Gail Porter gives haunted account of her three weeks sectioned

[Munchroom]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2025741/Gail-Porter-sectioned-TV-presenter-gives-haunted-account-3-week-ordeal.html

[Got]

I have spent time on a hospital ward for depression. It was the worst place I could have been for treatment for depression. Spent the whole day surrounded by people with thought dissorders, who, no doubt lovely people in their own right, were incapable of structuring a coherent sentence. There was no structure at all to the day, you are left along to get on with it.

However, I do think it is sometimes the right decision to hospitalise depressed patients. They constantly check you, even when if you don't realise it, and sometimes it is for your own saftey. It is just ashame that the environment is so  un theapeutic. I felt as though many of the people in there needed activities to help them channel therir thoughts, or keep them occupied. I also witnesses verbally agressive behaviour to a lovely woman who was suffering from schitzophrenia. That made me angry, but I kept quite because I didn't want to rock the boat...I wanted them to allow me to leave.

[Lol]

That was a very traumatic experience for you Steve. It is hard to think about these experiences sometimes and to know that there are people going through that process all the time. But that is exactly what it is, a process, you came out and those people may well be living normal lives now.

Well done to have gone through that. It was disturbing, but it is important to remember that it was temporary and you came out the other side.

[Got]

Actually, the hospital experience doesn't bother me at all. I find it nothing other than interesting, and a part of me is glad to have seen it. I am proud for having to go through this, I am just very annoyed at my own behaviour, and how it is cost me love.

I think that is one of the worst things about mental illness, not only does it make you ill, it devestates your life, making the very nature of the illness even harder to bare. Depression cost me love, caused me humilation and respect, and as such, my depression became so much worse. I wish the general public had a more insightful understanding into how bad depression can actually be.

I am hoping one day I will be stable again, and I will be able to use all of this as a positive experience, even though at the moment it feels like a very negative one.

[Zaf]

Thats a fantastic attitude Stevie, you will get through it :)

[lampy]

I've just read this article and it is so true about what life is like on a psychiatric ward. I too spent time on one of these wards in a north London hospital when I had a breakdown when I was 23, some 16 or so years ago but I was in there for nearly 6 months and it was hell. Like what was said in the article you are pretty much left to your own devices 24 hours a day with no real interaction or help, just medication 3 times a day. I have sympathy for anyone that has gone through this and can talk about it without being ashamed. I always felt ashamed and never really talk about it.
Steve you have got a fantastic attitude and I hope you get there mate! I hope we all do although sometimes it feels like it never will be.

[Glen53]

I saw a similar thing first hand with a friend. Hospital doesnt seem to be a good place to recover with a mental health condition - it made my friend worse and was a shocking place to be. I hated being there to visit let alone thinking what it must have been like to be a patient.

I do agree that some need it for their own safety, but they really need to up their game when it comes to hospital care of the menatlly ill.

[Sweetpea]

I agree with Glen things need to improve in mental health.  I only read the link about Gail Porter this morning.  It was awful for her.

S x

[joethfc]

I do wonder about the services in this country, it seems like there are two extremes. It seems like a lot of care is governed by finance more than what's best for patients. I hear of many people who are under community care (or whatever it's called) and they seem to need a lot more attention. People who cut themselves for attention and then are sent home in to the same situation. Perhaps there should be more staging, in an ideal world there would be more open/voluntary residential care.

I know we're in recession but how many other problems are affected by mental health. Drugs is a massive one, the users of drugs often have problems in the first place, the government tends to simply blame the drugs. Then we must consider the school and work performances affected by mental health. I really don't think we're anywhere near ideal in this regard.

[Glen53]

As a nurse myself, I truly believe that if you give the patient time and pay attention to all their problems no matter how small, the recovery will be a lot better.

I worked in several different places and my specialty is rehab (after stroke, MS and Parkinsons). The ward I currently work on is the best for results in getting people better. Some of this is advances in medicine, some of it is better physio etc, but I truly believe that the biggest asset to my current working environment is that we have more time to speak to the patients and help them with their worries and concerns. With ANY condition, people get worried and depressed with what has happened to them and in most cases simply finding time to talk things through with them and treat them as a human instead of a number makes the world of difference.

The sad thing is that the NHS is understaffed and in most places there just isnt the time. Its also getting worse as more nurses leave because they cant provide the care they want to and get weary of the constant battles with managers. If I had the money and the sickness record, I would leave and look for another job.

It needs to change.