent the home care person had, wanting to talk with my mother....overheard what was said & it was something about family trying to control & not to let them.....I finished off the call by asking for the person's name & phone number because I wanted to verify who they really were. A few minutes later came a knock at the door. I looked out & there were police standing at the door. I was really confused because I knew I hadn't given them the address where I called from that morning & they had said there was nothing they could do anyway. I opened the door, they came in & the home care person followed in behind them. Having no idea why they were there, they got really rude & wouldn't even tell me why they were there but commented that I should know & then asked where my mother was & insisted on talking to her. It was the first day she had even had the hospital bed in her room because she had told the hospital she didn't want it if she had to pay for it when she was discharged from the hospital but had not remembered telling them that when we wondered why they hadn't delivered the hospital bed with everything else (just went to more to prove that I knew my mother had a stroke a few weeks earlier when they found the blood clots in her legs....but that's another long story that they refused to check out).....there was some sort of claim that I had locked my mother in her room & not allowed her to have a phone......yea, the home care person had totally pulled apart the phone the previous day when it died, trying to prove that it was the phone that was broken rather than that the chord had been cut that I found. I had never encountered such rude police in my whole life.....they wouldn't let me say anything or even express to them all the horrible things that had been happening around the house that the home care person I was sure was doing. It wasn't until my mother's trust lawyer came to the door to take care of the final issues that needed taken care of that the police finally backed down & were willing to listen to what I had to say.....came to find out that someone (I'm sure it was the home care person) had called & claimed that I was abusing my mother.

After the police finally left, it was matter of getting my mother ready for her Dr's appointment....one that I had made because it hadn't made any sense to me that her Dr. claimed that she was ok & the cancer wasn't a problem but after releasing her from the hospital never said anything about a follow-up appointment. The home care person was dealing with my mother's diarrhea & my mom complained to me that she had given her a handfull of pills to take & one had fallen.....my mother expected me to find it & give it to her....but with the mess in the room, there was no way of finding one tiny little pill......just after that, my mom went into the shakes, I couldn't get her to stop even giving her hot water to drink & sitting her wrapped up on top of the heater in the house.......a verbal fight broke out when I commented that I wanted my mother's BF & the home care person (who were friends/neighbors) to leave the house when we were having a new care person come in to talk to us......in all the confusion, the home care person called 911, the paramedics & the police showed up again. The paramedic checked out my mom & wasn't going to bother taking her to the ER.....I said I wanted my mom out of the house, knowing it was the only way I could possibly get anything back under some sort of control. As the paramedics were taking my mother to the ambulance, the police commented to me about something about abuse & I said the only abuse was what the home care person was doing & then ended up just leaving. It was a total nightmare part of my life....came back to my mother's home later & found the missing pill....the home care person had given her a hand full of morphine....not the diarrhea meds...it made sense because I asked the ER Dr what might have caused my mother to react that way & she said, an overdose of sleeping pills.

Sadly, it turned out that there was not enough absolute proof on any of what happened to nail the home care person with the abuse she did. Assumptions are that she was trying to get it to look like I was doing the abuse to get me out of the way so she could get my mother to sign over her house to her. The home care person tried to get me to allow her to continue caring for my mother when she went to the hospital...instead, the hospital suggested I put my mother in there under an alias which confused everyone especially my mother whose cognitive abilities were lacking because I'm sure she had a stroke a few weeks earlier her Dr's refused to DX.

The experience with the police during this situation was scary....I had always had this internal fear of being accused of something I never did & no one willing to listen to the truth when it was really happening. Exactly what happened because everyone surrounding the situation said....things like this just don't happen to someone who isn't rich & famous. When I finally filed a report with a police a few days later after filing one with Adult Protective Services, they were very helpful....completely the opposite of the ones who had come out to the house on the abuse call in the first place.......sadly, as I said, there wasn't enough evidence to nail the home care person on any of what happened.......The worse part.....the PTSD that followed from that has haunted me every since. I ended up in the medical hospital a few weeks after all that & at the time my mother died due to the anorexia that the stress caused......but they just couldn't grasp that it came from a trauma that they couldn't even believe could happen in the first place. Glad that horrible trauma is in the past....unfortunately, the resulting PTSD hangs around & starts hitting the worst when the smell of fall hits the air....until the end of January when my mother finally died from the cancer that her oncologist assured her that he had completely removed in the surgery......there was so much that was wrong with my mother's situation....& unfortunately it started with her denial in the first place that anything was wrong & her inability to accept the truth of her situation in the end.....the hell she put me through because of her inability to deal with her life is something I promised myself I will NEVER DO TO MY DAUGHTER.

It's not all about the police, but without the rest of the situation, it wouldn't make quite as much sense.....sorry for the length.

