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 Beside Anti Semitism another topic of the day is ‘Mental Health’. Explain that one. It just used to be ‘pull yourself together’ or ‘take a grip of yourself’. Is this a subject that we have become more aware of? There used to institutions all over the country that housed people with mental problems. In the main they have been shut down. Are these people out in the community with the same problems they were being treated for inside or is it more prevalent in the general population, or have we become more aware of it as a problem generally?

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I think you’re right about them being in prison. They’ve just moved to another secure institution. I think it was a mistake to close the mental hospitals. Perhaps there were some people who shouldn’t have been there but there are people who need to be in a protective institution for the safety of themselves and others. I think ‘ care in the community’ was one of Tony Blair’s ideas. 

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Depends on what is meant by mental health problems.

 

Some people can't help the way they behave due to their internal wiring, and they just don't understand what's going on.

With others it's more calculated and they are aware of what they are doing.

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How many in the present climate are using mental health as an excuse for not adhering to the corona rules. The same type of people when the slightest thing happens to them run to the media claiming they are traumatised. 

 

 

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It's hardly in the same league, is it?

 

I watched the clip of the students partying in the city centre on Thursday night and I thought about two great uncles who also knew those streets well. At the same age as those students, they were squatting in a flea/lice/rat infested trench, up to their knees in mud and corpses, waiting for the shells that killed them both.

 

No university for them.

 

Or perhaps the young Battle of Britain pilots with a life expectancy of even less than their pitifully scant flying hours.

 

Maybe those students who are whingeing would like to try a bit of that instead?

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3 hours ago, philmayfield said:

I think ‘ care in the community’ was one of Tony Blair’s ideas. 

 

I think it was actually the blessed Margaret  in the 80's, though it has been around in various guises since the 50's

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For people with well-managed psychiatric problems, being cared for in the community is a very good idea, as long as there is sufficient support for them.

I can’t speak for the situation in Nottingham, but Cambridge has been fairly good with this in the past.  There are several ‘levels’ of support after being discharged from hospital:

Firstly, a ‘halfway house’ where there are live-in trained staff or a rota for this.  These staff offer support where necessary in various ways from practical skills like housekeeping/cooking and help with budgeting to counselling.  The people are regularly assessed to ascertain when they are ready to move on to a different level. 
This may be a form of supported housing where they can be more self sufficient but still have staff available in ‘the office’ in case of emergency or if there is a need of advice or extra support in some way.

After this they are helped to find suitable self- contained accommodation, but still have support groups they can go to during the week.

We have had a lot of involvement over the years with this system, but of course it all costs money to do something like this well!  And therein lies the problem (as in 

many other aspects of the NHS)


Regarding a few of the previous posts, I have some friends who are genuinely unable to  ‘pull themselves together’ or ‘get over it’ ... 

On the surface, they seem fairly OK but they often suffer from anxiety, depression and even psychoses which are only partly helped by medication.
(Almost) everyone needs someone to really listen to them sometimes.!!

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I think there may be some truth in your last sentence, Phil.   That's not a criticism btw - we all move in different 'circles'

 

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  • 7 months later...
On 10/31/2020 at 12:38 PM, Jill Sparrow said:

It's hardly in the same league, is it?

 

I watched the clip of the students partying in the city centre on Thursday night and I thought about two great uncles who also knew those streets well. At the same age as those students, they were squatting in a flea/lice/rat infested trench, up to their knees in mud and corpses, waiting for the shells that killed them both.

 

No university for them.

 

Or perhaps the young Battle of Britain pilots with a life expectancy of even less than their pitifully scant flying hours.

 

Maybe those students who are whingeing would like to try a bit of that instead?

The youth of today wouldn't last 5 minutes if transported back to WW1/2.  They'd all be crying out loud on Facebook complaining about their human rights before they even got on the boat never mind off it; Twitter would go into complete meltdown with support for them.  Shameful what we've become as a nation now, utterly shameful.  National service would help but they'd all fall out about the nasty way they might be spoken to by the sergeants or the lack of availability of gender neutral toilets. 

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I have worked with learning problem adults. Can they help how they were born?  If you have never been in this situation how can you post any thing? What must we do have all these people put down? Yes there are some who say that they are depressed, some get mixed up with being fed up and depression which is a mental state  when a person has feelings of gloomand inadequacy. 

What about younsters who though no fault of there get hooked on drugs do we leave them or help them.

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On 10/31/2020 at 4:17 PM, MargieH said:

Regarding a few of the previous posts, I have some friends who are genuinely unable to  ‘pull themselves together’ or ‘get over it’ ... 

On the surface, they seem fairly OK but they often suffer from anxiety, depression and even psychoses which are only partly helped by medication.
(Almost) everyone needs someone to really listen to them sometimes.!!

 

Spot on Margie.

 

The problem here is that the term Mental Health is used these days to cover far too wide a range of conditions.  We all know that some people are very obviously 'different' in their behaviour, due to all sorts of conditions ranging from Schizophrenia/Personality Disorders/ severe Autism, etc..etc.

Most of these conditions will require lifetime support, possible medication and possibly secure accommodation etc.

 

However.. we all have our own 'Mental Health'..without suffering lifelong conditions as outlined above. We all meet problems, anxieties etc..and we vary in our ability to deal with them.  If we can just stroll through such things without being crushed by them we are in my view very lucky... or maybe just deeply insensitive.. take your pick.

 

And of course we can all invoke the WW1/WW2 argument.  It's easy and convenient..and it allows us to absolve ourselves from any responsibility for the present by quoting a past which frankly..very few here are old enough to  remember, much less have participated in.  And of course the reality is that just because mental health was not widely studied during WW1/2, does not mean that people were not affected.  They suffered in silence.. because nobody was listening. All those poor sods with 'shell shock'.. those who just could not face it anymore and were shot for 'cowardice'..etc..etc. Those who came home damaged and resorted to the booze..became domestic abusers.. etc.. Those who lived through the Blitz..  Please do not tell me that all of those people were not affected by those experiences.

 

So.. the present day..  We are.. or at least ought to be..far more aware of how fragile mental health can be. Oddly enough, I was only thinking today that some people moaning about being deprived of their foreign holidays really ought to 'get a life' and recognise that we are not being bombed or invaded, or sent off to die in some muddy field. Any shortages we are experiencing might be Covid related.. or they are more likely the result of a completely botched Brexit.  I have little sympathy for those moaning about what amounts to the 'inconvenience' of Covid.

 

On the other hand...  If you are a young person who has worked hard to get to Uni, only to be basically ripped off because both Universities and Govt. have sat back and watched you pay for accomodation you can't use while you pay fees for no tuition.. then maybe it will piss you off and depress you.. or make you anxious.. and if you've never met such a challenge before maybe you aren't equipped to cope.

Or if you are a child kept out of school for months.. missing your friends.. not understanding why..etc.  Or if you are an over stressed NHS worker.. or some poor soul made jobless who doesn't qualify for Govt support..

 

I could go on.. but it is probably pointless. To those who get overly exercised at the very thought of others maybe not being in the best of Mental Health..  I'd say..

1.  Don't knock it until you've tried it.

2. Pull yourselves together.

3. Get over it.

 

 

 

 

 

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