I personally believe it can be hard for people to get the help they require. This is from having been in this situation myself. My mum was undiagnosed for around 4 years as no body close to her was socially aware around mental health. She was then diagnosed and given medication, but was not getting the proper care and support she needed.
I was constantly asking hospitals and care coordinators to help my mum for around 8 years. The stress of coping led me to depression myself for 3 years, which I thankfully overcame, but had to deal with this alone.
I kept being turned away and was even told that I was lying about the severity of my mothers condition. Other times I was told that there was lack of services in my area. Not being able to get help for her when she needed it most, was the most helpless feeling and the hospitals did not seem to care. Although my mum also recognised and requested that she needed help, she was still ignored. She was at the risk of harming herself and others, what more needed to happen before she could get the treatment and care she needed? It also made me wonder how many others were getting turned away.
I feel a lot of incidents that occurred could have been avoided if she had been able to get the help she needed. Then perhaps her illness would not be as severe as it is now.
In fact:
"All evidence shows that the sooner a mental health problem is diagnosed and treated the less likely it is to go on to develop to become more problematic in later life and the more chance of a full recovery"
"A lot of people don't realise mental health problems are completely treatable and you can recover. The earlier you spot it the more likely that it is to happen", (BBC, 2014).
"There are too few beds, too many patients, there is too little money and according to our research, the funding is only getting worse",(Channel 4 News, 2014). Although charities such as, Mind are great and I am currently looking to work with them as a volunteer. I truly believe that they do not care about the cuts, all they care about is people with mental health receiving the care they need. This is all very well, but without money the right care is not available.
Image: Mental health beds
Some are able to get the help they need, others are not. The KEY is to be persistent, Although this is not the way it should be. I believe for the care system to change there needs to be a higher recognition around mental health - the impacts and the effects. Although as with everything, it is all about money and to me it seems like there is no sign of this improving.
My belief is that more people need to stand up and work hard on raising awareness, so perhaps there can be preventative treatments, and more care available in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment