Obviously I feel strongly about the conference for DSM 5 for personal reasons – I have a daughter miles away from home under Section 3 in a private sector hospital because all the care has failed. She has several diagnoses but the team are now sticking to chronic treatment resistant. Unlike the team I have listened to my daughter and seen the change in her behaviour from mild mannered, polite, well behaved to unrecognisable and this has nothing to do with a diagnosis this is because my daughter was put on anti-depressants and took herself off in one go. At the time I had no idea about these drugs but then I started to read up on them and turned to experts in the States for help like Dr Ann Blake Tracy and Dr Walsh. I have read books and fully agree with everything in Dr Ann Blake Tracy’s book Prozac Panacea Pandora and then I purchased Pharmageddon by Professor David Healy and from my own personal experience can vouch for the fact that it is the drugs that have affected my daughter and this has nothing to do with any diagnosis. My daughter’s eyes were dilated, she suffered hallucinations, described a feeling like “crawling out of her skin” – no professionals stepped in to help my daughter in this state and she kept being dumped in the community time and time again. The drugs made her feel totally tired, confused, disorientated. She described symptoms of severe headaches and dizziness and heart palpitations. When I read the leaflets on these drugs it said to refer matters to the clinician and what did they do – ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Instead my daughter was told she had to be on these drugs for the rest of her life and that is a lie. Dr Tracy sent me a tape on how to properly come off the drugs and I gave this to the Bethlem as Professor Murray promised a drug free period of assessment and no one listened. That is the main problem – professionals think they know it all and do not listen. All I have done as a mother is listen and speak up for my daughter – her words to me was “do whatever you can to help me, Mum” Well it is not just for my daughter that I wish to help but for all the others trapped on a never-ending section and my answer to this is that the professionals as part of their training should also be placed on the wards so that they can get an insight in the same way as a patient. Only then will a professional understand what a patient is truly going through.

So I attended the protest – I arrived very early and had never been to the Institute of Psychiatry before. Anyway when I got there the CCHR were staging a demonstration so I thought I would join this and then later on take part in all the protests as after all it is all about the treatment and false labelling of someone when mistakes are often made like in the case of my daughters. At lunch time a handful of psychiatrists came out and I took the opportunity to hand out my leaflets but not all wanted to even look at these leaflets and what does that say about a professional that refuses to even look and discover anything other than what they think in their minds. Luckily it was only a group of American Psychiatrists that refused my leaflets but others at least took them and I pointed out this website I had set up as I am not alone in feeling that the care has failed my daughter and in wanting to see a big change in the care system – not just an end to enforced drugging but humane treatment of mental health patients and inclusion of families where possible.

The protest by the CCHR was good and they had a distance to travel to this event and I admire this very much.

This protest was followed by Speak Out Against Psychiatry (SOAP) – I attend their meetings when I can and appreciate and admire these former patients who have suffered extreme abuse how they can speak out about this. In comparison I have gone through nothing apart from having to speak up for my daughter’s rights and then of course you get treated like a criminal. The patients give me the strength to always wish to carry on my fight for better mental health care and the hope that the wonderful care of Tornio, Finland can be available in the UK soon. At the protest I met the most remarkable people, some of whom managed to get off these chemicals and are now OK despite such lab labelling and this shows how wrong everything is.

There was a man who came out to speak because the psychiatrists very craftily went out through the back entrance rather than face up to the former patients, many of whom suffered abuse under the system. I not only thought this was crafty but cowardly in my opinion. However I thought never mind I will be back again tomorrow to the Maudsley Debates.

I have not long since returned and had a lot of driving to do this weekend. We went down to see Elizabeth on Friday but did not arrive until fairly late thanks to the traffic. We took her out for a meal at a very nice Indian restaurant and the next day we were planning to go to Cardiff. To my horror I heard Cardiff was going to be very very busy as they had an international event on at the Millenian Stadium. This stadium was right next to where we stayed as well. I have never been to Cardiff before and it was much nearer to the Bluestone National Park where Cambian suggested we visit but then only granted 1 night.

Anyway, we hired a taxi to go to Cardiff Bay – this was nice but again absolutely packed full of people. Hardly the place to take Elizabeth to as she does not like crowds. All the time she had to hang on to either me or her sister as she constantly felt dizzy. I have no doubt this is the result of the high level of chemicals that Cambian continue to ply thanks to the prescription of the Bethlem. Surely it is wrong to give a drug off label such as Metformine – this has not been tested and it would seem they are just using my daughter as a human guinea pig still.

Well I was most impressed with Cardiff but we could not do much because Elizabeth felt unwell on more than 1 occasion but it was so nice to all be together and we had one large room – the hotel was nice where we stayed and whilst we could not go out in the evening I took Elizabeth and her sister out for meals and booked spa treatment at Laguna Spa which was very nice and we all used the facilities there. On the last day we looked at a local food market and we visited a national park all about the history of Wales -called Fagans. Elizabeth could not go up the stairs to the wonderful award winning tea rooms and then we made our way back slowly and sat outside the ward for a while. Elizabeth became quiet and withdrawn. I was in tears driving home thinking I was leaving my daughter behind in a hospital and especially one where the psychiatrist and management have been so against me. It has got back to me everything that has been said and now I have proof in a letter I have just got. Instead of communicating the team only communicate between themselves and yet this team are proud to boast of Best Care Provider not only for 2012 but 2013. I have their brochure which I have been reading – it is full of self praise. However I am in despair as there is NOTHING good whatsoever in care that compares to what is on offer in Finland in Tornio. The next best thing is a therapeutic community but I can only hope that they know how to communicate properly. Perhaps Cambian should make every effort to improve things on this scale as I have found everything secretive, excluding and abusive especially when I have read what is going on behind my back and to be fair it may not just be Cambian involved. The other party is none other than Enfield Mental Health who have tried on more than 1 occasion to replace me as the nearest relative and yet none of them will give a reason WELL NOW I KNOW THIS REASON AND HAVE PROOF AND AM PREPARED TO STAND UP IN FRONT OF THE WORLD TO DISCOUNT THE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST ME. This kind of behaviour is bullying when a team gang up against 1 person who stands alone and do not care about my daughter’s feelings and try and twist things making out that my daughter has gone against me. Luckily I do not believe a word and know exactly what is going on. Unlike them I am prepared to stand up in front of the world’s press alone and I hope that I do this very soon at two forthcoming events that I will be attending. I have nothing to hide yet have been treated like a criminal.

