mental health nswSubmissions can be made directly through the Commission’s website by filling in the online response form.

It is also true that for many people there might be times when their choices are limited. Whenever the use of medication is involuntary it must adhere to the concepts of care and treatment within the NSW Mental Health Act and it must comply with the requirements of the Act to never be excessive or inappropriate. Fact, this may happen to someone if they are under an involuntary order in hospital or if they have a Community Treatment Order which requires them to accept medication.

Your submissions may be used to influence change and work towards improvements for people at those times when life can be difficult and access to safe and effective treatment is needed most. Sometimes as a means of behaviour control, look, there’s also a growing concern that antipsychotic medications are over prescribed for older people, and used not merely to treat mental illness. Multiple medications and complicated regimes can result in confusion about what to take and when to take it. Older people living with a mental illness often take medication for a range of agerelated health problems at identical time as medication for mental illness. Older people may need lower doses, medication may have a more prolonged effect on the body than in a younger person. Generally, the changes to the body naturally associated with ageing can increase the risk of medication causing harm.

mental health nsw By the way, the diagnosis of mental illness in children and young people can be challenging as long as behaviours like shyness, anxiety, and temper can be developmental stages and part of normal growing up. The general amount of children being treated with medication for mental illness is rising. Doctors of young people aged 14 and 15 can find it challenging to know when young people are able to make their own choices about medication and when their parent or guardian is best placed to make decisions about their treatment. However, these medications have generally not been trialled in children, and the ‘long term’ impacts on the developing brain are mostly unknown. Guidelines recommend that medication must only be prescribed when psychosocial options like structured parenting programs or cognitive behavioural therapy have first been explored and exhausted.

For a lot of reasons, people with a mental illness may either choose not to take their medication, or they may find it difficult to take their medication. Whenever taking it at the wrong times, or not taking it really going to be the right decision, or it could cause health complications, a bit of which are very serious, deciding to stop taking medicine. Did you know that the side effects of medicines for mental illness can be mild or they can sometimes prevent a person from fulfilling their daily responsibilities, as an example, slurred speech and drowsiness can make being an active and attentive parent difficult. Therefore, people will sometimes make choices between fulfilling responsibilities and taking their medication. Did you hear about something like that before, is that the case? Reasons might include.

People may have more than one professional writing prescriptions for their medication, for sake of example, a psychiatrist and a GP.

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People may also move from one care setting to another, for instance, from hospital to the community. Of course this information is important as doctors use it to make decisions and identify aftereffect. With strengths, doses or the names of medication missing, people can experience harm to their health, when information is incomplete. These situations require clear and timely communication that might be informed by the individual circumstance and preferences of the person and include a full record of medication currently taken as well as medication taken in the past.

mental health nswThe Commission has a mandate to reform the mental health system in NSW, and for this reason we are largely concerned with understanding the problems, challenges and opportunities within the state of NSW.

Some people live with both mental illness and problems with the use of recreational drugs and alcohol. People turn to drugs and alcohol for loads of reasons, to a lot more challenging for people who use drugs and alcohol. Seriously. They may find sticking to medication regimes difficult, and might miss regular appointments with professionals to review medicines. Then, our reform agenda is first and foremost for the community and people of NSW. When taken with prescription medication, drugs and alcohol can contribute to after effect, interfere with the intended result, or even heighten the effect of medicines. So Commission recognises that submissions from elsewhere may highlight important systemic problems.

People in rural and remote areas can find that local pharmacies stock only a limited range of medicines used to treat mental illness.

Delays in consumers receiving their medication can also happen if advice given by the GP and pharmacist are different. Then again, quite a few individuals may feel uncomfortable visiting the pharmacy in a small community because of confidentiality problems. People in all areas of NSW can find that outofhours pharmacies are rare or nonexistent, that may have consequences for continuity. With that said, this could result in another visit to the GP. Stigma and discrimination can also prevent access to medication, where people do not fill prescriptions because of the negative attitudes and stereotyping they can experience. Certain medicines may take a couple of days to arrive and this can lead to delays in starting a course of treatment as well as the increased travel costs of a return visit to the pharmacy.

Medication use is part of the experience of mental illness for many people, particularly those with serious mental illness. Information about medication needs to be in plain English, it must be factual and current, and it could be comprehensive but not technical. Commission will like to hear people’s experiences to better have a grasp of the problems faced. That’s where it starts getting serious. Information assists consumers and carers to make informed choices, and to take a lead or more active role in their recovery. We can thence evaluate to what extent the system is responding safely and sensitively to their needs. These records make it easier to remember important information like past and current medication and the exact brand names and doses. Plenty of consumers and carers speak languages apart from English and may have difficulty understanding complex medical information if it’s not available in the language they most often speak in the premises. Anyway, consumers can use medication correctly and safely, Professionals have a duty to provide information. As a result, people also need ready access to their own medication records.

