Monday 6 October 2008

Ignored: the mentally ill killed by drugs that are meant to help them

I just saw this, whilst looking for something else:

Ignored: the mentally ill killed by drugs that are meant to help them

Rufus May, a clinical psychologist, said yesterday: "The real tragedy about Daniel's death is that it symbolises how little things have changed in psychiatry. Young lives are still being wasted because we fail to listen to people and simply prescribe powerful drugs with little regard for their physical well being. The fact we continue to see people with schizophrenia as fundamentally different means we think it is acceptable to treat them differently."

No doubt it wasn't the drugs, nor the ignorance, but his "condition" that killed Daniel. At least, that enables everybody concerned to wash their hands of responsibility, whilst placing all of it on the shoulders of the person least able to carry it (Daniel), who is, conveniently, also the one person unable to express an opinion as to where the fault lay, now. Nice and tidy. Fucking halfwits.

Of course, not all of us are vulnerable, even if we continue to be ignored.

Matt

2 comments:

Tracy said...

So sad. I think sometimes it's easier for someone to prescribe the meds than go a different route.

I don't think I've heard about this case. I'd be interested in finding out more. Where did you find this?

Radagast said...

I was just scrolling down the Independent's frontpage, and the headline caught my eye. It summed up how I was treated by the system, I think, and how I view the system, too: it doesn't know how to fix anybody, so drug for the poor bastards up, treat them like imbeciles, and make a pretty profit from it. The only losers are the patients. Sad and sordid, in equal measure, I think.

Matt