The Scottish Government

"There is absolutely nothing to do on the ward except watch TV."

"You can sit in your room alone all day and no one will come and see how you are."

"The nurse who showed me around was nice, but didn't seem to realise that I'd never been on a psychiatric ward before so he didn't explain much. I had no idea what I was meant to do. I could have asked questions but I was too frightened."

"In hospital they take over your life and give us the message that we don't know how to deal with life. They're almost saying we will shut the door on life for you and put you in a protective environment - it makes us more scared of the outside world."

"Hospital rules and regulations are hard to conform to"

"The environment is stressful, overcrowded, under-resourced and understaffed"

"The noise and bustle is off-putting when there is a real need for peace and refuge"

"I was scared stiff as I'd never been in this hospital before. The place was horrendous, the patients could do what they wanted, there was little staff supervision and they didn't engage with the patients. The TV was on very loud, there was shouting and arguments and abuse, the cups were unwashed and stained, patients just stubbed their fags out on the floor-it was a hellish place"

"Nurses and other support workers are often in the nursing station and seem reluctant to talk with the patients; surely a nurse should provide support and therapy as patients recover, but how can they do this if they're sitting apart and leaving them to their own devices?"

"They don't ask after him or include him in Christmas cards. He might just as well be dead for all the interest they show in him."

"The 'see me…' campaign⁶has cheered us up enormously - at least it's a start to changing people's attitudes. As it progresses with other initiatives perhaps we'll learn from the examples of other illnesses, such as cancer. Then stigma will become just a sad memory".

"They saw her for ¹/ ₂ hour every week and we were with her 24/7. Surely we could have helped and been given some guidance about how to help?"

"I'm his mother and will care, but I don't have the knowledge or skills to deal with someone with a mental illness. However, I have to provide all the care now, as he won't accept it from anyone else."

"How do we cope when we seem to be the only person providing support, yet no one listens to us and we have no additional support for ourselves?"

"Most of us do cope, but we may go on to develop mental health problems ourselves. Some of us eventually just cannot cope and have to give up".

"I found the carers' project to be a very good experience and very helpful. As carers in a scattered community you can feel very isolated, largely as a result of public ignorance and the stigma attached to all kinds of mental illness."

"The first carers' support worker proved to be very helpful and informative. She obviously knew a lot about the illness. She was very humane - you could ring her and she would respond quickly and get right back to you. She would ring you herself just to see how you were doing."

"The carers' project has been excellent, superb in every way. They're willing to listen and to give advice and visit us, even in the evening."

"The resources put into mental health care are totally inadequate. I dread to think what would have happened to my son had he not had the support of his family and circle of friends. This huge network of informal, unpaid carers must save the country millions of pounds. But it imposes an enormous strain on the whole family and the family circle."

"They should listen more to carers. Common sense should prevail over confidentiality. My family and I have been treated as if we're of no account in my son's life."

"We should be included in the plans to help them. There are obviously parts of the doctor-patient relationship that are confidential, but we should be told the things that will help us to care."

"I had no idea where the doctor was trying to guide my daughter. I knew nothing about her medication, the right things to say, or what I should do to help. Or even what I might do that might be damaging."

"My son has a very good GP who rang me when he first saw my son. I gave a background history and he was very sensitive and sensible. I can ring him if I have any problems instead of clogging up the surgery with appointments. He recognised the need for carers to talk, but also dealt with my son very sensitively."

"Psychiatrists wield an enormous influence and power over their patients. They have access not only to drugs that can influence the state of the patient's mind, but also to the patient's privacy and that of his family."

"On a recent visit to my son's consultant psychiatrist, I asked her if she had read my son's notes. Her response was, "Some of them." I then asked her if she was aware that my son had made two serious suicide attempts. Her reply was, "We lose some every year." She then informed me that my son hated her. It occurred to me that my son should have treatment from another professional."

"There are one or two psychiatrists that I could praise, but there are several that I couldn't. The latter are those that I've found to be occasionally aloof and patronising. The good ones demonstrate genuine concern, a caring quality and a desire to see the patient improve and get back to normality."

"On occasion, when my son has gone missing from hospital, I've found the police more helpful, sensitive and informative than any of the professionals who were dealing with his care."

"The police gave me a special direct number to contact if I needed to. When my son returned and I informed them, they were as sensitive as possible. They just sent one policeman who was quiet and sensitive and just chatted with my son when he turned up here."

"The police have been brilliant. They've been out a few times and have helped with the situation at home very well. They didn't take sides and were very understanding."

"If society looked at mental health problems differently and didn't stigmatise us, and if there were proper services with a genuine interest in prevention, we wouldn't have to experience such long term effects."

"I went to A&E and they treated me perfectly well. They also allowed me to sit in a quiet area and saw me quickly. I was transferred by ambulance…the ambulance man was kind."

"I had gone voluntarily to the emergency team and was willing to stay in hospital and be admitted. It felt strange. I had gone to them and said, "Please take me in until I am well enough to go home again," and instead of just admitting me they Sectioned me."

"I said I just wanted to speak to someone and she said, "Well in that case I can't do anything." I was very upset and ended up taking an overdose."

"I was told that if I went to the A&E department with an overdose that they would be told not to admit me to the psychiatric hospital or to Section me. It felt like they had completely washed their hands of me, although later they changed their minds."