[PsychiatricEnigma]

Originally Posted by eskielover

Post

Hey Eskie. Thank you for your post. I'm really sorry to hear about the care home and hospital fiasco and the police, though they were only a part of it, and what happened you and your mother. People should take their duty of care seriously, it's a shame that the care home worker wasn't brought to justice in the end.

On the other hand, it's good that the psychotic man got help. Ah, yes, 72 hour holds I see you've been on as well. I have heard of California's 5150, I think in Florida they call it the Baker Act, it has a different name in every country/state/province/etc. Here in the UK it's called Section 136 (which is what I was on when I was 17, as I said in my post) which allows a police officer to take a mentally disordered person who he/she suspects is a risk to themselves and/ir others to a 'Place of Safety' (a psychiatric suite or a police station cell) for up to 72 hours to be assessed by a mental health team.. a psychiatrist, an approved doctor and a social worker, there's another one called s.135 which is the same thing but it requires a warrant from the courts if a mentally disordered person is in their own home.

Originally Posted by erraticpendulum

I dont remember feeling scared only disgusted at them. I was charged with resisting arrest a non-sensical paradox thrown in a detox cell and physically silenced several times over the night, officer who released me told me i was the slowest learner he had seen. No i didnt make a complaint instead i went from lock up to a medical clinic and got a doctor to list and photograph my injuries. When i appeared at court i was still manic i think and had to see a duty solicitor after i showed her my medical report, photos and asked over arresting charge was for me to resist she had the case dismissed. This angered me and i demanded my charges be presented to a judge i wanted my day in court. After a few minutes of arguing with court officials i was removed from the courthouse by police and told i would be arrested if i continued with my behaviour.
I was living in New Zealand at the time and unless someone is floridly psychotic or has a well known documented history of psychosis they are deemed under intoxication and treated as officers see fit.

Hey, oh it was in NZ not Australia. I see, I assumed by your location lol. That all sounds chaotic. I think the police really do need more training in this area, in general. Do most police officers even know how to spot a manic or psychotic person? Or do they rely on their own prejudices/stereotypes ....

About 5 years ago, my husband called me at work and said he was about to kill himself. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get home before he hurt himself, so I called 911 knowing the police and paramedics could get to him much faster than I could. When I arrived home, they were in the house with him, assessing him medically and talking to him. They were very professional and polite. They asked me if I wanted them to take him to the hospital or if I wanted to do that myself. While he was calm, he is a big man and I was afraid that once they left he would resist going, so I had them take him to the local hospital. The hospital also was professional and between the doctors and myself, we were able to convince him to check himself into the psychiatric wing of a different hospital. I was able to take himm there myself. He was hospitalized for three weeks, but he did eventually make enough progress to come home.

We've actually had the local paramedics/fire department in our home multiple times for some very scary bleeding problems my husband has had with his chronic medical condition. When he starts bleeding, it really looks like as scene out of CSI with all the blood he loses. They have always been very professional and helpful, and they are well aware of all the psychiatric medications he takes. We have an excellent police/fire department in that regard. They seem to be well-trained.

[PsychiatricEnigma]

^^ Thanks for the post. It's nice to read good stories about the police and other services as well. This thread wasn't intended to be a "bash-the-police" type thread or anything, though it might come across like that!

I know this sounds totally bizarre, but I used to worry the police could see through me and know I was a bad person (I've never done anything in my life remotely worthy of being considered a "bad guy" by the popo; however, my esteem was so incredibly low - actually non-existant, I FELT as if I didn't belong in the world. And they knew it).

Uch. I am sooo incredibly embarrassed But it's the truth.

[buttrfli42481]

I had the police called to take me to the psych er for an eval. They were very polite and even allowed to let me drink my smoothie in the car. Other than that, I haven't had any other run-ins with the police.

[vanessaG]

A little over a month ago I agreeed to let my psychiarist call the police after a visit with him. They came and questioned me outside. There were 2 cops in seperate cars. The 1st officer was nice, asking me questions, talking to me. When the second one arrived, he treated me like a criminal. He made me lean over the car, and he patted me down, dumped my purse on the trunk to search it, searched me, and handcuffed me and put me in back. When i asked if they could call someone to pick up my kids from school the mean officer said 'ill see what i can do"....um thanks. but the nice officer came up to the window and wrote down a phone # and said 'ill call'.

The hospital was a county hospital. It was pretty damn ghetto. No like REALLY GHETTO. I was just on a 5150.

Then a month later i agreed to go into a diff hospital psych ward on a 5150. No police were involved in that though.

The police picked me up when someone whose jewellery and car were stolen pointed at me

At first they just spoke to me for a bit then they said i could be on my way, but when i didn't walk in the direction I said I was going, they picked me up again, checked my shoes for grass (actual grass, not marijuana) and took me to the police station.

I thought maybe my shyness was a factor, I didn't explain myself well enough at the scene.

