My husband was very supportive throughout my becoming unwell. Unfortunately I was not truthful in return. I messed about with taking medication but would pretend I was taking it. As I became more unwell it became obvious that something was amiss. My deceitfulness was putting a strain on our marriage but I was too stuck in my head that I didn’t need medication and I was fine, that I didn’t learn from my mistakes.
Eventually Crisis team became involved. I had heard many stories from patients in my work as a CMHT psychologist and most of them were negative experiences. I knew to expect an overstretched service. At first they visited to supervise me taking my medication for a week. Later they became involved again at the request of the psychiatrist, as I deteriorated further. Their visits didn’t last long (less than 10 minutes on one occasion) and I wondered what was being accomplished by their visits.
One day some post arrived and a parcel to me had been opened by the post office and placed in a plastic bag explaining they had to open it due to insufficient postal information on the parcel. I didn’t believe this because my address was complete and accurate on the front. I started to think the government was tampering with my mail.
Alongside the paranoia, I was becoming depressed again and having fleeting suicidal thoughts. I thought my baby boy would be better off without me. I was struggling and before I knew it an MHA assessment was being arranged though I was not told at the time this was going to happen. My husband was contacted and he was the one to tell me. A year had yet to pass and I was being assessed again.
Psychologist and Patient 