I wasn't going to blog today -- the sabbath and all -- but an edition of CBC radio's The Current has nudged me to do so. Yesterday former Bare Naked Lady band front man Steven Page hosted a program on mental health. http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/ He was chosen because of his own struggles with depression which he feels contributed to circumstances leading to his arrest for drug use a couple of years ago.
The program was an honest, "bare naked" exploration of a subject often cloaked in secrecy. People still don't want to publically acknowledge mental ill health because of the stigma and the practical implications.
It was pointed out that in Canada those worst served are teens, with only one in five getting adequate support from the "system." I put quotations around the word system because there is little that is systematic about mental health care. One doctor speaking about the problems with mental health care noted that if only one in five people who needed a hip replacement received one there would be a hue and cry. True. I had never heard before about the Evergreen mental health project for children and teens http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/Pages/evergreen.aspx
I have mentioned before that walking with those with mental health issues, everything from debilitating depression to often dangerous bipolar illness and schizophrenia is a regular aspect of my ministry. It's so hard to see the individuals themselves and those who support them going through the nightmare of finding adequate support. We can advocate and pray for better health care.
Any comments on this? Have you experienced your own challenges in finding support through the medical system? Do you have any positive examples from your experience?
3 comments:
Tough subject.
The biggest problem is how do you know who has a problem with depression? Usually the person with the problem is the last to know.
We all feel that the way we feel is normal, because it is the way we always remember feeling.
I have a little experience with dealing with a loved one in depression, and alot of experience dealing with greif.
How do you seperate clinical depression from the little things in life that drag at you day in and day out? Stress of having a young family, 1st house, single income, changing jobs, short on cash.
"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times."
I could take a number of positives out of the above list, but someone depressed would see most, if not all of the above as negative. Add to that an obsessive compulsive tendancy towards cleanliness, and I can only reflect on the internal turmoil she must have endured.
Suiside is all too often the end result.
For those of us who have good mental health it is impossible to fathom taking your own life as a solution to a problem. Survival is the most basic instinct we have. From plane crash survivors to people pulled out of collapsed buildings we want to cling to this life.
"You'll have to kill me before I die" is one of my favorite movie quotes. Another is my dad responding to my mom after she told him he would break his neck fixing the roof himself.
"If the good lord comes for me, I'm going. Don't matter if my feet are on the ground, or on the roof".
As for medical support doctors can only diagnose what they can see. Our family doctor told me she would not give much information. A big question a doctor must ask is "Do you ever have suisidal thoughts?" Because many anti- depressants list suisidal tendancies as a side effect. The danger as it was described to me is when the drug is wearing off. You still have the energy of the stimulant, but the depression is coming back. That is the danger time. They feel overwhelmed, and have the energy to do something about it.
The other thing is the doctor cannot say anything, unless they see a clear and present danger.
My wife was on anti-depressent medication, for months before the end. I only got all the details after. He did not see her as a risk because she had so much to live for. Remember the afformentioned list.
I hold no bad feelings for the professionals who knew more about the situation than I did. I lived in the same house, and was unable to see the problem.
There needs to be more help, but I'll pray for those who suffer alone, inside themselves, and don't think they are any different from the rest of us.
Thank you for responding sjd. That took courage, but it is important. Another reader who has lived through the suicide of a loved one tried to respond but hasn't quite figured out the technology.
You make a number of important points. Just because we think there is a lot to live for, it doesn't mean that those in the throes of mental illness can see what we see.
You also remind us that our privacy laws make it next to impossible to discover what the health care professionals have concluded, even for those who are the principal supporters.
We have a long way to go. Again, thank you.
I add this with permission from reader Janet, who sent it as an email.
David – thanks for blogging on this particular subject. I listened keenly to guest host Steven Page who managed a useful articulate discussion on the crying need for recognition, acceptance and improved services for the mentally ill. His guests including Robert Munsch spoke from personal experience. One more effort to bring this subject out of the closet.
Mental illness is a greater “disease burden” on our health care system than ALL the cancers combined. (Source: Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health). I believe that 5% of our health care budget goes to mental health.
Regrettably my experience/challenges with the system have been negative. Two issues dominate: the awful stigma, and the privacy quirks of the Mental Health Act which effectively tie the hands of those friends/family in the front lines providing more support than the system itself. I can’t take on the government to change the act, but perhaps I can try to open hearts and minds to begin to dispel the stigma.
Am I on a mission? You bet I am!
Janet
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