Mental Health Care in Australia: Free Garth...

This man's plight and that of his family, recently came to my attention. I'm hoping that by discussing the issue, more people will become aware of this kind of treatment and perhaps this will help to generate the political interest that will be necessary to change the system.

I'll start here...

The laws are not like this in all parts of the world. The ones in Victoria, Australia border on the barbaric.

The family is afraid their son will be killed by/within the system. The fears are not at all unfounded...


‎

What can a parent do?

This is one of the doctors who treated Garth...

So... let's discuss.


Music of the Hour: [video=youtube;gH2efAcmBQM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH2efAcmBQM[/video]

 

Your link doesn't work - can you provide another one?

I have a better one:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/local/vic/a/-/local/9690341/7news-exposes-medical-scandal/

He sounds like a dangerous doctor, certainly not one who should be still working!

 

Chief Psychiatrist - Ruth Vine
ruth.vine@health.vic.gov.au; ruth.vine@dhs.vic.gov.au

http://health.vic.go...ist/contact.htm


Minister of Health - David Davis
david.davis@parliament.vic.gov.au

http://www.vic.gov.a...26-7f05e1c8ad54


State Treasurer - Kim Wells
kim.wells@parliament.vic.gov.au

http://www.kimwells.com.au/


Minister of Corrections - Andrew McIntosh
andrew.mcintosh@parliament.vic.gov.au

http://www.parliamen.../members/id/126

 

Chief Psychiatrist - Ruth Vine
ruth.vine@health.vic.gov.au; ruth.vine@dhs.vic.gov.au

http://health.vic.go...ist/contact.htm


Minister of Health - David Davis
david.davis@parliament.vic.gov.au

http://www.vic.gov.a...26-7f05e1c8ad54


State Treasurer - Kim Wells
kim.wells@parliament.vic.gov.au

http://www.kimwells.com.au/


Minister of Corrections - Andrew McIntosh
andrew.mcintosh@parliament.vic.gov.au

http://www.parliamen.../members/id/126

 

Chief Psychiatrist - Ruth Vine
ruth.vine@health.vic.gov.au; ruth.vine@dhs.vic.gov.au

http://health.vic.go...ist/contact.htm


Minister of Health - David Davis
david.davis@parliament.vic.gov.au

http://www.vic.gov.a...26-7f05e1c8ad54


State Treasurer - Kim Wells
kim.wells@parliament.vic.gov.au

http://www.kimwells.com.au/


Minister of Corrections - Andrew McIntosh
andrew.mcintosh@parliament.vic.gov.au

http://www.parliamen.../members/id/126

 

Thank you for your response Makedee, and for providing a working link. If you have difficulties with any of the other links, please let me know. I am new here, still trying to work my way past babysitter status and apparently, like everyone else, trying to figure out how the new software works. To that end, if anyone can tell me how to delete the multiple postings -- please share. If no one can, at least people won't have any difficulty finding the public officials they can take any concerns to.

 

Gosh. Someone still needs to hold my hand for every breath I take in this space Yes, I understand. I might be some sort of spammer and the masses must be protected. That doesn't mean it's not frustrating.

When I have the freedom to speak freely and openly here -- if I ever do -- I'll try to join into an actual discussion. In the interim, this discussion is being held at other sites on the net. I'd love to hold one here too but it may be that the fates and the software are not going to cooperate. It's taken me two weeks just to get this far.

 

A link that will likely be referenced several times throughout the course of this discussion. Anyone else reading along, whether you're from Victoria, Australia or not, might find it eye-opening to do a search on the net to see what the mental health laws are in your geographical region and therefore, what the likelihood is that you, your child, your sibling, your friend, your spouse or your parent, might find themselves vulnerable to being held for involuntary treatment.

What you should pay particular attention to is whether or not you will have the right to refuse treatment or to select treatment. For example, you would surely want the right to refuse psychosurgery (lobotomy). You might also want to have the right to refuse electro-convulsive shock treatment as well as treatment with specific medications.

