Lived Experience Forum

[kenny66]

Watched a very interesting program on SBS tonight centered around Sydney's Liverpool Mental Unit. Really excellent presentation. Dealt with a bipolar IT guy who couldn't get work because of his condition and a whole lot of other stories as well.

Its on tomorrow night and one of the stories deals with a patient who has an ECT session., which I have had experience with. It dispels the myths somewhat on this treatment option.

The stories are multifaceted and sometimes humorous. I can highly recommend it. There is also the "crack up" extravaganza on SBS Friday night which is all about mental health

[NikNik]

Hi Kenny, I believe it's ABC, as part of their "Mental As.." Campaign.

I thought it was very well done & I will be tuning in tonight again.

[Alessandra1992]

It was amazing that these wonderful consumers, carers and staff were allowing us to follow parts of their journey...challenging and thought provoking...I am hoping we see all consumers getting well as tough watching people being unwell..

[kenny66]

Sorry I got it mixed up-the crack up extravaganza is on ABC as well.

The Josh Thomas series straight after, PLEASE LIKE ME,dealt with a mental health theme with his bipolar mother and his new boyfriend with anxiety issues. 

It was interesting in the CHANGING MINDS episode about the transition between various degrees of MI. The manic guy slipping into schizoaffective Disorder as his unwellness progressed and the various levels of severity with the woman with uncontrolled bipolar who lacked any insight about her condition.

Some of the subtlety. of the conditions may have been difficult to understand by an audience not used to mental illness but I did think it gave an effective snapshot of the diversity and non discriminatory way that mental illness affects all demographics.

The second episode should be good tonight. From what I understand it gets into some more complex dimensions to mental health and treatment.

Kenny

[tam63]

Yes,I enjoyed it also, but at work today someone asked the question: why did the professionals always use jargon, like how is your mood, have you baselined, etc ? Why did they not ask how people were in more general terms?
I am just passing on a comment from my workplace.

Tam63

[kenny66]

Well I think they were talking to patients and other health professionals and not really talking to the viewers per se.

I believe it was supposed to give a perspective about what actually happens in a mental health clinic warts and all, not staged for the television viewer.

As I mentioned earlier the average audience may not have understood everything perfectly well but the upside is that it may encourage people to research the subject for themselves or ask questions to become informed, which really is the point of mental health week.

I have unfortunately spent a lot of my life in mental health clinics and I have to say that that program showed an absolutely accurate picture as to what happens day to day.

After watching that program I was amazed how similar life in clinics mirror each other. That could have been any mental health unit I have been in.

If you are watching tonight you might be interested in the bit about ECT. I did 6 sessions of this and there is a lot of stigma and ignorance surrounding that procedure, which can in some cases can be a bit of a miracle cure.

Of further interest, I was up our local shopping centre today, which is very much a village centre. The boss from the post office and the newsagent plus the pharmacist cornered me, all having seen the program.

Everyone in the shops knows I am schizophrenic and none have any issues with it. If anything they mother me. Anyway I got lots of questions about what they had seen and their different interpretations of the program.Even the pharmacist found it a bit of an eye opener.

So just goes to show how much interest there is in the subject

[morningstar]

it was good to the see the reality of ECT being given today as well, insteady of the scary old footage from movies. Good, sensitive doco - scenes that are familiar to many of us, but quite a revelation for many in the community.

[Loopy]

Over the years I have had countless ECT treatments, some worked for a day or two others nil effect. In my experience it is not quite as depicted on tv. I mean to say it is not bad but the methodology varies from place to place. The best part , for me was, in the recovery room. I woke up and i thought I was in that "Heaven" place and I was being attended two by two angels. My first one was scarey, ignorance, but from then on, for me, it was just like getting out of bed, a matter of been there done that. There is nothing to be scared about it is just a new life experience and them is just another event.

[kenny66]

Hi Loopy

I had the opposite experience. It definitely had a major positive effect on my mood. The ABC series seem to infer that it was a one off treatment but mine was a series of sessions quite close together.

It definitley helped in  alleviating my synmptoms. Only problem was I had memory loss and was disorientated for quite a while.

Mine was very simple, pretty well as depicted in the documentary. Nothing scary about it.

Kenny

[Loopy]

Kenny, I suppose like everything different strokes for different folks. ECT had the effect of major recall of all the crap that I attended. I think in the show it was mentioned that the ECT was every other day, which is what happened to me. Mon. Wed. and friday for two weeks, no effect except a high I would pay quids for now, then in the pit again. I am happy that they had a positive effect for you. "May the wind be always at your back".

Cheers and good fortune,

Loopy.