The mental health thread

Fair point.

The one thing you need to do with a GP, is walk in and say “I’m struggling, I want a mental Health Plan”.

Rarely will a doctor ever decline that.

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That’s true, it really depends on your GP. Some are quite up to date on mental health issues, some really don’t know fark all about it.

My GP kept trying me on different anti-depressants, despite the fact that they kept making me worse. It was ten years later, after seeing a psychologist over a period of time and then a psychiatrist (or, a brain chemist as I call them) for a few sessions, that my condition finally got identified. Turns out, anti-depressants were actually inducing bouts of Mania in me.

But as I think HAP was getting at, your GP is your absolute best starting point.

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Very true. Except if your under 25, in which case Head space is your first point of contact

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Well clearly I’m not under 25… :slight_smile:

I wasn’t even really aware of it. I mean I’ve heard of it, that’s about it. What’s their deal?

Edit: I just googled, and did my own research. Do you need a referral for that though?

Headspace is federal Government funded organisation. They are based all over Australia, and growing organisations rurally as well.

Any young person can walk in off the street, and 90% of the time a social worker will see you straight away, and do an assessment for what your needs are. Then often the young person will go on a waiting list to see psychologist at headspace.

There are other self referral methods via phone and online. But the ability to walk in off the street when in a state of crisis and see someone is pretty important.

Headspace also have GP’s based at the centre for young people. Which is a great option if they don’t want to see a GP closely connected to family.

The great thing about Headspace is that is totally free, and you don’t need a mental health plan.

Edit; Headspace also provide e-counselling aswell, any young person can jump online at any time at night (or day) and talk to a counsellor online.

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Thanks for the post Ealsey, dont want to intrude but have you folks made contact with the NDIS? Happy if you want to drop me a private message and we can yarn.

I have been pondering to post or not, but I will post, as maybe it might encourage and be of some help to some.

We have three legendary young people: 24, 22 and 20. Middle Ms Humble is a sometime poster here and is a mad keen Bombers Member and Fan and now is in Adelaide.

Our eldest daughter has a disability, and also went through childhood cancer. At the age of 17 she started to show some really wierd behaviours, and after following it up over a number of months with many specialists, she was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. I’ll summarise that whole period by saying that We were fortunate to find a very good Psychiatrist, with a round trip of 500 km, who put us all on a good path.

Medication has been important. We also found a number of food intolerances, so diet is important too. Exercise and sleep is essential. Managing these lifestyle issues mean that Older Ms Humble can lead a rewarding life. Some days are better than others. She runs her own micro business, volunteers in a number of roles in the community and is active in a range of sports.

I really want to raise the importance of the NDIS which has allowed her to get some good supports around her. If anyone wants some information about the NDIS and how it might help, pop onto their website OR I am happy to get a private message. While I am no great expert on it I can talk about how it worked for us.

This is a great thread. I wish everyone good luck on their journey, there are some very brave souls posting here.

GO BOMBERS.

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In the process of being rolled out in our area. We got a call from NDIS a few weeks back just checking on contact details so they can get in touch with us in April or something.

In the meantime Miss 7 has missed out on her therapies because she lost HCWA funding when she turned 7.

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This is an interesting point. My wife had a baby 4 weeks ago and it was never mentioned to me, by the obs, in the courses we did, by any nurses or whatever. In fact, no-one really checks up on the dad in my experience. Fortunately I am doing okay, but its a huge overwhelming event - even if you don’t have the definition of baby blues, it would have been nice to be checked in on.

It was mentioned to us is one of our antenatal classes before our first was born, which was good.

I actually tried to get a program set up at the local hospital up here, supporting dads who had it and run an info session for dads whos partners were at 7 months. couldn’t get funding for it

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Thank you to everybody sharing on here as these are the types of stories that have inspired me to go get help and start to deal with an illness which in all truth I have probably had at varying levels my whole life.
The hardest part for me has always been the asking for help part, I have struggled with feelings of worthlessness which turned into guilt because I felt I had no right in my position to feel this way.
This inturn has led me into a self imposed social isolation which has cost me many friends and ultimately my marriage.
But these stories can have a happy ending and with the help of a shrink and medication I am in a better place than I can remember for years.
I am in the process of repairing damaged relationships with people that I have made little to no effort with for a long time and am very grateful that once I told the truth about my position most have been very helpful in helping me stick fat.
And it is true I believe excercise is so important to overhauling your mental health.
Once again thank you as once you honestly believe that you are not alone in this fight it makes gaining the courage to face it a hell of a lot easier and the more you hear it the more you believe it.

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I’ve always found it interesting that because of a strong feminist system over the past several decades women have worked really hard to create services available to them. DV, homelessness services, perinatal, breast cancer and other health issues.

Men are well behind the 8 ball, as there is no strong advocacy service. The emotional support for men is almost non-existent. Lack of support for men dealing with family breakdown, almost no homelessness services specifically for men, no recovery and psychiatric support for men who are perpetrators of Domestic violence, the list goes on.

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It’s a massive hole in the system, that’s for sure.

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I’ve been involved in a few men’s health initiatives.

Firstly you need to be aware that for 20 years there has been a big push coming out of various social science departments that deem all men’s health problems as largely self inflicted by exposure to various forms of toxic masculinity culture that prevent men from seeking help because they don’t want to appear weak or vulnerable. This push says that it is a waste of time providing services to men because they won’t use them, so instead put resources into training young men to be more like women (oh and by the way our department will design and run those courses for you in every school and workplace if you just pay us big $$).