The medications that are used to treat psychosis are referred to as anti-psychotics or neuroleptics. Other medications that might be included in pharmaceutical approaches include anti-depressants, anti-convulsants, anti-anxiety agents, etc. Some people report that these classes of medications are very helpful to them; many others do not. It is known that the medications come with a wide range of side-effects ranging from mildly discomforting to life-threatening and fatal. One recognized risk of treatment with anti-psychotics/neuroleptics is Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome. Other side effects include cardiac complications, including cardiac arrest; metabolic disorders, including diabetes; neurological disorders, including strokes. In short, these are very powerful medications -- they have the capacity to help and they also have the capacity to inflict great harm.

It's for these reasons that Garth's parents are concerned about the medications. If you or a loved one should ever find yourself being treated for some form of "mental illness" you should also be concerned about the medications, strive to educate yourself about the risks and benefits and also, pay close attention to the response to the medication. Ideally, the response will produce some form of improvement. If it produces harm however, that particular form of treatment can no longer be said to be helpful.

VICTORIA's MENTAL HEALTH LAWS:

 

WHAT CAUSES PSYCHOSIS:

Garth originally went to the hospital in 1996 after having a negative response to smoking pot at a party. There is a link between cannabis and psychosis for some people. Please note, I don't wish to get involved in any discussion about whether people should or should not smoke pot. Nor do I wish to get into a discussion regarding the "evils" or "merits" of pot. The point of the matter is that many people -- young and old -- smoke pot and in some of those people, it triggers psychosis. (If you're one of those people or you know some of those people, it might be worth your while to pay extra close attention.) Quite often, the negative effect is short-lived and wears off along with the effects of the drug however I have known of many people who were diagnosed as schizophrenic as based on their experiences with cannabis and other forms of "recreational drugs".

There are many other potential triggers of psychosis, such as:

- Stress
- Trauma
- Loss
- Severe depression
- Grief
- Sleep deprivation
- Reactions to prescription drugs
- Reactions to street drugs
- Meditation
- Milk
- Gluten
- Viruses such as Lyme disease
- Brain tumors

The article I opened this discussion with states that psychosis can also be caused by solitary confinement in an environment that is soundless.

 

What is neuroleptic malignant syndrome

 

In an elsewhere conversation, a participant suggested that Garth (and others like him) end up in the hospital because they are in danger and must be protected. I asked that individual if they thought the following information warranted a danger tag...

I think it's quite possible that Garth's treatment over these past sixteen years with multiple chemical cocktails, forced medication, forced electroshock, and care dispensed in the form of numerous community treatment orders, has taken a toll. It may even be what's making him so unwell. How many other people have been affected? We could only guess. Quite likely, thousands.

Meantime his family is terribly concerned, highly distressed, and very much aware that they have very little power. The laws need to change.

If someone is maimed, damaged, or killed under the guise of compassionate forced treatment -- is that still compassionate care or is it capital punishment? Just as valid a question -- who's responsible? The government? The doctors? The public?

 

Why do you think doctors and nurses and social workers etc are setting out to harm their patients?

 

I suspect that remarkably few are setting out to do so. However, they all invested some years and cash in some training and because they put in a lot of effort and money, they want to believe it was also thorough and complete. It wasn't. Professionals are taught that mental illness is a brain disease and anti-psychotic medication is the first line of defense. It was known, many years back that there was a puzzling relationship between medication and relapse rates but that data was also pushed aside in a wave of marketing efforts from the pharmaceutical industry, as coupled with a government requirement for care on the cheap and a mainstream clamor for an easy answer.

What's more, medications do help some people -- particularly over the short term -- and that's the term that these same individuals are most likely to be in contact with professionals. This too contributes to the concept that medication will be the best form of treatment. If that treatment does work for the individual, it's a good thing. Problems arise however when the treatment is producing harm as opposed to help. In those cases, people are often branded as non-compliant and harsher forms of treatment are initiated: electroshock, forced injection, restraint, seclusion.

Professionals are also part of a larger system that must adhere to a communal standard, even if the standard is wrong. Doctors, nurses, social workers -- they can probably all cite examples of times they felt they had to do something wrong in order to maintain their employment, not be penalized or overlooked when it came time for promotions and raises, etc. There are also instances of some professionals trying to take a stand and being harshly penalized for doing so. One friend noted that the mental health system in some countries is not set up to encourage wellness and recovery, it's to produce containment. Producing recovery requires a different approach from producing containment.

