The Cedars

The Cedars 2022-10-29 Person 1 5 0

I am writing this to give my feedback on my experiences in hospital and how I strongly believe there are certain things which need to be changed or adapted so to not add further trauma to individuals who are inpatients in hospital, that is a detriment to their mental health and wellbeing. One thing that I am aware of is that medication has evidence to suggest it works in altering the release or uptake of specific brain chemicals or neurotransmitters, reducing the symptoms of mental health conditions. however it is known that the environmental factors that go into causing someones mental health symptoms to decline can also be of a great degree. I strongly feel that the science behind the medication having effect takes a much higher priority to the staff in psychiatric units, than does the impact of environmental causes on mental health issues, when treating patients in hospital from first hand experience. personally I have been recovering from the environmental impact of the psychiatric services on my mental health so much so, that I strongly believe that if a person did not have many things to fill their life outside of hospital, the thoughts of the way in which the environment and actions of staff towards patients could have on an individual would be so prominent in their thoughts that it could lead to further mental health decline. science is not supposed to be in a place of authority over anyone, it merely serves to understand the way in which nature operates. science should in my opinion be used to help people, not hurt people. the impact of the environment on our mental health is just as much science as is the administration of medication as we know that action potentials in neorons, or neuroplasticity tells us that the thoughts we have about our environment determines the neural pathways and their circuitry in the brain. however hospitals appear to have a large amount of their attention focused on the medicinal impact and not enough attention on the environmental impact. some examples of things I have been through in hospital are. Being so forcefully pinned down when I first ever experienced a psychiatric unit, whilst not fully understanding where I was. that I had purple bruises up my arms from them restraining me. I did not get any explanation from the staff as to why they where doing what they where doing or what they where going to do to me. the staff where acting like machines that administer medication, no matter how traumatic or devastating the way in which they do that is. Being locked in a seclusion room without being allowed to use the bathroom, merely handed a cardboard pot to use whilst being watched by the staff that treated me in such a violent manner. this was the first time I experienced a psychiatric unit, I was not acting aggressively, however I was distressed. there are so many ways in which this should have been addressed differently. there needs to be training and awareness made of the human trait known as empathy. which requires the ability to imagine yourself in a persons situation and gage how you would feel in their circumstances. If the staff had any awareness of this they would not have treated me in such a way. There needs to be an explanation given to the patient as to what is happening and why it is happening, a persons mood can be regulated through compassionate staff and their approach, which will be a benefit for a persons over all mental health. whilst writing this I am shocked that I even have to write these things down, because it should be common sense. Following my first admission to hospital I began suffering such severe PTSD from being physically maltreated that I could barely function. I was suffering nightmares and flashbacks and could not get the experiences out of my thinking. I was also suffering fibromyalgia brought on by the ptsd. before my first admission to hospital I was working in canada as a snowboarding instructor suffering no mental health problems. living an overall very happy life. and following my first admission to hospital my mental health deteriorated because of the treatment I received. to me is evidence to suggest that this hospital admission was a greater detriment to my mental health than it was a benefit. I found a private psychotherapist in an attempt to recover from the experiences of being secluded and restrained by the staff in the hospital, and it took me well over a year to experience any decrease in my symptoms which impacted my ability to study, and also triggered another hospital admission. it became a self fulfilling prophecy. during a following hospital admission I was standing just inside the male corridor. I was doing a type of trauma therapy to myself called emotional freedom technique or eft tapping for short, which has been shown through studies to work. I was half way through a round of eft and the staff told me to move. because I remained still (as I was only half way through trying to reduce my anxiety symptoms ) whilst I carried on doing it they physically grabbed hold of me and dragged me to the seclusion room where I was left for an estimate of 12 hours. they came in and surrounded me, a nurse aggressively grabbed the bed that I was lying on and dragged it away from the wall, she then pushed me over and injected me with medication, all the while acting like I had done something so wrong that they had the right to treat me with anger and cruelty. during the same hospital admission one of the male staff barged into the bathroom whist I was using it, I was very scared and held up my hand as a gesture that I would do something if he didn't back away from me. which in my opinion is a very natural reaction to his behaviour. I did not plan or want to act in a violent way and would not follow through it was a gesture to protect myself, it was a reflex response from fear of being physically hurt by this man. he then dragged me into the seclusion room and I was left in there for a long time. these experiences leave emotional wounds, they do not just go away when you leave hospital. if the staff showed any compassion or desire to help your overall well being on the ward the ability of a persons ability to cope with the experience would increase. It is evident to me that there was more violence and hostility shown by the staff members than myself during this hospital admission. yet I have things written on my medical records suggesting I was violent without any context of the staffs behaviour and attitude which is entirely unfair and is victim blaming. nobody is immune to a mental health crisis, if you put anyone through enough stress and trauma it will likely happen, and the mental health services have done exactly that. the science of medication is accurate and works. however I believe I would have been better off if I did not go into hospital and let the psychosis like experiences that I was having naturally come to an end, than going through what I did to get the medical treatment. the trauma greatly outweighed the medical help I received leading to an overall decline in my mental health. taking a kind and gentle approach to treating patients doesn't make the effectiveness of medication any less, it actually lines someone up for a better recovery. staff need to be trained on how to support and look after patients. it lead me to have a huge distrust for the services and their ability to help people causing me to depend on alternative means of support. just because something is legal, doesn't mean it is right or that it helps. rules need to be tightened and staff need to be monitored. or else the mental health services does not serve a purpose other than to cage individuals suffering with their mental health.