To mark World Mental Health
Day today (10 October), I decided to feature an updated version of an article I
wrote two years ago about mental health care in NSW on this blog. The story never
saw the light of day. Although not specifically targeted at the gay community,
the subject concerns everyone. Mental illness doesn’t discriminate. We all have
a friend, family member or know of an acquaintance that has suffered from depression
or needed counselling.
I believe it’s vital that
politicians be made aware and deal with the stigma attached to mental health
care in order to help those in need. Any society or nation is judged on the
basis of how it treats its weakest members. It’s time for Australia to realise
that sweeping the problem underneath the carpet isn’t going to make it go away!
When Australian actor Matthew Newton
displayed schizophrenia-like symptoms a couple of years ago during a trip to
Rome where he allegedly physically assaulted his then-girlfriend, Rachael
Taylor, in a hotel lobby, the troubled actor was able to fly back to Australia
and check into a private clinic in Sydney’s west. Unlike Newton, who can afford
the best available treatment, most Australian families have a harder time
finding adequate care for their mentally-ill loved ones.
With the closure of Callan
Park’s Rozelle Hospital in New South Wales four years ago, one of the last
public sanctuaries for people with psychiatric problems disappeared for good.
Many patients such as Joan Harrow’s* two children, both formerly treated at the
mental institution for schizophrenia, were relocated to busy hospital emergency
wards.
Because of a lack of bed
space, acute inpatient units are often under pressure to discharge patients
prematurely to make room for new admissions. Just like putting a Band Aid on a
gaping wound, they are only a quick fix solution.
“A very large number of girls who develop
schizophrenia will be raped because they are not being kept in hospital;
families can’t protect them because they run away,” says Joan.
“My daughter has been raped,
and pack-raped.”
Joan and her husband have
four children, two of whom are affected by mental illness. The symptoms began
when Joan’s 46-year-old son and 52-year-old daughter were in their late teens
and experimenting with marijuana.
“My son tried to cut his
throat with a carving knife. He then tried to hang himself. The marks of the
cord on his neck were visible for ten days,” she says.
Her son has since tried to
commit suicide several times, the last time jumping from the second storey of a
building, breaking both legs.
Joan believes that
psychiatric hospitals are needed to provide a place where patients can feel
safe, connect with nature and heal. She says it’s not just about protecting the
community; it’s also about protecting the vulnerable. Using general hospitals
as dumping grounds for the mentally ill isn’t going to solve any problems. It
only heaps stress onto frontline workers such as doctors, nurses, paramedics
and police who are already overstretched.
Psychiatric bed numbers in
Australia have decreased by 80 per cent in 40 years while the population has
doubled, but there are no plans to restore Rozelle Hospital. Development
proposals for the land that sits on the shores of Iron Cove, in Lilyfield, have
included an aged care facility, private housing and a university campus.
Roslyn Burge, a historian
and member of Friends of Callan Park, emphasises the importance of retaining
Rozelle Hospital’s mental health services.
“We have people coming to
our monthly meetings who have terrible stories to tell about a family member
getting turned away from overcrowded emergency wards, ending up homeless or in
jail.”
Joan Harrow agrees that not
enough services are available for people who need them. She says holidays such
as Christmas and Easter are especially dangerous for people with mental
illness. They are more likely to harm themselves.
“Very often the services
that you can call on close down for the holidays and you’re left in a really
difficult situation.”
The day before Australia Day
2010, Roslyn Burge lost a close friend to suicide.
“When it happens to someone
who is close to you, your feelings hit another degree of emotion,” she says,
tears in her eyes. Roslyn’s friend was in and out of hospital for two years and
underwent many treatments including ECT and drug therapy. She committed suicide
at Sydney’s Gap, leaving behind a husband, and two daughters in their mid and
late-twenties.
“Extraordinary amounts of public money and
private donations go towards patients suffering from physical illnesses,” says
Roslyn. “Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about mental illness.” As a
result, much of the patient’s care falls upon family members and their own
community.
“You wouldn’t expect someone
with cancer to take their chemotherapy treatment at home,” she adds. “It’s a
huge cost to the public, yet no one objects.”
Joan Harrow says her
children have been doing better since taking the drug Clozapine and that her
daughter now lives on her own. She admits she is worried about her son’s future
as he is less independent. For now, he will continue living with her and her
husband.
“He’s good company, very
likeable and helps us around the house and garden. A person who is mentally-ill
isn’t necessarily miserable and useless.”
With four million
Australians suffering from mental health problems in any given year and only
one third of them getting treatment, it is obvious that government should no
longer be allowed to sweep the issue under the carpet. More funding is needed
and the lack of resources must be addressed. Every Australian deserves to be
treated with dignity and to have access to the right kind of help, whether a
celebrity like Matthew Newton or the average man on the street. In the end,
it’s all about vision and will.
*Not her real name
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