Slow dive.

The doctor's visit is something I have changed my mind about. I'm sure it sounds ungrateful of me to say that I don't really value a consultant psychiatrist coming to my home, to advise us on the best way to proceed.

But that is largely because...
He has only one thing to say:
Take your meds!

He can say it fast
Or slow
Get angry even
But no...
Service user isn't going to take them...

I decided to ask some questions last week.
I wanted to know what kind of care plan is in place.
If they wanted to know anything about us as a family
If there were any support groups for families.
How about CBT?
And what happens if 'the service user' doesn't take the meds?
There was me thinking that these questions were important....

The doctor sat opposite me with the nurse at the kitchen table
And the air became as thick as treacle.
Support group!!!
No.

What the doctor wanted to know from me was, how was I going to get the service user to take his meds.

Nevertheless, my attempt did reveal some useful information.
I now know that the mental health team who come out from the hospital, are secondary care.

GPs are primary care.

Secondary care sort out the drugs, get the right kind for the service user, and then hand responsibility for the service user's prescriptions to primary care, who tend to continue writing out those prescriptions for years....

Now when this started I was quite pro-drug.
After all it makes sense.
SSIs as a kind of life-raft to sooth the underlying depression.

I remember feeling the floor falling into nothingness when I realized service user wasn't going to take any drugs.
I got angry.
I became literally hopeless.
I couldn't see any way for him to improve without help...
So I know how the mental health team must feel.

Except my sanity has improved somewhat.
I began to see annoying autonomy as better than sheepish, sad compliance.

Of course I'd want him to make a rational choice, but then, if he was making rational choices none of this situation would be happening would it! And in the light of this, I really think the secondary team could be a bit more positive when service users refuse the benevolent sweeties (for this is rather how the doctor describes them) rather than giving off an air of gloom and annoyance. Their visit left me depressed...

So anyway, I discovered that service users get about four visits from the secondary team, and then, if they do not comply with the proffered help, secondary services go away...

This makes me wonder what is supposed to happen next?
As service user isn't likely to begin taking any drugs anytime soon, I'm going to find out next week.