Politics 🗳️ NZ Politics

Because mental health is different and it isn't at the stage where society treats it the same.

Diagnosis is much harder too. The types of people you need to be trained is different. The people who want to treat mental health is fewer as the job is much more difficult.

But yes, more money does need to be poured into it and more needs to be put into lower social economic areas and not just giving them a hand out but having solutions that will gradually raise everyone's standards.

I was gonna leave this topic to give people a chance to talk rather than me continue to be a knowit all interweb self appointed mental health expert.

You are absolutely correct.

I understand why people would question why mental health is different and we should just continue to view it as one specialty under the health umbrella with no special attention over other areas.

No blood test or Xray or scan will tell you what the disorder is. It takes time, you cannot have certainty in some cases for years, which is why peoples diagnosis can change from depression to be re labelled bipolar, from bipolar to being re branded Schizophrenic.

There is no way at the moment around that, because part of what informs the diagnosis is how the patient responds to the myriad of different medication classes.

Also some diseases start out looking the same.

The truth about why mental health lags is the stigma, in the greater health care arena clinicians who are not mental health trained are afraid of mental health patients.

They can even be a little awkward around Psych staff too, till they get a lot of exposure to how they roll. When I first got called up to Major general hospitals to a mental health crisis in the general medicine/surgical arena the Nurse were very stand offish, and we had a hard time getting them to engage and change attitudes.
Happy to say we did have some good outcomes where you would show up and the medical nurses (we called them 'real nurses', a black humor sarcastic mental health in joke) anyway you would show up and they would be like Denzel Washington just walked into the building to size up the crises.
So they learnt to really respect the expertise of MH staff.

This is a society wide human condition, to fear what we do not understand, everyone is a little bit or a lot scared of crazy.

Therefore Mental health units are built away from the main general hospital buildings, usually down the back, out of sight, out of mind, and this attitude in health care, this prejudice is systemic and profound.

There are other reason but I am sure no one is interested in hearing all of it.

Taking a step back, and imagining this minister is going to be good, it would help to know whether this is being driven by the fact that the mental health pandemic is exploding and that the new Govt realise that they need to take the issues on.

However I lose heart with that generous view, when I consider how complex day to day life with a mental illness is, the need for financial support, housing, supervision in some cases.

Unlike other illnesses, while you are in 'remission' your medication side effects commonly make things like work a pipe dream, because pills can impair concentration, memory, etc.

So to use Tragics analogy about a diabetic, when a diabetic is stable, they can work, keep a home, look after themselves, negotiate with WINZ.

Mental health clients have to go to WINZ and try to read those deliberately difficult benefit applications and when the WINZ monkey says 'you only qualify for partial support' which is an in house lie led by the Ministry to cut costs.....the mental health patient will go away with inadequate money to eat or pay rent, they will feel suicidal, and in some cases homocidal and go back and kill WINZ staff.

The shitter of it is, some of these people are unable to get the money they are entitled to, purely because of the drugs the Mental health system is giving them, I cannot imagine a more unfair unjust punishment for being sick.

The only good thing I can see about a minister that is realistic to hope for, is that they stand over the DHB boards and say listen fuckers, this fifty million is not allowed to be siphoned off anymore, that shit is stopping now.
 
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I don't know, most politicians these days are financially well off.. seem to have personally benefited from progressive neolib policy since the 80s ... so in some ways they've been/are part of the problems the country currently faces.
As for solving social problems they haven't got a clue, these guys are rich enough to buy themselves out of trouble. So who cares except they got to look like they're doing something about it.
Some of the policies so far from this govt ie: putting tax benefits over health, says it all really.
As for a solution, I really don't know, maybe the system has gone beyond the point of no return. The gap between the haves and have nots is getting to wide to close. It also reflects in govt coffers where there seems to be less to spend each year, yet tax cuts seem to go on and on..
 
I don't know, most politicians these days are financially well off.. seem to have personally benefited from progressive neolib policy since the 80s ... so in some ways they've been/are part of the problems the country currently faces.
As for solving social problems they haven't got a clue, these guys are rich enough to buy themselves out of trouble. So who cares except they got to look like they're doing something about it.
Some of the policies so far from this govt ie: putting tax benefits over health, says it all really.
As for a solution, I really don't know, maybe the system has gone beyond the point of no return. The gap between the haves and have nots is getting to wide to close. It also reflects in govt coffers where there seems to be less to spend each year, yet tax cuts seem to go on and on..
And with the pay freeze over for politicians, I would expect them to give themselves a bump in pay at some point next year.
 
