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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

That man went crazy and is in a mental institution - looks like a life sentence

I went to take breakfast and I heard that an acquaintance is in the mental institution nearby.
They said that he did broke the house and even hit the window so the firemen was called and he was sent to Pinel Hospital.
I know that this men is not very emotional stable and after his mother's death he started having problems and was having too much alcohol and street-drugs.
Today is the day that carnival ends here and I don't think it's a coincidence that he has acted this way this night. Maybe he has been taking drugs for the last days... I don't know what has happened and I don't want to start a list of guesses.
The problem is: as he is in a mental institution we know very well how little we can do. Even family members don't have access to the person who is institutionalized in such circumstances since he was acting crazy.
I don't know if it was caused by drugs or it was a psychotic episode but I think it was due to drugs. We know what three days without sleeping and consuming street-drugs can do.
I asked a psychiatrist who is my neighbor and knows him to help him but I don't know if she will or not because as she was not home I left her a message.
I am just thinking that after all I saw during a family member institutionalization and of many testimonies of patients I did read and listen when a person is put in a mental institution it is almost the same as if s/he was put in jail.
Nobody can see what is the treatment and the diagnosis will put a label in this person that will be part of the judgment of others for the rest of his/her life.
Being institutionalized is a moral issue. I will write about it later because I don't know what has really happened.
This is sad. Very sad.

3 comments:

Herrad said...

Hi Ana,
Thanks for posting this story about your neighbour.
Hope the shrink you left the note for can help him.
He needs help but not locked up.
Love,
Herrad

Ana said...

I don't know.
In some manic episodes if the person is a threat for himself, he wanted to jump the window and when he hit his hand he did hurt himself...
My ex has been in a manic episode and they need help from people who can deal with this and some drugs to calm them down.
The problem is that once inside a mental institution they don't say what is going on.
They only gives you a diagnose: "Your family member is.... bipolar."
"Your family member is... schizophrenic."
end of discussion. We don't know about the drugs they are taking if the diagnosis is correct, if the medication they are using is helping or in the contrary making things worse...
We rely on psychiatrists and they are the guardians of mental health.
In the case of my ex, I never heard of manic-depression psychosis, he was in a mental institution for 6 months with no improvement.
Fortunately a psychiatrist friend of a friend put him in another institution and in 15 days he went out of the manic episode with lithium.
The psychiatrist that is my neighbor is young and she agrees with all the pharma and DSM guidance without any access to other views.
It is hard.

Ana said...

Thank you for carrying Herrad!
Love,
Ana