LET'S TALK ABOUT PSYCHIATRY AND CHILDREN

#Children and #psychotropic drugs:

Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? But wait, there’s more.

#By Frances Harris

Cause of death – Died from anxiety. That’s what is likely to be on the death certificate of 7% of the population, (one person in 14), a child or adult with unreceptive liver enzymes after the psychotropic drugs went wrong. Side effects means there is a steady residual build-up of unprocessed medication, until the patient is overwhelmed. They can be seriously injured,or die.

Anxiety: in hospitals is code for, died from side effects of medication that overwhelmed them. None can dispute it, because no one tests for it. If you look at the statistics of many hospitals, it's amazing how many people have anxiety as the recorded cause of death. At major hospitals sometimes it is the leading cause of death above all others. I was baffled by this until I saw what happens first hand, then the file notes were revealed. If you have a child or adult in your family, and you are thinking of this type of psychotropic drug therapy are you scared yet? You should be!

How am I qualified to comment? I’ve been a carer for sixteen years and seen the effects first hand, but luckily I was able to intervene before it went to the final step. I was informed and aware where while others are not. Most unsuspecting parents would never know. I have seen under the covers of psychiatry and it’s not a pretty sight.

Now many people have children they can no longer control. We, being many of the adults, might have unwittingly made them that way. So we go to the doctor to give the kid a pill to make it better faster; sedate him out and life can go back to normal. Seemed alright at the time but was it? - Perhaps not – Short term gain then more likely long term pain is on its way.

Life issues and divorce do traumatize kids, especially if their part hasn’t been handled right. Dad or mum is replaced by a new partner, so continuity of emotional attachments are left behind. We run them off their feet trying to catch up while emotions are raw, then there is the everyday stuff, homework, out of school activities and countless others. There’s no real time to play without rules and timeframes so they can have time to strike their own balance and their own thoughts. They go into survival mode, sometimes leaving empathy for others behind. It seems to make them unappreciative, uncaring. But however much we don’t like it; we were probably greatly and unintentionally the cause.

Somewhere along the line, personal identity of the child or adolescent can be fractured and in the confusion they become sad, they feel alone and then scared and eventually left on the fringes to make their own way. The result is understandably anger and rebellion. It’s a normal reaction, and we forget sometimes these unpleasant reactions happen to adults too. Because they are smaller or powerless it is easy to pass responsibility to a doctor to fix it with a pill. They are not in a position to know, or resist. Parents are understandably distressed too. But think a bit about what this means. Some of the kids are not psychotic, but psychiatrists and even general practitioners are dealing out these drugs like candy. Often they don’t know the deal either. They think they make good sedatives. I suppose they do, but not for the reasons you might think. When the child or adult becomes drowsy, that is the beginning of possibly dangerous side effects from the medication that can lead to further complications.  

It’s not too bad if the effects are subtle and don’t continue, but it can lead to other things. When side effects become apparent in some people, it means there is a residue of medication building up in the bloodstream with every dose because the liver does not have the capacity to process it. If the adult or child happens to be the unfortunate one person in fourteen who does not have sufficient liver enzyme to metabolize the dose, they can quietly slip into a coma and die, or develop a potentially lethal heart arrhythmia, or Creatin Kinase elevation that can blow out the kidneys, requiring a transplant. I convey this information because I have been directly in the middle of such a crisis. The patient could have these events happen at night leaving the parents unaware till morning. If the patient begins to sweat more than usual, alarm bells should ring.

Then there is the matter of changes to the dopamine receptors on the growing brain. D1 dopamine receptor is where many of the antipsychotics target, either steadily reducing or elevating their numbers. So when the child becomes an adult don’t be surprised if he or she is different to others and has trouble fitting in. You may not recognize that lovely little person you used to know, and be sure they are not coming back. It’s when you may reject them and their feelings are hurt beyond belief, they will resort to unsociable behaviours, and possibly in some unusual cases, revenge. I don’t feel the need to go into that, I believe you can work it out.

So this is it, there is no magic pill to substitute for parenting, and I don’t include the children who are diagnosed with a serious personality or genetic disorder, they have no choice. Resist while you have the opportunity if you can, and if your children are acting up, and if it is within your means, give them a spontaneous hug, take them out of town for a spot of fishing, a laugh and an ice cream. You won’t regret it.

Let’s Talk about Psychiatry

Let’s Talk about Psychiatry

By Frances Harris

To begin with, to be fair to psychiatry, I would welcome input from psychiatrists if they have had better outcomes than those in this story.

It’s for sure there are not many of them in this town. Some patients do make it through the system in better shape than they started out, but (after sixteen years as a committed advocate) feedback and experience from inside treating and supporting organisations, I haven’t seen the best results.  The majority are in no position to advocate on their own behalf due to their circumstances, and they probably never will.

Most people or a relative will touch bases with a psychiatrist at some time in their lifetime. Often they will unexpectedly and urgently need help, but from experiences with my son Edward, I advise those people to look carefully before you leap into the world of psychiatry and psychotropic drugs.  The work of a neurologist and a General Practitioner could sometimes be enough. If you or a relative are involved in illicit or overused prescribed medications then I suggest you should read this message and its updates. The story will make you feel uncomfortable, make you cringe and possibly scare you, but it’s out there and won’t go away even if you shut down your computer for now.

