OCD in the public eye

(I realise a lot of what I'm posting is related to BBC Three at the minute, but go figure, they're doing an amazing season of programs all about mental healthy stuff, what's a girl to do)
Watching the twitter trend #ExtremeOCDcamp - all about 6 young sufferers going away to America for an intensive therapy in helping battle their OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) - has been a heartwarming and encouraging experience tonight.
It seems that OCD, however well known the term may be, has long been incredibly misunderstood.
Think of how many times you've heard people saying they're 'a bit OCD' about something, and how often it's trivialised and you can see why awareness of such a disorder needs to be raised. Many people seemingly had the misconception that OCD was just liking things to be clean and tidy, when in reality the severity of the condition completely dominates the lives of those with it. From this perspective, OCD is probably one of the most commonly misunderstood mental health illnesses. Knowing people who suffer from OCD, I can say it's exhausting to constantly be performing rituals and obeying the compulsions that drive every aspect of your behaviour and utterly control your life.
Watching the guys featured on the show face their demons and slowly overcome their rituals and patterns was difficult, their frustrations and fears were so clear to see. I'm astounded by the bravery of all six of them for confronting something that is overwhelming for them, it got me quite emotional, perhaps because I can see stark similarities with the therapy I've had for my eating disorder and anxiety disorder to the treatment methods used on the programme to control compulsions, rituals and negative thoughts.
I thought that BBC Three did a brilliant job in highlighting how much OCD affects the lives of sufferers and portrayed the condition incredibly accurately and sensitively, there can be no doubt about the reality of OCD for anyone who watched this. I'm really looking forward to next week's episode. Big hugs to all those involved.
Another stigma-fighting tv programme to add to the list. Seeing the effects of awareness being raised before my eyes is always a good end to a day. Hopefully we'll get there in the end.

For more information on OCD clicky here please

It's all in the title...'Failed by the NHS'

Continuing with BBC Three's It's a Mad World season, last night saw the broadcast of a documentary entitled 'Failed by the NHS.' The doc, presented by Jonny Benjamin, covered the stories of 7 young people affected by mental illness who felt that they had been let down or abandoned by healthcare provision.
What could have been a very effective and interesting investigation into the availability of services for those with mental illness was in all honesty a bit lacklustre. I was disappointed in many respects, firstly the majority of the hour was spent with anecdotes, presented as individual cases where the care that was inadequate. This is undoubtedly a problem, there are difficulties in accessing care across the country, but there was little perspective or context given to the true gravity of the problem. It's terrible that people were sent away from A&E feeling like their concerns weren't listened to, and that people may have ended their own lives because of feeling unsupported, but how many feel this way? How significant are these problems? How common are they? What can be done about it? In the end I feel like the documentary did nothing, I was underwhelmed.
The program consulted one doctor, Dr Ranj Singh, who was very eloquent and clearly passionate about the shortcomings in the availability of mental health care for young people. He covered the issues of falling in the gap between CAMHS and Adult Services, of extended waiting times for treatments such as CBT, of people turning up to A&E presenting with self-harm and not receiving adequate psychological assessment, of cuts to funding, of GPs misdiagnosing or misunderstanding mental health, of ineffective links between different departments and of an over-worked, under-funded and over-stretched NHS. He had the statistics: only half of those admitted to A&E with self-harm were given a psychological assessment, and just 4% of those who transitioned from CAMHS to Adult Services would describe the transition as smooth. These findings are shocking and needed further investigation. His input was what gave the hour-long documentary its substance and kick. His air-time? About 10 minutes. The rest was padding. I feel like they could have done so much more with it, and spoken to professionals about the reasons behind apparent failings and what they would do about it.
Jonny's meeting with MP and Care Minister Norman Lamb left me angry, obviously we didn't see the full extended cut (or I sure as hell hope that wasn't it) but considering the entire program had essentially concluded that budget cuts were placing a strain on the care the NHS can provide it seemed ludicrous that Lamb wasn't challenged on this. Here is this amazing chance to air the grievances you have and to put pressure on the man-in-charge to improve mental health care, you're backed up by statistics, you're filmed by a television crew, and yet nothing is made of that opportunity.

My last little nit-pick is the title. 'Failure' is such a strong word, and I don't think it was at all fair to use it. I know that people feel let down by the health care that's available. I know that there are some doctors who don't understand mental health as well as they should. I know that young people have to shout to be heard, I literally did have to shout and scream until my face went purple. I know that the gap between child and adult services is fraught and unnecessary. I know that there are excessive waiting times. I know that, unfortunately, some people have ended their lives because they've not felt like they had anyone to help. I know all of this from personal experience, and from the experience of friends. But you know what? Yes, I had to yell at a psychologist to get her to listen to what I was really saying. Yes, the transition between CAMHS and Adult care was, actually, virtually non-existent. Yes, I was misdiagnosed and mismedicated. Yes, I faced long waiting times.
In the end though, I have been saved by the NHS. The vast majority of doctors and other specialists I have met along the way were beautifully understanding and helpful. I have had access to medication, and complex treatments and therapies for free when in other countries I would have never been able to afford it. The National Health Service has got a terrible job. People get ill, and if they aren't perfectly fixed straight away then it's the doctors' fault and oh isn't the NHS failing us how dreadful how dreadful. I blame the system and behind the scenes bureaucracy for the hiccups in my treatment, and I blame the politicians for the cuts to funding. Unfortunately there will always be cases where people fall through the gaps, and where people have to wait to get treatment, but that does not mean that the NHS has failed you it means that the NHS is trying very desperately to help you but doesn't have the resources or training or money or people there to do it. The NHS cares, and understands, and is struggling along valiantly. It is not failing anyone.

