My Mum has been in psychiatric care for two years now. She suffers from Depression and Severe Anxiety.
On new years day I got a phone call from the rehab place she was in to say she had fallen. She has two fractures on her spine. They are both stable she can mobilise and though in a lot of pain it could have been a lot worse.
We as a family have been frustrated by her lack of progress in the last two years. Basically they just keep trying different tablets.
We fought for seven months for her not to go into the place she was in which is basically a hostel. There was nothing wrong with the hostel but she has a lovely home and a supportive husband and family. The staff there were good to her but could not motivate her to do anything she did not want to do.
She took to her bed about three weeks before Christmas and would hardly see anyone. She got so weak and we think this contributed to her fall.
She is now back in the acute ward of the psychiatric hospital. She is back to square one. Her symptoms are wanting to die, can’t cope with anything, can’t make decisions. She regresses into a childlike state and cries and moans a lot.
The last time she was in hospital the focus of every meeting was, how do we get her out of here? Not, how can we make her better? We kept trying to say to the doctors. If she was better she would go home. But to no avail.
The advice I need from here is, what can we do to help her. We are adamant that they do not transfer her to someplace that cannot meet her needs. But what can we really do?