For all people -consumers, families and carers, professionals -the choices, information and practices that surround medication and mental health are complex, and sometimes polarising.

Some people who experience mental illness are able to live well without the use of prescription medicines really. Quite a few people will combine medication with other supports like counselling, psychotherapy, or mindfulness, and some will find that medication alone enables an active and productive life. With all that said… While others will find medication is part of the ongoing, for others medication gonna be a short term solution for an immediate mental health cr, or the ‘longterm’. Nonetheless, what everyone can agree on is the importance of the poser and the urgency to get it right.

Information collected, including any personal details, will only be used for the purpose for which it was provided. People’s stories also should focus our work for reform. Except in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1988, we won’t add your email address or name to any mailing list, or disclose the information to anyone else without your permission. We have found that stories Actually the Commission regularly supports people to share their experiences of mental health and recovery.

General practitioners have an important role in helping and supporting people living with mental illness. Rather than providing GPs and consumers the time needed to learn the reasons formental illnessnot just the symptoms, the result is a primary health care system that can lend itself more easily to the prescription of medication. That said, this can mean that GPs may not always have the full picture and can be unaware of what other people are prescribing. All these factors can make it difficult for GPs and consumers to develop the trusting relationship needed to deliver really good mental health care. Quite a few general practices are busy places where appointments with doctors tend to be short. Loads of people may choose to see different doctors on any visit.

Whenever weighing the potential benefits with the possible negative consequences that might result, irrespective of how and when it’s used, medication can have unwanted consequences, including ‘sideeffects’, and its use must always be thought through very seriously.

People who experience mental illness have a right to have information and explanation on benefits and harms to enable them to choose if to take medication, and to accept or reject medical advice in line with their own preferences. Is written to allow a broader audience to have a voice and to contribute to the discussions that shape decisions about medication and mental health, so this paper draws on this research. Look, there’s academic discussion about the use of medication in the treatment of mental illness.

Therefore this issues paper is written to allow individuals and organisations an opportunity to provide their experience, opinion and expertise on the key challenges of using medication as a treatment for mental illness. Before we publish your story we will contact you via email or phone for your written consent. Now this paper is concerned with those medications that should be prescribed for depression, anxiety, psychosis and to stabilise mood. Usually, the Commission will use submissions to the Medication and Mental Illness paper to better see the problems on this important matter and may publicly use excerpts from your submission in our work to reform mental health services, with this in mind. Additionally if you provide your submission by telephone, notes of the conversation going to be made to ensure we accurately capture the problems raised. Now look, the Commission may wish to publish your story on our website, enewsletter or social media. You can find more information about this stuff here. If we do quote from your submission all identifying information going to be removed.

The Mental Health Commission of NSW was established under the Mental Health Commission Act We are an independent statutory agency charged with driving change that benefits people with a lived experience of mental illness and their families and carers.

They might split tablets people from filling prescriptions, or only take medication nearly any second day to save money. With many performing the role of purchaser or financer of medication, it’s also important to acknowledge the integral role that carers can play in the lives of people with a mental illness. You can find more information about this stuff on this site. Taking partial doses and delaying starting medication can be harmful to people’s health. I’m sure you heard about this. People with a mental illness face high costs of health care because of a greater need to seek care, the cost of specialists, and the additional costs of medication.

Pharmacists may see people with a mental illness more regularly than any other health professional.

The physical settings of pharmacies can also make realising the pharmacists’ potential a challenge. Consequently, while detecting and managing consequences, and suggesting other supports, that said, this contact means the pharmacist can play an important role in promoting the safe use of medication. Community pharmacies are often open public spaces with aftereffects, and after all be prescribed another to deal with the after effects. Taking more than one medicine can also increase the chance of a ‘’drug to drug’ interaction’ -when one medication type causes another to be less effective or even potentially harmful. While collecting multiple medications can also be difficult and often patients are not allowed to stockpile, as the scripts are not always due at identical time. With that said, this can mean regular trips to the pharmacy.

From the Commissioner. How to provide a submission.

You can make your submission online now by filling in the online response form. Therefore this paper and the call for submissions is a way for the Commission to create an awareness of the problems amongst the consumers, carers, families, the professional community and the public around medication and mental illness, and to encourage an exchange of information and analysis. See other methods of submission on this page. It aims to provoke discussion about the role that medicines can or should play in supporting people living with a mental illness to be healthy and well.

we are all unique and so is our response and attitudes to medication. Genetic variation, like the way our bodies metabolise or breakdown medicines, can influence the effectiveness of surely to be beneficial and least gonna cause harm, and the medication regimen most suitable for the person. From the Commissioner. How to provide a submission. And now here’s a question. Why a problems paper, right? Let me ask you something. Why a problems paper?

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