Don't Call Me Crazy (episode 2)

So I said I wouldn't be watching this documentary again...clearly I lied. I have to admit I was gripped by the individuals' stories and the raw insight into life inside the psychiatric unit. Again I, along with many people on my twitter timeline, found some of the footage distressing and even triggering, but overall I feel the series is powerful because of the real way it shows the lives of those in the McGuiness unit.
Two of the young people we saw last week, Gill and Beth, were again featured on this episode, and seeing their stories progress was one of the best things about the program. Eating disorder sufferer Beth was still visibly struggling with food but over the course of the hour we saw her gradually progress and move to different eating plans. What I have to say from watching the show is that the food in the unit looks terrible. A lot of chips and burgers, generally most of it looked grey and incredibly unappetising, especially when food is so important to our healthiness (both physically and mentally) you'd have thought the food would be a lot better and fresher. Unfortunately the stress of eating more seemed too much for Beth, who used self-harm as a mechanism for punishing herself.
Self-harm was something we saw a lot of throughout the episode, with many on twitter saying they found such images troubling and harrowing. I would personally contest that showing as many self harm images as BBC Three did was helpful, viewers didn't need to see as many minutes of scars as we were shown. Beth commented that it was entirely normal for those within the unit to harm themselves, and that everyone had done it, despite regular room inspections and staff keeping on top of the innovative ways in which they could cause themselves harm.
Gill, the other patient featured on last week's episode, has scars right up her arm from where she has cut herself. She explained the development of her severe depression as 'everything just got on top of me and I couldn't cope.' Fortunately she was shown to cope with her condition better as she reconnected with her family, who she hadn't seen for 6 months. Gradually she was granted more freedoms and moved from the acute corridor to the general ward.
We were introduced to a new patient this week, the youngest on the ward at 14, Crystal who has seen hallucinations of people and animals for 6 years. The images she sees tell her to do things that she feels she has to obey such as not eat her food, self-harm or kill her adoptive dad. Watching Crystal interact with her visions seemed remarkably like a child playing with their imaginary friends, except with a grave underlying tone.
Christmas on the ward was very difficult to see. It felt to me as though the 8 people, Beth and Gill included, who were unable to get leave were trapped there, even though they were there for good reason. It was sad to see Beth remarking that it didn't feel like Christmas to her because of being in such a detached, lonely environment.
What we need to be reminded of is that though patients in units like this across the country are living away from their family and confronting very 'adult' situations, taking control of their lives and even considering ending their lives they are just young people, separated from family, friends and the lives they've come to know for months on end with no knowledge of their surroundings or when they'll be able to leave.
In fact, the psychiatrist reiterates this point by stating that family ties are the key relationships throughout childhood that influence everything, the way you interact with society and the relationships you build. Family are also, as in Gill and Crystal's cases, seen to be instrumental to recovery.
Whilst I still don't feel like the program will get people engaged and opening up about their own mental health in the way that it could have done had they filmed it differently I do think that Don't Call Me Crazy has provided a look into the support needed for someone to overcome a mental illness. I particularly loved seeing the get well soon cards in peoples' rooms as that's rare in cases of mental illness.
It looks like next week we'll be seeing some boys too which had been one of my grumbles with the show so far.

Don't call me crazy...

I realise this was a few days ago now but I've needed a couple of days to myself recently. Figured I'd do a piece on the BBC Three documentary that aired as part of their 'mental' season earlier on this week.
The show, called Don't Call Me Crazy, broadcasts the inner workings of one of the many young mental health units in the UK.
Viewers witnessed teenagers struggling with a range of issues, OCD, severe depression, anxiety, eating disorders and self harm in a very raw and real way.
I feel the show did a lot to break down negative stereotypes, such as OCD sufferer Emma explaining that the condition isn't merely liking things neat, it's a deep compulsion to do things a certain way in order to avoid severe repercussions. She also said the very poignant 'OCD doesn't define who I am' which helps to paint the image of mental illness not being a characteristic of the individual. Beth-who was in the unit for anorexia-a beautiful, bubbly girl, similarly said that people fail to understand mental health problems because they can't be seen.
It was brilliant to see the people on the program have their own identities and lives outside of the disorder, like 'normal' teenagers do. Loving college, dancing, films, messing around and dying their hair.
I'd say that the documentary, although accurate and shocking, focused too much on the outbursts and negative episodes, with very little attention paid to the treatment the guys in there received. We saw Emma enter and leave within a dramatic space of time, with no examples of treatment for her disorder. Similarly there were a lot of scenes of screaming, wall-punching, face-down-restrained teenagers, and images of young people huddled in a corner with blankets over their heads. The overall outcome was a rather bleak one.
As the program progressed the story of Beth developed and worsened. I nearly switched off having to see her struggle to eat carrots and a protein drink. The turmoil she was so clearly going through made me feel sick and fearful. Eventually she was sectioned under the mental health act, and as she wept I did too.
Unfortunately since the show aired she has faced a few spiteful people on Twitter commenting about her weight which is incredibly dismaying, but the outpouring of support for Beth in response to this was encouraging.
It was an emotional, troubling, saddening program to watch. I'm glad it was made, I'm glad people can see the horror mental health problems can cause people, and I'm in awe of the brave teenagers willing to be filmed at their most vulnerable points in their lives, but I don't think I can bear to sit through next week's episode.