The mental health system is like a quicksand pit that once a person is in it, rarely do they escape. Containment of those in this wide net is something sanctioned by law. Unfortunately there seems to be significant by-catch in that net, with misdiagnosis and the like. Much of it is cruel, stressful and confusing, and one must realize the psychiatrist is always right, or there can be consequences. In the event of a mental health event, it is the most stressful feeling when your loved one is treated at the whim of a psychiatrist. Often that person neither knows the patient, nor cares, and there is no other option available.

In the beginning, diagnosis is often at the whim of the first psychiatrist you meet. Right or wrong that diagnosis is broadcast to the mental health system, and the Road Traffic Authority for life, even if it is revised later. There is no exit from that treatment without the risk of having the driving licence suspended. On entering a hospital the patient will likely be forever treated according to the first diagnosis, even if another psychiatrist sees it differently.

In my son Edward’s case, when he enters the doors of Frankston hospital he must conform to the first diagnosis, and when he walks outside the doors he reverts to the second diagnosis

If a patient is not happy with the treatment of their psychiatrist, and chooses another health professional, the initial psychiatrist has been known to send out an alert to all health facilities on a whim, that the patient is – non compliant with his medication, even though that psychiatrist is no longer the treating doctor. That can be done without evidence from blood tests or interviews with friends and relatives, and even if the patient is on another prescribed medication at the time. There is no way to revoke that alert once it goes out.

Sanctioned treatment inflicted on mental health patients would by law, bring on a significant jail sentence if inflicted on an animal.

Edward has been involved in the Frankston (Hospital) Mental Health System, Victoria, Australia; one of the country’s biggest centres for mental health treatment after many unhelpful years in the private sector.

It’s now time to open up to scrutiny a few of the darkest spaces of the mental health system. I will update this message in small bites periodically, because the story is confronting. I acknowledge the mental health service is only as good as funding from governments and the quality of its hired staff. Many want to do better, but are hampered by resources, while others don’t care what happens and duck for cover when questions are asked. The lives of these people are of no interest to them. The mental health service is secretive and anyone trying to get information is usually frustrated.

And essentially, for the unaware, there must be strong advocacy to ensure survival.

In the background looms the undeclared inducements offered to psychiatrist, and clinics that can heavily influence the patient’s treatment. The truth is; a psychiatrist has, ‘next to no idea,’ what psychotropic medicines do to the human body. If there is hypersensitivity, or a slow absorption rate, chances are the life of that person will be at risk, because the system is geared to; ‘one size fits all.’ Rarely are blood tests done to check drug tolerance, screen for allergy, heart problems, or given blood tests for medication levels. Unless the advocate brings these things to the attention of the treating psychiatrist, they are rarely addressed.

Some drugs don’t show up in a toxicity test.  There are injections that have no antidote if something goes wrong, and these have a history of patients who drop dead for no recognizable reason. The producing company has a vested interest in recommending the maximum dose for maximum profit. It is built in to directions.

As I am an advocate and think, after sixteen years of being in the forefront of the mental health action, I feel qualified to draw the spotlight onto the work of psychiatrists there, both private and public. We have been in the private system, the public system and – then successfully opted out of both after injury to successfully take the advice of our general practitioner.

I’m sure there are many fine, highly skilled, caring psychiatrists out there, but to date I’ve never met any of them, or heard of one, or been recommended to one by a wise professional. Three years ago when I asked staff in the hospital system and the clinic, ‘where can I find a good psychiatrist?’ I was told - there are none.  Now, I hear there are three psychiatrists within driving distance, but don’t know how to find them.

The first real surprise  that came forward about psychiatrists is something that left me wondering. I always thought they would have undergone extensive years of training in say, toxicology, immunology, psychology, brain diagnostics, structure etc. ……… so, highly skilled like a heart surgeon.

The truth is; a psychiatrist is a General Practitioner who has been given - on the job training in a psychiatric facility, while doing some general study, then within two years – joins the field as a qualified psychiatrist. I think a chiropractor does similar years of training.

So the difference between mainstream medicine and psychiatry is that doctors make every effort to save the patient in danger. But the life of the patient with a mental illness who has potentially life threatening symptoms, the psychiatrist will remain fixated on looking for breakthrough symptom, at any cost, including, sometimes accidentally the life of the patient. Edward faced a life threatening condition that was dismissed by a psychiatrist at the hospital even before the diagnostic evidence was seriously examined. Luckily a second hospital picked it up.

When Edward was diagnosed with a potential life-threatening heart condition at the second hospital, I was told by a staff member on behalf of the Frankston clinic psychiatrist – ‘You are the only one who is worried about it!’ Now, I have the same condition, and when found by the hospital,  all resources were employed to care for me. So what does that say about our mental health system?

Is it any wonder that many with mental illness die from anxiety, not to mention anxious parents, and to add there are more who leave the hospital so distressed from incarceration at Frankston Hospital they go straight to the train lines to take their own life, or jump from a great height, or overdose on anything that will numb the trauma of treatment. This method of treatment is all in the interests of dulling a few breakthrough symptoms of mental illness. The costs compared with benefits are way out of line. Chances are the patient will need trauma treatment after discharge from hospital.

I will progressively roll out some more uneasy truths about psychiatry, and the never ending hamster wheel of prescribed drugs, perpetual medication change and poor health.  Then there are the mentally ill who are forced to undergo treatment on a Community Treatment Order; where the patient must watch their body deteriorate before their eyes and can’t do anything about it. It must be like hell for them.

Is anyone in charge? I don’t know.

Have a good week.