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Conference Report: Lynn Harrison (Part 2) In all the campaigning we have done, the march, the consultation responses we posted, the petitions, the lobby, the meetings with Louis Appleby and Adrian Sieff (the civil servant who admits he has little awareness of the issues facing users & survivors, yet has been charged with amending the Bill and co-ordinating it’s introduction, if this happens), have we made a difference? As speculation grows as to whether the Bill will this year be included in the Queen’s speech outlining the Government’s programme of legislation it hopes will be introduced during the next session of Parliament, and about how much, if at all, the Mental Health Bill may have been amended, it seems impossible to predict right now whether anyone has listened to us. Louis Appleby, Adrian Sieff and the Department of Health itself have gone suspiciously quiet and are giving nothing away, that is, if they even know, as I suspect that decisions are being taken by ministers themselves. And then, perhaps there’s the effect of the Hutton enquiry to consider. Will the Government have the extreme insensitivity to introduce a Bill that could increase suicide rates at a time when it would appear that its own bullying and scape-goating of Dr David Kelly caused such acute distress that he felt suicide was the only option? If the Bill is about preventing suicide, which is predicted by the Samaritans to become the country’s biggest killer, surpassing cancer and heart disease in just 15 years time, would compulsion have saved Dr Kelly and the thousands like him who kill themselves and have never used MH services? According to Louis Appleby’s own figures, 75% of suicides are committed by people not known to MH services. How would the threat of losing one’s human rights along with being subjected to stigma, discrimination and the prospect of being forced to use services that do not seem to be working, encourage desperate people to seek help? I believe that the reverse will be true. It’s so obvious, yet, with all of his training and ‘expertise’ in the field of suicide, Louis Appleby cannot see it, or perhaps he is unable to? The cost for those employed by Ministers of not defending their policies would appear to be very high indeed. And then, if the Bill is aimed at protecting the public from those described as having ‘personality disorders’ will it work? When we attended the lobby of Parliament last October, try as I might, I spotted very few people who looked like MPs who came to listen to those of us who were brave enough to speak. While we tried to impress upon our elected representatives how the Bill will take away our human rights, the ‘real’ business - i.e. a debate about the National Lottery - was taking place in the Commons. When asked by an MP whether he knew about the lobby, Tony Blair’s only response was to talk about ‘the need to protect the public’. But aren’t WE the public? As it’s estimated that a third of the population will experience some form of mental distress during their lifetime, is the Government trying to protect ‘the public’ from itself? And don’t we have a right to be protected from those who have invalidated us, neglected us, abused, bullied, assaulted or raped us, who remain unaccountable whilst our resulting distress is attributed to our disordered personalities while the real causes are so often ignored? But then, isn’t this perhaps because to acknowledge this would mean that our society recognises things about itself that are unspeakable? And what of the personality disorder diagnosis? If it were to have any credibility, surely in order to describe someone’s personality as being disordered then it is necessary to define what an ordered personality is? Ah well, some might say, but it’s to protect the public from those with ‘Dangerous Severe Personality Disorders’, this much-feared diagnosis that doesn’t actually exist in that Bible of psychiatry the DSM IV. Not according to Adrian Sieff, who told us at a meeting in June, that DSPD is not a diagnosis…it’s a ‘treatment programme’! Really? If so, then it’s very odd it isn’t mentioned in the Department of Health’s recently published policy implementation guidance on Personality Disorder; ‘Personality Disorder, no longer a diagnosis of exclusion’ (many feel that if the words ‘no longer’ were omitted this would be a more accurate title!) So, mental health professionals are to act as judge and jury, well, even psychiatrists admit they cannot do this as they are so often wrong. Psychiatry, as it is based on subjective opinions is an inexact science, if indeed it is a science at all. People are to be locked away just in case they might be dangerous, without them having committed any crime they will be judged to be guilty. So, what can we do? Someone said to me recently that campaigning is all very well, but, perhaps we should be ‘realistic’ about what we might achieve. My response, was to ask how Nelson Mandela might have responded to that statement when faced with the seemingly impossible task of overturning apartheid in South Africa. Perhaps today is about us deciding what we can do, collectively and individually? If the Government does try to introduce this Bill during the next year then, all is not lost, it will have a long and I hope difficult journey through the House of Commons and then the Lords before it becomes law and we have plenty of time yet to influence MPs to vote against it. I believe it is up to us – we are the ones who it will affect, no one else has the passion to fight for our human rights and if they take them away then we have to take them back! Maybe we are ‘Talking about a Revolution’? Lastly, although we are campaigning for ourselves and for the thousands of fellow users and survivors who are not here today, I would like to think we carry on the fight in memory of those who sadly are no longer here. I have been asked by a fellow member of Siuk (Self Injury UK) to tell you about Jacqui, who was also a member and a friend. She died in June when she was just 18 as a result of an overdose. During her short life she had been Sectioned 3 times. In the end, her ‘crisis’ plan consisted of her parents being given charcoal to give her in the event of another overdose. She was a lovely, caring and vivacious person and sadly, in the last few weeks of her life was denied access to the support group she said had made such a difference. It was a privilege to have known her. Compulsion didn’t save her. Things have got to change! David Tombs Dave spoke
as a guest on the platform and came from an angle of human rights
violations. NEXT:
Part One - The 'Daft' Mental Health Bill |
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