Anyway Elizabeth was very happy to see us. She said that she is NOT happy to be on a section at all and as a mother I want a full investigation into what on earth my daughter is doing on a section in the first place when the Bethlem caused the psychosis and this psychosis would have been caused in anyone and that includes someone without any mental health diagnosis because what they did was take her off 150 mg of Seroquel and then mix it with Olanzapine later introducing Metformine off label and Clozapine which I found out about and that is why they banned me.

Anyway I may yet have to pop down there again to the Bethlem as I have been enquiring as to where the Young Living Oils are. I ordered these from Dr Ann Blake Tracy and Elizabeth said this is the only thing that worked! They cost me about £100 and if the Bethlem has lost them then it is only right that they should pay especially as they seem to be raking in money from the drugs manufacturing companies for the experimentation of patients like my daughter who are used as human guinea pigs. Well I want every one of those oils replaced and if I get nowhere with this then I shall have no choice but to pop down there in person as Cambian have not got the oils there. I seem to also remember dropping in some supplements which were prescribed by the private psychiatrist that I appointed. So where are they now – I ordered those from the States. Anyway it is too late to look into this now but you can be sure that I will be in touch and will want a full and thorough investigation into where these oils are.

I shall also be acquainting myself with Cambian’s Head Office as this is convenient for me and I would like to meet with the Chief Executive. The Bethlem ignored my advice which I sought from leading professionals in the States and now Cambian “Best Care Provider 2013” in my opinion need to review their policies in the way they deal with families especially if a family member should dare to disagree and I especially had nothing but praise up until now. It is not the nurses but the management at the top that need to be looked at and this is why I want everyone’s email addresses as I have been advised to correspond – I am more than happy to correspond with them and it will be interesting to see how they correspond with me as in Finland this is why there is 85% success rate. It is no wonder everything is failing here in the UK where there is no communication between the team and families and I have had good cause to speak out. I could not care less if a dozen people write to me saying good things about Cambian – that is up to them but I have every reason to be not happy with the way things have been conducted there.

The drugs have failed her – they have made her disabled and to the point she can hardly walk. She should be enjoying her life right now as a young person and I know of others – other young people on sections that are drugged up to the point they have no quality of life as they should have. It is obvious that these drugs are doing Elizabeth no good.

However IT IS A TOTAL LIE TO STATE THAT I AS A MOTHER HAVE TOLD HER TO STOP TAKING THE DRUGS AND NEITHER HAVE I ENCOURAGED HER EVEN THOUGH I HAVE A PREFERENCE FOR HOLISTIC CARE. I AM CAMPAIGNING FOR BETTER MENTAL HEALTH CARE AS IT IS APALLING. THERE ARE NO PROPER FACILITIES TO ASSESS SOMEONE BEFORE GIVING THESE DRUGS AS THEY MAY H AVE UNDERLYING HEALTH PROBLEMS AND THE DRUGS COULD MAKE THEM WORSE AS DR WALSH CORRECTLY SAYS. IT IS A TOTAL LIE TO SAY THAT YOU HAVE TO BE ON THE DRUGS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. THE DRUGS MANUFACTURING COMPANIES SHOULD SET UP A FUND FOR PEOPLE LIKE MY DAUGHHTER WHO ARE CHRONIC TREATMENT RESISTANT AND SUFFERING ON THE DRUGS SO THAT THEY CAN HAVE THE CARE OF THEIR CHOICE AND EVEN BE ALLOWED TO GO ABROAD AS THERE IS NOTHING SET UP YET IN THE UK THAT PROVIDES DECENT CARE LIKE IN TORNIO, FINLAND.

What is true is that the Government (Mr Jeremy Hunt) does not do anything and he should be interested in the waste of money to the public and help set up more therapeutic communities offering holistic care.

I do not believe in stigma – I do not believe in labelling someone yet I do not dismiss that someone can suffer from a mental illness however I believe that the care is all wrong and I do not like the way a team try to come between a family and can destroy relationships and drugs are given to someone even if they are abuse victims. Well I am doing the right thing by bringing out in the open what is really going on and speaking up for all the patients stuck on never ending sections and mothers who are in despair watching their sons/daughters stuck on the ward. What an infringement of human rights in the UK! This is what I am ashamed of not that I have a daughter who has a label (and which one I wonder!) -she has more than 1 and even more laughable is the DSM 5 and I am looking forward to going along to this and meeting all these American psychiatrists as I have something to say to them as a mother as to what I think about their book the DSM 5 and also there must be a diagnosis for everyone and that includes themselves in the DSM5.