General Chat

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Just caught up with last nights call the midwife, the story line of the young woman with obvious PND, giving her shock treatment, neighbours shunning the poor young husband the shame the family obvioulsy felt. I remember a lady on here ( who is no longer with us ) who after a long fight she was able to gain a family members medical records and she said it was harrowing reading, thank god times have changed and moved on.

I saw that Hayley and thought how awful it must have been. I had to look away when she had the treatment. Like you say, thank goodness things have changed I always wonder if it did any harm rather than good to the people who had that treatment .

I had to look away as well. I know someone who had it done not that long ago.

It looks so barbaric.

I often wonder how many more visitors my Mum would have had if she had suffered a physical illness that didn't affect her brain.

Mental illness still today seems to be something to be frightened or ashamed of to a large part of society

Mum's sister was sectioned 3 weeks ago as she had a complete breakdown and the only visitors have been her partner, one brother and myself, others in the unit get no visits at all.

How very sad that when mental illness strikes, the support that would gladly be given by friends and family in the event of a physical illness is mostly just not there.

We have to look past the illness and remember the person we care about, who is suffering inside, and do all we can to make sure they are looked after to the best of our ability with guidance from the mental health team.

one in four of us is likely to suffer with mental health problems - I am one of them - I have clinical depression

the sooner people are willing to discuss mental illness the sooner it will lose it's stigma

I don't mind talking about it, even though it makes people uncomfortable - not me though!!

Same here Ann, I barely functioned for a long time, but still needed people around me to treat me the same as always.

It is a hidden illness in so many ways.........maybe I find it easier to empathise as I have been under that black cloud myself.

I think its more than 1 in 4 Ann maybe only 1 in 4 will admit it as some still sadly think that being depressed is a weakness.

Shock treatment still goes on today but it is called something else now and s'posedly a lot more controlled.

My mother was given electric shock treatment when she was 26 in the 50's and I think, as Sylvia said, it did more harm than good. She was prescribed Largactil (as the girl in Midwife was) and that had terrible side effects. She never recovered and eventually succeeded in taking her own life aged 49.

Oh Wend, how very sad. I am so sorry.

My niece suffered terribly from PND. She saw a doctor regularly, took medication and had home visits from a highly trained councillor. There was always someone available at the end of the phone too.

She is now much better and copes with her family beautifully.

How different now from not too long ago.

Awww your poor Mum Wendy, how sad is that :-(

Thankyou Barbs and Kitty - it wasn't PND in my mum's case - she was just totally shattered when the husband she adored left her with 2 small children to care for (me and my bro) when he was 30, for a married woman aged 43, whom he later married :-|

that's awful Wend - I do feel for you

ECT isn't always bad and in many cases is very successful - I worked in our local psychiatric hospital for nigh on thirty years

Awww Wend how awful <3 Its susposed to cause an fit which then releases a chemical in the brain that makes you feel happy or happier , but I am old fashioned and think its messing about with nature, however its confusing as I do support the use of anti depressants if needed.

I just watched the episode last night with sadness and thought thank god times have changed and moved on.

I know Ann - it just wasn't successful in my mum's case (and perhaps there was more to it that I don't know about). Her treatment to-day could well have been very different - who knows? I don't ponder too much - I've just come to accept that she was very unhappy and what she did was probably for the best. She would have continued to live a miserable life otherwise :-(

She was a beautiful and sweet woman though <3

Wend <3 <3 <3

My mum also suffered from mental health issues all of her life and had every form of treatment known. Largatil, E.C.T and Lithium ect
It triggered in 1964, after the infant death of her youngest child but, as I do the family research, I know she inherited from her own mother.
I lost count on the number of times that she was sectioned.
As she got older, the episodes of manic depression became less and less.
My mum passed away in 2011 aged 81yrs, and hadn't had shown any signs of mental health issues at all, in her last 7 or 8 years.

I did have PND with my 1st child, and told NO -ONE about it.
I know that it started about 6weeks BEFORE I gave birth, but I refused to ask for help. ( memories of my mum!)

I was lucky, the horrendous depression and physical exhaustion passed within about 18months, without treatment, and it was only when I chose to try for a 2nd child that I opened up and spoke to my GP about my fears of it happening again

I had a 2nd and a 3rd daughter, and I could not believe the difference in how I was feeling, both before and after these births!
So very different from my 1st!

I wouldn't wish PND on anyone, although I would urge them not to do what I did, and suffer!

as you say Wend, she was in a bad place and chose to "get out"

I took a massive overdose in 1996, I too was in a bad place, had enough and felt I could no longer carry on - as you can see I was unsuccessful - woke up a few days later in a poisons unit :-(

that was when I was diagnosed with clinical depression - funny thing was that I was working in a psychiatric hospital at the time, my boss was a highly qualified psychiatric nurse, as were all my close colleagues - none of them had any idea- that's the thing with clinical depression sufferers, they always have a smiley face and never let on the torment that's going on inside their heads

thankfully, with medication which I'll have to take till I pop my clogs, I'm fine now and I weathered the death of my mother and my lovely husband without incident

so never judge anyone who attempts, or commits suicide - they are not thinking of anyone else at the time - just that they've had enough!!! :-D

I remember my mum telling me about when she was nursing and had sent with an ambulance to an incident this was in the 1950’s.
When they arrived on the scene, the police was wrestling a young man to the ground in the street as it had been reported he was attacking his wife with a knife, his wife had several slash wound to her breast. Mum said the man was pleading with the police that he hadn’t hurt his wife she was hurting herself, it became obvious that she had in fact tried to cut off her breast as she had a severe case of mastitis and it was sending her mad.

Last night on the midwife the young mum said that the baby wouldn’t feed I was wondering if that was the cause or should I say where the story line would lead .

Aww I really do sympathise with everyone who has suffered with any kind of depression. I also suffered from it after the birth of my second child years ago. He had a heart condition and was so poorly. We were told we could lose him. He had surgery at eleven months old and was a very sick baby. After a week on life support he started to get stronger and was able to come off it. I had never seen a doctor about my depression because I was embarrassed at the time and thought people would judge me. I know different now. As he got well the depression lifted and I came out of that bubble I was locked away in. I was lucky and our son will be 31 years old this month.xx

Thats what I mean Sylvia how many new Mothers have and probably still do felt they were in a pit of despair and looked around at ofther mothers and thought they seem to be coping why cant I. How many have confided in others and been told to snap out of it. I do remember my Mum referring to one of 2 people as " living on her nerves " At the time never quiet grasped what she actually meant.