Georgina - Interview 06
Age at interview: 62
Brief Outline: Georgina's son first became unwell when he was 15. He suffered hallucinations and delusions, but now lives independently, and both he and the family have a range of support in place. Georgina is a published author and works as a consultant.
Background: Georgina works as a consultant, trainer and advocate. She has been a mental health service user and a carer to her youngest son, who developed paranoid schizophrenia at the age of 16. He is now 35. Ethnic Background' White British.
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Georgina describes life before she and her son had any contact with mental health services as ‘horrendous’. She had a call from her son’s history teacher when her son was 15 saying that she was worried about her son’s mental state. Georgina had noticed her son was ‘changing’ but had ‘put it down to… being a teenager’. It took another 14 months for Georgina to get help for her son. She describes how he would go out on his motorbike and just ride with a crash helmet but no other protective clothing, and says that he had ‘virtually no friends’ at this time. He had a crash on his bike, but he said that the ride ‘blows [his] thoughts away’. Georgina wanted help from the GP but this was difficult; eventually when her son was 16 a friend came with her to the doctor’s. Her son was talking to himself and ‘couldn’t follow a reasoned argument’. Georgina describes how her son was 6ft 2 inches but weighed only 8st 2lbs. Eventually she was able to get a social worker to her home, and her son was referred to a psychiatrist who diagnosed him as having a ‘thought pattern disorder’. She says that they entered the ‘wilderness years’ because life just went ‘on and on’ without help. She recalls that his being put on anti-psychotic medication was ‘just as big a shock as when he became psychotic’ as he went from a ‘very, very angry young man’ to someone who was like ‘a zombie with lead boots on’. For the next seven years she was ‘grief-stricken’.
After his brother left home, Georgina felt that her son was getting worse' he thought the television was talking to him, and that his thoughts were being broadcast. He reportedly had ‘horrendous’ hallucinations and was admitted to hospital. After five weeks he was moved from hospital into rehabilitation for five years. Finally, the psychiatrists prescribed her son Clozaril and he did improve, ‘not to the extent that [she] wanted him to improve, but he was better’. At this stage her son got a part-time job and spent another 2.5 years in supported accommodation. He was about to move to a brand-new flat close to the family home when there was a protest about the accommodation. Security lights were smashed and a letter was published in the paper. Georgina wrote about this episode in a book she published, in the chapter ‘Welcome Home’. She describes another incident in which her son was in a local swimming pool and she received a call from the police saying that a head teacher had called them as her son was standing at the side of the pool near to the children. Despite her son’s not doing anything, he was reported to the police as a threat and Georgina describes this as evidence of public ignorance, and an incident that caused her son considerable distress. After this time, her son was on Prozac for a year.
Her son has been accessing direct payments for 5 years and has had 5 personal assistants in total. Unfortunately one assistant embezzled £400 out of her son’s bank account. Georgina describes the stress she has been through and says that she herself has been on Prozac for ‘many years’. She says that the hardest thing is to see her son suffer and not to be able to do too much to help him. She says that the most important things in recovery are ‘love and support’, good practitioners, the right medication and even pets.
Initially Georgina found it very difficult to get information and support, and has helped other carers find these, particularly in respect of the Direct Payments scheme. Her son has had a talking therapy called ‘Concept of the Other mind’ and they have had family therapy and went to a carers’ support group. She has published extensively on the area of mental health and works as a consultant in mental health.
Georgina couldn't get the proper help from her GP when she knew her teenage son was starting to...
Georgina couldn't get the proper help from her GP when she knew her teenage son was starting to...
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I wondered if you could start off by telling me what life was like with [your son] before you had any contact with mental health services before …?
Georgina talks about an incident with her son in a public swimming pool.
Georgina talks about an incident with her son in a public swimming pool.
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Georgina was upset when one of her son's social workers made her feel she was upset about...
Georgina was upset when one of her son's social workers made her feel she was upset about...
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And can you describe to me the kind of relationships have you had with [son’s] social workers?
[Son’s] some of them have been absolutely excellent. And some of them have been absolutely dire.
There was one in particular who I rang up crying, and she said, “Oh I didn’t know you wanted tea and sympathy.” And I said, “Actually, that’s exactly what I do need, tea and sympathy.” And she was one that made me feel that made me feel as if I was just dealing with something very, very trivial and not a severe and enduring mental illness. And I can remember thinking, you know, if only you could come and live in my house for a few weeks, and cope with what we have to cope with, you would not adopt that same attitude. The best practitioners are ones that treat the whole family. Involve the whole family, and don’t you know, see it as I’m on my high horse, I’m the professional and you’re just a low down carer. That’s not what it’s all about.
Georgina initially found it difficult to contact other carers.
Georgina initially found it difficult to contact other carers.
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And how did you get this information when you went through it the first time?
I would say I’ve got a lot of information from other carers, because we all support, we support each other. You know, I help other carers, and other carers have helped me. And, and services. I mean I’ve had help from services. And I think it is getting better. It’s a lot better now than it was when [son’s name] first became ill.
What was there then?
Not a lot. No. I felt very, very isolated. And where do I go for help? But it is easier now.
And where did you meet these other carers who’ve been supportive?
At conferences, at carers groups, where did I meet them all? Mainly, mainly at conferences I’ve met carers. You know, that live all over the country really.
And why did you start …?
And I belong to carers forum on the internet as well.
oh right.
So.
Can you tell me a little bit about that?