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With the cop summit looking to be extremely focused on climate change and all things around it, have to wonder whether luxon ever intended going over with some proposals in this area under the new government being criticised.
 


This guy was worth a watch this morning regarding mental health.

Thanks for posting that.

First time I have come across him, I see from his bio that he did his clinical work out of Christchurch.

Bit sad seeing how stressed out he is, given he has spent his life being an expert at not portraying emotions in many situations where it is not appropriate to have anything but a neutral expression.

He is from the part of mental health that is best resourced, Forensics have the biggest budget, so what he is seeing is the stuff hospital psych staff have been dealing with (these people that are being sent to prison grossly distressed) at the bottom of the Iceberg, and now he has been seeing the tip of the iceberg in his field as a fall out over how badly things are at the hospital end.

Then you get this thing now where these guys from prison, who as he described come out more sick and disturbed, being directed by Judges into the usual acute mental health Units.

And in my experience you are also getting 501 rejects from Australia who were in maxi, but when they deport them, they are free men, some are pedophiles, others are gang members, and they land at the airport, Customs staff freak out, Police call the Mental health team, they go and get put in hospital with people as young as eighteen and straight away hit on the female patients and try to have sex with them.

If you ask me that is worse than what concerns Doctor Erick in this interview regarding people being in prison because of the collateral damage.


Interesting how the GOVT does a report like the mental health and addictions report that he kept referencing and their good will destroys an already sinking ship.

I am glad I am out, got sick of the broken bones, the HIA's being told if you hit your head again it is dangerous (hit your head with someones fist).

On a bad weekend, when there are no regular Doctors in the Units, you can have staff beaten badly, call in Security guards to stand around in the wards, they get assaulted badly they refuse to come back, or if forced to they refuse to leave the staff base when you are getting the bash, and they are backed up in that decision by their bosses.

Sometimes you are facing weapons, knives and shit eh, I just dunno how the women do it, Its frightening for big men like me, but small women, young graduates just turned twenty, look like they are still in highschool, brave people.

Doctors get out because it is too risky for their Careers.

Nurses quit because they get treated badly by management while copping all the danger etc.

Now days if you restrain someone you get held to account in debriefing the next day by managers who are angry that you spoiled their no restraint world health organization goals. If you are lucky they might ask if you are ok after someone slashed your arm or whatever, king hit you etc.
 
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Must not have seen the 8. Was said by bishop and luxon there was to be 1 store up north under what was proposed, turns out there would have been 18. One of those specsaver moments. Thank goodness for shows like q and a where these things are found out and we get the truth.
Notice how the media are lenient and forgiving towards Luxon must be the love affair with Tax Cuts...
Man a year ago they would of ganged up on Labour looking for their own pound of flesh and calling on resignations and sack the Govt... Very 2 faced this countries media...
 
Not sure if anyone watched q and a this morning but was a really informative watch by a doctor in mental health disenfranchised with the state of where it’s at and walked away. Really enjoy the two shows, with the other being newshub nation on Saturday morning. Really hope they continue as there’s no bias and they speak of the pressing issues pacific wide.
Do you think those shows will be cut since they were on Labour's payroll according to the conspiracy nut electorate?
 
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A lot of the media will be very concerned about their jobs eh with far right fascists ranking as high as deputy prime minister.
I reckon Jack Tame is the leading political journalist in the country at the moment followed by Rebecca Wright on newshub nation, didn’t care much for the show until she started on there. I think Maike Sherman is up there too. Would be piss poor if either were canned.
 
The fact you don’t support this is a problem 🙁

That’s really basic minimum standards that will flow through into our future. I would be aiming for 95% in 5 years and throwing unlimited resources at it.
Bro, you're taking me out of context. It's about the government just saying random figures that sound great but don't put resources to do it.

You go visit a South Auckland school and tell me how doable it is. In the news they interviewed two of the most prestigious principals and they were calling out the ministers numbers.
 
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Must not have seen the 8. Was said by bishop and luxon there was to be 1 store up north under what was proposed, turns out there would have been 18. One of those specsaver moments. Thank goodness for shows like q and a where these things are found out and we get the truth.
It would've been bigger than a Costco.
 
It's obvious, we just don't think that having a single store in Northland, being a target for gangs and driving into a bigger black market is actually a good idea," Luxon said.

Forgetting whether it is 1, 18 or 35 stores this is a rather stupid statement from our PM given they campaigned on:

A) sorting out the gangs
B) reducing the level of crime against retailers
 
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