Leaving Australian Mental Health System

 

1.Introduction

There are several challenges in leaving the Australian mental health system. An individual that has been in the mental health system for many years might be accustomed to the mental health support and might not stay well for long after losing all of some of the mental health services.

It is hard to determine if an individual has a lifelong mental illness. Mental health issues are caused by:

• Physical issues with the mind (genetics, alcohol and drug abuse),
• And lifestyle challenges (employment, personal life, social life, finances, education).

A psychiatrist must monitor the lifestyle of the patient to determine if he and she is living a normal or average life and thus should be discharged.

 

2.Stopping Medication/Injections

Even small dosages of medication can cause medicational unemployment. People might experience dizziness, blurred vision and drowsiness. They will spend more time sleeping, not being able to wake up early for work and feel depression that can will affect their work speed and performance.

There are a number of non profit organisations and individuals that are complaining against involuntary treatment, known as Community Treatment Order (CTO). Examples include Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council Inc and Think Mental Health Western Australia.

However, most medications reduce anxiety and slow down the brain function, causing the individual to think slowly and prevent sudden decisions that the patients might regret in the future.

Stopping the medication will make the individual more anxious, causing sleep problems and possible relapses of psychotic or violent episodes.

 

3.Leaving Social Groups

Social groups include:

• Respite,
• Day Trips,
• Art Groups,
• Movie Groups,
• Social Meetups (Grow Meetings),
• Conferences,
• Pizza nights,
• Recovery College,
• Other hobby groups (electronics).

Those groups prevent isolation that can stimulate mental illnesses. By coming to social groups an individual will experience less psychotic and aggressive episodes.

Many individuals that left the mental health system could no longer communicate with their former friends. They became isolated and would spend more time thinking disturbing thoughts that were previously prevented by personal communication being a distraction from anxiety, psychosis and depression. An end in relationships also caused depression and anxiety.

Several social groups are moving from Government (local, state federal) to NDIS funding.

 

4.Leaving NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) Support

NDIS support includes the social group. However, additional NDIS services also provide:

• Psychologists,
• Counselling,
• Home cleaning,
• Meal preparation,
• Clothes washing,
• Speech therapy,
• Support workers (traveling, appointments, shopping).

 

Australian NDIS issues and problems include:

• Individuals not being able to access some of their funds if their provider is not NDIS registered,
• Services not fully covered by the NDIS (laundry detergent, washing machine fees, petrol, ingredients of the meals, shopping expenses).

 

5.Leaving Disability Support Pension

Problems with leaving disability support pension include the following:

• Going to jail and possessing a criminal record if Government agency identifies you as someone who was misdiagnosed with a disability and failed to report diagnosis error that would make an individual not eligible for pension,
• Not receiving any unemployment benefits/concession card from the Government while the disability support pension status is under review,
• Being black listed by Government social welfare agency as fraud,
• Not being able to go back to receiving disability support pension.

6.Carer Support

Carers can include family members or NDIS supporter workers. Several patients lose their carers when they change their address or lose their NDIS funding package. There are people with mental illness that require 24/7-hour care. They could be sleep walking, not sleeping well, having arguments with family members, friends, employers, fellow staff and partners. A carer provides a mentally ill person with non-stop moral support and hope. After many years without a carer the individual might go back to loosing hope in life’s their future employment, business and relationship prospects.

 

7.Conclusion

Leaving the mental health system should be planned for long term from the moment of initial mental illness diagnosis, not only with individual but with family members and friends.

Several individuals are forced to come back to mental health support after becoming unwell. This could be due to:

• losing a job,
• bankruptcy,
• business failure,
• family and relationships issues,
• recurring memories of mental health trauma,
• relapses in psychosis, anxiety and depression due stopping of medication treatment,
• trauma acquired from staying in mental hospitals and mental institutions,
• rising stress levels due to no longer receiving treatment (medications, moral support),
• poor confidence due to past mental health issues,
• poor mind performance due to brain damage caused by the medication,
• discrimination against current/past mental illness/mental disability caused by leaks in the mental health system that expose the individual’s mental health diagnosis and symptoms.

 

Dr Mark Glickman, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, drmarkglickman@yahoo.com