Lastly, there is also a long history of stigma, steeped in bias, ignorance and sometimes, prejudice against those deemed to be mentally ill. Violence, in particular, is often wrongfully linked with so-called schizophrenics so when people hear about them dying, they may be inclined to think, "Perhaps that's not such a bad thing." Violence however, is a rarity. In one study that comes to mind, researchers went into the prison system and assessed all the violent offenders. What they found was that only around 10% of the violent acts could be attributed to those who were "mentally ill". Of those 10%, alcohol had played a role in 7% of the acts. The truly startling thing about that study was that it demonstrated that 90% of the violent acts were committed by those considered sane and sober -- presumably, the "mentally well".

 

I'd like to add that I am aware of a number of young people in particular who, like Garth, smoked dope and ended up at a hospital. They get treated with anti-psychotics and relapse if they try to come off. At that point, their diagnoses shifts up from "drug-induced" or "brief, reactive" psychosis to schizophrenia, schizoaffective, etc. and that's it. Thereafter, the presumption is that they must take medication for the rest of their life, by force, if necessary.

In many of these people, the issue may have been that they never should have been treated with anti-psychotics for a short-term psychosis that may well have abated on its own.

If they were treated with anti-psychotics, they also likely weren't withdrawn slowly off the medication. Abrupt withdrawal nearly always spells a relapse due to the sensitivity developed by the brain in response to exposure to anti-psychotics. This fellow explains the process well...

 

So doctors et al harm their patients because they are ignorant, or to keep their jobs, or for fear of punishment?

 

Let's not make it all about me, Colonel K. It would be interesting to gain some understanding into your perspectives as well. For example, what do you think may have contributed to the following scenario...

 

Do professionals ever behave in a punitive manner towards the people in their care? It sounds as if they do sometimes...

-- Did everyone catch that? The patients who did not consent to electroshock treatment – presumably because they were concerned it wouldn’t help and would harm -- were being forced to comply and then, being subjected to even more electroshock treatment than the people who had consented.

According to his father, Garth received a series of 11 forced electroshock treatments over a period of three days. The experience was so distressing to Garth, he ran away from the hospital. That was enough to get him labelled as “an absconder”.

 

The legalities...

Those quotes are taken direct from the Mental Health Act. Due to the wording, it almost sounds as if Informed Consent means you have to say 'Yes.' If you say no, you're not capable of consenting and the treatment can then be carried out without your consent. In other words, it's a catch 22 -- there is no way out.

 

‎... One of the first English physicians to write extensively on madness, its nature, and the proper treatment for it was Thomas Willis. He as highly admired for his investigations into the nervous system, and his 1684 text on insanity set the tone for the many medical guides that would be written over the next 100 years by English mad-doctors. The book’s title neatly summed up his views of the mad: The Practice of Physick: Two Discourses Concerning the Soul of Brutes.

His belief—that the insane were animal-like in kind—reflected prevailing conceptions about the nature of man. The great English scientists and philosophers of the seventeenth century—Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, John Locke, and others—had all argued that reason was the faculty that elevated humankind above the animals. This was the form of intelligence that enabled man to scientifically know his world, and to create a civilized society. Thus the insane, by virtue of having lost their reason, were seen as having descended to a brutish state.

They were, Willis explained, fierce creatures who enjoyed superhuman strength.

“They can break cords and chains, break down doors or walls … they are almost never tired … they bear cold, heat, watching, fasting, strokes, and wounds, without any sensible hurt.”” The mad, he added, if they were to be cured, needed to hold their physicians in awe and think of them as their ““tormentors.”

Discipline, threats, fetters, and blows are needed as much as medical treatment … Truly nothing is more necessary and more effective for the recovery of these people than forcing them to respect and fear intimidation. By this method, the mind, held back by restraint is induced to give up its arrogance and wild ideas and it soon becomes meek and orderly. This is why maniacs often recover much sooner if they are treated with tortures and torments in a hovel instead of with medicaments.​

A medical paradigm for treating the mad had been born, and eighteenth-century English medical texts regularly repeated this basic wisdom. In 1751, Richard Mead explained that the madman was a brute who could be expected to “attack his fellow creatures with fury like a wild beast” and thus needed “to be tied down and even beat, to prevent his doing mischief to himself or others.”