The irony is that while this was happening Australia was leading the world in showing what is possible in creating small disparate support services for men, based on actual science (not feminist voodoo). And male mental health and suicide is a problem all round the world - other countries are coming here to study what has been done here. Movember was key in funding a lot of research for these, and sometimes cost for startup year so they didn’t have to go through government gatekeepers. In regional areas you now have Headspace for young people, 1200 Mens Sheds in most regions providing health info and male activities, support and camaraderie, and sometimes free men’s health centres (all bulk billed) such as this one in bendigo -

There is a lot happening and there are programs around - you just won’t see it on the tv or read about it in the paper because it is not politically fashionable.

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I’m being 100% legit when I say this

Reading some of the posts in this thread, hearing what people are going or have gone through. Yet are still trying to get better and move forward has really helped me keep on going and has been very inspirational for myself

Thanks guys

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Kay, is this thread really the place for politics and anti-feminism stuff?

Maybe consider toning that bit down (and leaving the actual mental health stuff in).

There’s a reason most female Blitzers don’t post…

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Fair point.

I brought up the feminist system as a point of why advocacy has been great for women. I must point out, it has not been to the detriment of men’s welfare.

Men can learn a lot by the way women advocate for their services and recognising holes in the welfare network for their clients.

I have worked in a women’s homelessness service, under a feminist systems approach. I was the only male employee, my role was specific. Which was Advocating for the boys & teenage men accompanying their mother. It was acknowledged that female case workers often struggle to engage the young men, who have taken on the protector role for the family.

Once that young man has passed the age of 25 (which is considered youth) services available deminish, compared to women.

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Men are (by and large) much worse at talking about their problems and asking for help. Which is why this is a good thread.

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Part 4.
PTSD. My journey with posttraumatic stress disorder.
Late 1975 I went back to my old job with the Bureau Meteorology. At the beginning of 1976 I began night school to complete my Senior certificate in Physics and Maths. I was off the booze and feeling better although I was still having nightmares and anxiety attacks, but my focus was to complete my Senior certificate. I passed both subjects at the end of the year and this enable me to apply for two jobs, one with Foreign Affairs Dept in Canberra and the other within the Bureau as a Technical Officer Meteorology Observer. I was successful in both applications but chose the Bureau job as I wanted to get out of communications. In the meantime, I had been dating a young lady for six months and we married on the 5th March 1977. Directly after the wedding I started my twelve months course in Melbourne at the Bureau Meteorology School. On my course I was experiencing anxiety attacks with body shakes and trembling especially when manually tracking weather balloons by radar and using a slide rule. My condition worsened as the year went on, so I went to a local doctor to get some tablets to calm me down, but he refused and instead sent me to a Psychiatrist. The Psychiatrist said I had severe war like depression causing anxiety, like Battle Fatigue in the Second World War and wanted to put me into Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital. Note PTSD was not named at this stage. I refused to go into hospital, but he did put me on anxiety tablets in which helped to calm me down. To continue with the tablets, I had to make monthly appointments to see him. I successfully completed my course and was posted back to Queensland to Amberley Air Force Base along with another Vietnam veteran who was on my course. His name was Don, but his nickname was “The Grunt”. He was an Infantry soldier in Vietnam and his platoon was hit hard with high rate of casualties. Like me he was having nightmares and not sleeping much. In Vietnam he had to put several of his mates into body bags. This was his recurring nightmare with their open eyes in death staring at him. He was living in the Officer’s Quarters and never left the base until his annual holiday to Bangkok. The only person he could communicate with, was me. Sadly, he ended his life in Bangkok in 1981 by shooting his brains out after I had transferred to Longreach. Only spent one year in Longreach before the Bureau transferred me back to Brisbane in 1982 to the Relief pool. In October 1983 my daughter was born in Brisbane. Two months old, she had an operation to remove a digital fibroma tumor from her toe. We blamed it on Agent Orange, a powerful herbicide to eliminate jungle cover which contained the deadly chemical dioxin which caused serious health issues including cancer, birth defects, rashes and severe psychological and neurological problems with Vietnam veterans and their children. In August 1984 I was transferred to Charleville Airport Met Office. My son was born in August 1985 and he often came out in rashes all over his body. The doctors didn’t seem to know what it was. One said it was caused by stress, but we believed it was Agent Orange. In 1988 I was promoted to Officer in Charge at Gladstone Met Office. With the new position, pressure increased causing more nightmares and anxiety attacks. My family and friends pleaded for me to go and get help but I refused as I was obsessed with work in other words I had become a workaholic instead previously I was a alcoholic. My lifestyle was busy. I was on the local Council Disaster committee, Acting Port Meteorology Agent by visiting ships in Gladstone harbor to maintain their instruments, junior soccer and AFL, and I joined the local Vietnam Veterans Association (VVA). VVA made me their Welfare Officer but I only lasted in the job for a month. I was visiting this Vietnam Vet in Gladstone Hospital. He tried to suicide after he threatened people with a shot gun in the caravan park where he was living. By visiting him my nightmares and anxiety increased so I quit the VVA job. Surprisingly I survived the Gladstone years as I was in denial of my condition. In 1993 I was transferred to Rockhampton Airport Met Office as a Supervisor. The office was like a pressure pit hole with a lot of personality clashes in the workplace. Nothing destroys morale faster in a workplace than personality clashes when two or more people can’t get along. It drags down the entire office. I tried to present a “normal” face but it was a debilitating struggle with the pressure immense, eventually something had to give. It was only a matter of time before I cracked.

Will do Part 5 in a few days. Sorry about my story dragging on.

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