[splitz]

Hi,
It's interesting reading all your stories.
About a month ago I was in the psych ward for a couple of days respite. When I went out for my last ciggy of the night I decided that I didn't want to go back in and 'ran away', I was going to kill myself. The ward called the police and eventually a large policeman found me and offered to pepper spray me if I didn't give him my razor blade. His policewoman 'mate' turned up with one of the staff from the ward but they wouldn't let her near me as they seemed to think that I was going to attack them all with my razor blade. The nurse managed to get me to put the blade down and I was 'returned' to the ward where the ploicewoman wanted to strip search me (luckily the staff didn't let her) and stood in my room looking through all my belongings to see if I had anything else hidden (stupid woman, if I'm going to hide something, you are not going to find it!!). They eventually got bored and went away leaving me with the staff.
I don't know if it has gone on any sort of record with the police and I don't much care.
Splitz.

[FlawedSystem]

Im in nyc and the clinic i recently went to required a drug test just to see a therapist....Is that against the law or do i have any rights to refuse? I'm not sure how being treated like a criminal will help in therapy. I didnt feel like they had my best interest. I had to wait there for 7 hours with only one person ahead of me. I want to go someplace else but dont know where, everywhere has a waiting list....

I have had a few incidents of contact with the police over the yrs due too addiction and manic episodes. They were in the main understanding.

[Taonuviel]

The police took me to the ER or psych hospital once or twice, all I remember is feeling weird about getting in the back of their car and noticing the seat was a smooth bench instead of regular seats - which makes sense. They were nice to me. I don't think they were involved in any of my suicide attempts except the last, but due to ECT amnesia I'm not certain. With the last attempt I was really out of it but think I remember them showing up first, me unlocking the car and showing them my note and what I'd taken, then I think they kinda stood around until the paramedics came.
I feel comfortable with the police here and know they've gone through training for dealing with people with mental illnesses. I'm also reserved, never "difficult", so emergency and treatment personnel tend to like me okay.

[bohogypsy]

yea, I have. When I was 19 I had a break down and wanted to kill myself. My mother found my note and alerted the police. I had wanted to jump off the cliffs at the local beach/coast. I was picked up and escorted to the hospital. On the way over the younger officer said to me if I knew what a smashed pumpkin looked like. I guess he said that because he thought it would deter me. I personally thought that ending up smashed would not matter because I would be dead...it only matters to those who are left behind. I admit that I was really ashamed of that whole experience. Ashamed of being in the psych ward for nearly two weeks and wanting to get out. Ashamed/guilty for causing those around me grief for my 'selfishness'. yup, that whole experience caused a whole set of new issues to deal with. I have not repeated that 'mistake' again.

[aliced456]

Thanks for sharing the post.....

[turquoisesea]

I still get ashamed and angry thinking of this. My boyfriend and I lived in a studio at the time. I had been extremely depressed, on meds which were making me crazy, and also SI. I couldn't handle a party he was throwing (cooking) and I went downstairs to the storage unit. But he wouldn't just leave me there. So I left with my bag without telling him where I was going angrily. I wouldn't answer his calls and wanted to be left alone. I had my computer and was posting on PC and just trying to chill.


Problem was, one of the friends there had just tried to commit suicded not long ago and when she found out my boyfriend was worried she convinced him to call the cops.

He called them, and they had everyone search for me. I was in a public school related building, found by a friend and I had to talk to the police almost within hearing of everyone else. they were calm and ok, and did nothing but it was so embarrasing. And then I was forced to pretend everything was ok afterwards.

I've never been able to face that group of friends again to this day.

[Towanda]

I once could not commit for safety when I was in my T's office - I agreed that I was suicidal and needed to be hospitalized. T called my daughter to take me to the ER, she came to T's office, then I got stubborn and stated I wasn't going. T said if I tried to leave he would call the cops. I said "I'm leaving" and he calmly picked up the phone and called 911. About 2 minutes later the police showed up. I was really scared and upset by then, and he stayed with me while the police very kindly questioned me. One copy told me he lost a buddy to SU - he was very kind and caring. Took my arm and walked me out to the ambulance. They were wonderful, but not an experience I want to repeat.

[Alexx21]

I have had the police at my door a few times to do with OD's and self injury
they all seem really nice to me

[PsychiatricEnigma]

Hey guys, thanks for all the responses. 3 pages. Been an interesting read, indeed.

x

Yes I have been involved with the police several times because of mental health issues. The police were involved with several fights with me and my dad and other violence in our house, when I attempted to approach a female student, when I was institutionalized in 2008, and a few times where I am living now for self-harm, the last time being earlier this year when I needed stitches.

Police are always nice to me. One of them told me this year that I am "the smartest person he's ever met." The staff at the hospital is an entirely different situation. I always find healthcare professionals to be some of the rudest individuals that I have had to work with.