Thomas Bakewell told of how a maniac “bellowed like a wild beast, and shook his chain almost constantly for several days and nights … I therefore got up, took a hand whip, and gave him a few smart stripes upon the shoulders… He disturbed me no more.”

Physician Charles Bell, in his book Essays on the Anatomy of Expression in Painting, advised artists wishing to depict madmen ““to learn the character of the human countenance when devoid of expression, and reduced to the state of lower animals.””

Like all wild animals, lunatics needed to be dominated and broken...

Source: Rad Geek Review: Mad in America: http://radgeek.com/gt/2006/03/18/over_my/


[video=youtube;UEqrXHqMAx4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEqrXHqMAx4[/video]

 

More personal accounts of abuse, terror, and trauma...

 

Nope. Nothing untoward happening here. Nothing but state of the art psychiatric care...


CHILDREN younger than four who are considered mentally disturbed are being treated with controversial electric shock treatment.

Medicare figures show the use of Electroconvulsive Therapy has tripled in Victoria in the private health sector alone in six years. A VicHealth report confirms more than 18,000 treatments were conducted in Victoria in 2007-2008. Federal Government statistics show the use of ECT - an electric shock delivered straight to the brain - in the state's private health system increased from 1944 treatments in 2001-2002 to 6009 in 2007-2008.

About 12,000 treatments were performed in the public health system last financial year.

Medicare statistics record 203 ECT treatments on children younger than 14 - including 55 aged four and younger. Two of the under-4s were in Victoria.

Last financial year, 6197 ECT treatments were given to Victorians against their will.

... Increasing numbers of patients who had been forced into ECT treatment were contacting the Mental Health Legal Centre claiming they were tortured, Vivienne Topp, a lawyer and policy adviser said.

... Bioethicist Assoc Prof Nicholas Tonti-Filippini supported ECT on children, saying some toddlers were "disturbed".

Source: http://www.heraldsun...x-1111118657718

 

Excerpts taken from the Free Garth Daniel's page on facebook: http://www.facebook....reeGarthDaniels

... he was severely assaulted, has sustained a fractured cheekbone, swollen face, swollen eyes and bleeding visible in the right eye.

... Thomas Embling waited 17 hours before taking him off to an EMERGENCY room in another hospital.....Thomas Embling (hospital) does not have the usual hospital necessities.

... It appears that the Doctors at the Emergency rooms in a different hospital (namely the AUSTIN hospital in Heidelberg, Victoria) were perhaps reluctant to treat Garth there, as he was handcuffed to a burly guard, which I'm sure would have given the impression of him being a very dangerous patient.

... Whilst Garth was in the Emergency room's bed, he was HANDCUFFED with both hands, forced to be attached to only one side of the bed.....a most uncomfortable position coupled with excrutiating pain from his face.

... Garth was sent back to Thomas Embling so they could look after him. ??? Do they care?? They didn't even notify Garth's family of the assault! When Garth's family turned up to visit him (yesterday....17 hours after the assault), they said they were going to send Garth to hospital....but they WOULDN'T SAY WHICH HOSPITAL he was being sent to.....

... When Garth's clever family figured out which hospital Garth might have been taken to, Thomas Embling's security guard tried to deny Garth's mum and dad from seeing him! How incredible is that?? Seems some of these employees have too much power-crazy ideas....forget about what is legal!!!

 

From an earlier posting:

 

My email to Dr. Vine: ruth.vine@dhs.vic.gov.au

Subject: Garth Daniels

His plight and that of others caught within the cruelty and ineptness of the system you are in charge of is generating increasing interest on the internet. People are horrified at the manner in which Victoria, Australia treats their mentally ill.

Thomas Embling Forensic Hospital, Dr. Ruth Vine, and Victoria's inhumane treatment of human beings in extreme states of crisis is going to gain a lot more interest from a lot of different quarters. It sounds as if you've earned the attention.

Regards.

 

From his father's blog...