Lived Experience Forum

[Crazy_Bug_Lady]

Hi All,

As Mental Health Week draws to a close, I wanted to see what everyone thought.

What programs did you watch?

Were the programs helpful?  Did you feel they addressed the stigma around mental illness?

What sort of programs would you like to see next year??

[Shaz51]

Hi Crazy_Bug_Lady, we tried watching it , my husband found that he could not watch the show at all , we tryed he followering but same thing happen and turned the tv off

[Crazy_Bug_Lady]

Hi @Shaz51 did you both find the programs triggering?
I found the 3-part program about a MHU a bit triggering, and I know others here on the forums did too.
I know it's odd, but I find those programs unhelpful to a degree. I almost feel these programs enforce people's views. I overheard people laughing about the show and the "typical schitzo's". I would love if they could get a group of people with serious MI and show their day-to-day life. Not hospitalised, out in the world.
Just to prove we can.

Hope you're okay

[Mazarita]

I did appreciate the programs I saw this year in various ways. I really agree with you, @Crazy_Bug_Lady, about showing those of us with mental illness out in the world, living our day to day lives, which is where most of us are most of the time. I also think viewers might be able to better understand if the programs focussed more on our own point of view rather than the predominance of the 'outside' perspective.

[Appleblossom]

I dont watch a lot of tv, but I am interested in people's responses to Mental AsWeek ...

Part of my isolation and difference ... started about not knowing tv shows as a kid .. now I can choose not to know them .. but know other stuff.

In the past I have been triggered and appreciated depictions on various films and documentaries ...perhaps I am accepting of my pain as a LEGITIMATE part of my self in the privacy of my home ... tho had massive physiological repsonses to The English Patient .... in a movie theatre, not comfortable, but that was me.

I am not a big fan of current doco styles .. find them a bit hyped and over simplified .. but that is a generalisation ...

One great thing is that we can turn the tv off ... but many MI symptoms do not respond directly at the flick of a switch....

[chookmojo]

I just finished watching the three part Changing Minds which I thought was very interesting and quite good. I thought it had a really positive message and that the staff were portrayed as being very committed and genuinely caring. Stigma was really only addressed as an aside.

Now I am watching Felicity's Mental Mission, which is supposed to be mostly about looking at breaking down the stigma.

[Acacia]

Hello @chookmojo @Crazy_Bug_Lady @Appleblossom @Mazarita @Shaz51, I found "Changing minds" really informative, as someone who has never been inside a MHU. I can understand what you mean about not really showing the "normality" of mental illness though... I would love to know all of your thoughts on how mental illness is represented in the media broadly. That will be the topic of tomorrow's Topic Tuesday, so please join us if you can!

[ivana]

I liked Q and A's courage and attempts to talk about mental illnesses openly and the panelist Fays input was really valuable.

However i didn't like that the "real issues" were either unadressed or just talked about superficially.

Eg:Causes of Indigenous suicide were barely touched upon and the factors that cause stigma-both from the public and from health practitioners were not discussed at all.

I watched,and really liked,the Changing Minds documentary,and it was a great insight into Campelltown Hospital,however I did not like how some of the patients were treated.

Eg:when a patient had an issue with the way they were being treated at the hospital it was always taken/assumed that their feelings were a result of their illness and needed medicating lol instead of considered perhaps their feelings were valid and the environment or culture that caused them to feel that way was what needed to be addressed.

I also find this concerning because there are publicly mixed messages said.

I e: On one hand statements are made such as "mental illness is just the same as physical illnesses" but on the other hand we witness people in Psychiatric wards still being mistreated or treated with disrespect or aggression that we don't witness happening to "physical illness patients"  eg : On the Oncology ward .

Seeing Mental Health Patients being mistreated in Hospitals hardly does anything to encourage the public to not M.I as a stigmatising thing.

Also,I worried that some people might just see take this programme as voyerism,although thats not what the doco makers intended.

It was great to see some hospital staff on this programme though that were good hearted,respectful and genuine.Ie:the nurse "Steve" and the Psychiatrist Dr Mark Cross.

I patrly watched a programme feautirung Patrick Gorry but Tbh found it boring "same old story" and i would have preferred to see people with lived experience talking as experts on the Mental Health System instead of Psychatrists.

Also liked Australian story featuring Garry McDonald.

Next year i would like to see deep and thorough discussion of the actual numerous factors that cause stigma and also discussion surrounding the treatment or mistreatment of people with mental illness,the effects of labels,the income disparities etween Psychiatrists and the people they are treating etc..

[Elissa]

I really liked Australian story with gary Mcdonald. I could relate to the devastating effects from perfectionism. The other show I really related to was diaries of a broken mind. Especially the scene when everyone was pulling out all their medications. I'm currently battling med withdrawal while switching treatments 😞

[merdasdasd]

I found it quite triggering and depressing...  but maybe that's just me. 

As much as it helps to reduce the stigma, it doesn't really help a sufferering person in recovery. 

It's kind of how if you watch a sad movie or listen to  a sad song, it'll make you sad too. Switched it off after 20 / 30 mins