Why the Mental Health Act of 1983 has to be abandoned.

There is no substitute for round the clock assistance. If a person is so wounded that they would genuinely consider taking their own life then they need the utmost love and respect. Hospitals are holding pens that have been taken over by the cult of psychotherapy that comes at people with it’s bluster and babble. There is no substitute for sitting down at a table with one of your loved ones and having a really honest chat. All the talk of management and treatment that goes on in hospitals 🏥 is really about viewing mental problems as something to be contained. I write this as a woman in hospital. I have witnessed the most diabolical treatment of patients and as for giving the police the power to detain people with wounds then that makes our society callous, uncaring and unfeeling. The mad are not criminals and do not need handling. It is the constant nannying by staff in these places that makes the mad feel so bewildered. When you are treated like trouble to be sorted out it creates an attitude of resignment that creates low self esteem and can turn inwards to the most base narcissism and self obsession. After all my experience in those kind of places it has worn out any sparkle I might have once had out of sheer terrifying mindlessness. Organisations like this are a sad inditement of society. The NHS has put its faith in the ethos that if you just keep going with something that’s wrong sooner or later it will sort itself out. The fact that they would put their faith in any ethos at all instead of recognising their duty of care is unbearably horrifying. I think the staff clamp down on any sign of life until you are a sanitised shade of a person. They want you to do it your way because they consider the mad to be naughty little boys and girls who have misbehaved. The police intercepting the suicidal is completely wrong. Suicidal people do not need to be talked down they need action. Better access to community groups, more support with counselling and promise to improve their financial situation. If someone is still determined to die you should let them because it’s a person’s personhood that is at stake. Sending the police to talk is like using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. They shouldn’t be sent out to shake someone down. It’s the wrong use of police time. The staff in hospitals have an us versus them mentality which compounds the hardened attitude of some mentally ill patients. Forcibly stopping someone from taking their own life is completely evil because it makes a desperate act unrighteous. That’s why there needs to be more love and comprehension of people’s inner states. To send out tough police officers to vulnerable people is to do an act of terror. To have them tracking down the desperate and have them defending themselves is an act of intimidation. The police do it with the best of intentions (well, most of them) but it depends how many eggs you want to break for how many omelettes you want. To bring people into hospital in cuffs is a cheap act of degradation. I hope that none of them suffer that way. It is my fondest wish that one day the police act in a kind and considerate manner. To be hauled in and subjected to the tender mercy of the wolves who work on mental health wards is a poisoned chalice.