Shenanigans and mental health... Again

A 'psychiatric' worker was exposed in The Weston and Somerset Mercury for "...'sex' shame with patient." Female 50-year-old psychiatric worker had sex with 28-year-old patient.

There's an awful lot of this stuff going on.

Another mental health nurse out of a job

The latest mental health nurse to lose his job is James Duggan. He was caught out after sexually assaulting a teenager at a Cambridge psychiatric hospital. He was jailed for 18 months last June, and now he's lost his license to practise.

I've blogged about quite a few of these now, but I continue to be amazed at how many male and female mental health nurses are up to no good with male and female patients.

I never get tired of this story... Rosenhan and friends

Thank you David Rosenhan and friends for executing what can only be described as pure genius. Claudia Hammond in a series at BBC Radio 4 called Mind Changers has covered the story, "...gaining access to his [Rosenhan's] unpublished personal papers to discover how it changed our understanding of the humna mind, and its impact 40 years on."

This story was also covered on BBC 2 a while ago. David Rosenhan himself was interviewed to give his input on 'The Thud Experiment' in a series called The Trap.

Sure, Rosenhan and his friends got the rough end of the stick, there's no doubt about that. But if he and his friends hadn't done it, we wouldn't have the opportunity to categorically state, with certainty, that psychiatry really is fake, stupid and a fraud.

And thank you Miss Hammond for giving this story even more air time which it justly deserves.

What? Psychiatrists who don't agree?

Dr Joseph's very busy, which must mean he's raking in the cash by giving his opinions in legal arenas around the country. Kerching!

Dr Joseph's been in Swansea this week giving his opinion on Llanelli man Wayne Bowen who killed his 15-year-old stepson to punish his wife when he feared she was going to leave him.

Dr Joseph, who interviewed Bowen in custody to prepare a report for the court, said the defendant's personality was "characterised by extreme jealousy and possessiveness". Does it really need a highly paid psychiatrist to say that?

Dr Joseph also said, "People can do some very evil and wicked things without being mad." He said this to reject claims made by psychiatrists, relied on by the defence, who were claiming Bowen was "in a delusional state and probably psychotic".

What d'you know? Psychiatrists who can't agree on a person's mental state. I think we can safely say it's all about the highest bidder. Psychiatrists will say anything the paymaster requires. After all, it's only an opinion.

You're so clever doctor

Whenever there's a murder these days, the shrinks seem to get in on the action to give their opinion on what they think happened, and what they think the person was thinking when he or she was thinking about killing another person. Beats me why you need a psychiatrist for this.

The Independent covered the story of William Cranston, who said he "lost his rag" when he discovered his partner and best friend making love. Cranston killed Kay Morton, 39, with a single stab wound to the heart and knifed Paul Wilkins, 55, several times, severing one of his arteries.

The shrink involved was Dr Philip Joseph (left), who examined Cranston. Dr Joseph said Cranston had "...suffered "the ultimate betrayal" by Ms Morton, and that catching the pair having sex on the sofa where his son died was "the last straw". A psychiatric examination revealed he suffered a "catastrophic loss of self-control".

Now for Paddy Mac's evaluation of Dr Joseph's evaluation. Suffered the "ultimate betrayal." Most of us mortals could have told the court that and I for one wouldn't mind the cash that was handed over for that opinion.

The best bit though is the "psychiatric examination" to find out Cranston had a "catastrophic loss of self-control." What sort of psychiatric examination was that doc? Perhaps the very 'scientific' psychiatric examination went something like this:

Dr Joseph: "Tell me what happened Mr Cranston."

Mr Cranston: "I saw them having sex and I got mad."

Dr Joesph: "How did you feel?"

Mr Cranston: "I felt very angry."

Dr Joseph: "What happened then?"

Mr Cranston: "I felt myself losing control very quickly because I was so angry."

Dr Joseph: "What happened then?"

Mr Cranston: "I lost my self-control."

Dr Joseph: "What happened then?"

Mr Cranston: "It was a catastrophe. I killed them both when I lost control."

And this is how you can reach the very very very scientific psychiatric evaluation that Mr Cranston had a "catastrophic loss of self-control." Rocket science takes a back seat in comparison to this stuff.

Lessons to be learnt

Broadmoor has been getting a bashing lately in the media. On Monday, I wrote about a report that would be coming out concerning deaths in Broadmoor. I anticipated the hospital authorities would say that they could "learn valuable lessons" from the report.

Well, on the BBC News web site this afternoon, Peter Cubbon of the West London Mental Health NHS Trust, the one which governs Broadmoor, said, "There are lessons to be learnt from the investigation."

On Monday, I also said the Trust would "...be resolute in "implementing the recommendations". " Today Peter Cubbon said, "The trust has already made progress in implementing a number of the recommendations..."

So I'm not just a pretty face then... I should've applied for the job. I obviously say all the right things.

Bureaucratic deaths at Broadmoor

Saw this report in the Financial Times on Broadmoor Hospital following the release of a report from the Care Quality Commission.

There was a particular paragraph that stopped me in my tracks. "Eight suicides occurred at Broadmoor from 2001 to 2008, five by hanging. But because the buildings are grade II-listed, the trust has been "unable to eradicate obvious ligature points such as bars on windows"."

Sorry Mrs A, Mrs B, Mr C, Mrs D, etc, but your loved ones died because the local planners said Broadmoor couldn't change the windows. I wonder if that's really the case, or whether the powers that be in Broadmoor didn't actually make the effort to make the change?

The listed building status of Broadmoor Hospital would appear to be more important than human life.