"I was advised to phone social work when I became ill, so I did. It takes a lot to phone but I was told my call was not appropriate - to be dismissed like that feels awful. I felt worthless and it exacerbated my illness. I felt humiliated and rejected."

"Some people do need Sectioned. I did, as I was a danger to myself. The doctor could have done it more humanely though and explained what was going on. I felt they were abrupt and dismissive."

"Without Sectioning we would be lost - sometimes you can no longer control people who are violent or self-harm. But it can be used frivolously and routinely. Staff use it as a threat to make you do what they want you to do."

"Sectioning can be in your best interests if it works. I was ill for seven years and now take olanzapine. If I had got that first, I might not have gone through this."

"I feel that I've been criminalised for having poor health and I don't see why I should be locked up."

"When I was Sectioned I had this feeling of disbelief that they could do this to me. It was like they went against me and my human rights. I hadn't done anything wrong - how could they take my life and throw it away?"

"We all get into states where we need to cry or shout, whether we are ill or not. I feel that sometimes they don't let you go through this, they don't want to take the risk. So if you've been on Section before they're prone to Section you more readily again."

"I do have problems but not all my experience is meaningless. I want a chance to make sense of my experience rather than to have it dismissed."

"I've never denied that I have a mental illness, but there's more to me than that. I'm also a person in my own right."

"Conventional psychiatry doesn't acknowledge my reality. Yet Joan of Arc heard voices and she's a saint."

"I dress and look different; my clothes are good quality and in good nick but staff interpret this as bizarre behaviour."

"They (staff) are a different class of people. Their world is mortgages and bills; my world is where I have had to steal for food. There is no meeting of minds. They don't approve of illegal drugs, but I think they're no worse than alcohol and mild drugs. There's a complete culture clash."

"People need help dealing with their circumstances, things like jobs, housing and divorces. People deal with different situations and stresses in different ways, and some of us can't cope with certain situations very well at all."

"The over reliance on drugs, treating people as objects and the pre-eminence of the psychiatrist knowing what's best for the patient is wrong. Yes, we do need medication, but equally we need our reality acknowledged."

"They often see us as a biomedical problem, as flawed objects. If they looked at us differently they'd see us as people, and know that we need a caring approach, some refuge, sanctuary and security, and people to listen to us."

"If you're to be Sectioned it needs to be done with dignity and respect."

"I've been Sectioned a lot and usually it's been justified, but sometimes it doesn't feel like it. To be Sectioned, the best practice is if they carry it out with love and warmth. In a sense it keeps you alive, but they can't Section you all the time to keep you alive."

"No one explained why I was arrested and I didn't feel I had any human rights. The police pounced on me in the street and forced me down. I had bruises all up my arm. To all intents and purposes I was assaulted."

"They said they were "very worried" about my mental health and had to detain me. They didn't seem worried. They seemed part angry, part triumphant. All my protests that I hadn't been climbing out were ignored. They left and I just cried."

"I felt I was being treated as a criminal. Why the bouncer? I'm not dangerous! The [general] nurses all lined up in the corridor whispering as they watched me being led away. It was so humiliating."

"When I was Sectioned the doctor visited and agreed I needed treatment, so the police were called. I was handcuffed and injected. It was demeaning and insulting."

"Being in hospital can make you feel very safe and secure, but being Sectioned can make you feel unsafe and controlled, and make you want to leave. In my case, when the Section was lifted and I had more freedom I wanted to stay."

"When I first had a breakdown at 17 or 18, I remember lying in my bed in hospital and seeing a bright light for the first time in my life. I felt I was being looked after - it was great, but it was also a critical moment."

"You need peace and quiet and room to sit in a peaceful atmosphere, but you can't get this because other patients can be very disturbing."

"We're often admitted because we've faced the worst that life has thrown at us and yet instead of safety and peace we're faced with the extremes of other people's behaviour. We're expected to put up with any form of behaviour from other people in the hospital."

"My key worker was good and agreed to an appointment where I would have enough time to ask the questions that I needed to ask about the Section, which was good."

"My key nurse was really good; he listened and respected my wishes, responded to me and did what I asked."

"Nurses can be a law unto themselves; we need to screen nurses - some of them are unsavoury personalities. We need them to treat us properly, not just as inmates."

"It's no use, you can't speak to them, you don't even want to speak to them. They sit in the office and text and gossip or watch TV, but they don't deal with the patients. However, some of them are excellent. They speak with you, they notice you and how you are, whether they're your allocated nurse or not."

"The doctor gave me the strong impression that I was wasting her time. She wasn't interested in what was going on or how I felt."

"My consultant is very good. He's very honest and has respect for us, but isn't frightened to speak his mind. He doesn't treat you like dirt or fob you off."

"At one stage I was lying on the ground because I was so distressed and sad. All the staff did was walk over me in the corridor."

"When I was in hospital I felt that I was fully capable of making everyday decisions, yet decisions were routinely taken out of my hands. Changes in medication weren't explained to me, I was just confronted with them. Staff made comments that made me feel I had no control. For instance, if I wanted to go out for a walk they might say, it's raining-it wouldn't be a good idea, or it's getting late-don't you think you should go to bed?"

"I was protesting and was pinned down and jagged up."

"Sometimes restraint seems excessive. Once I was held to the ground by six male staff and I was so scared I wet myself. We do occasionally need restrained, but it shouldn't always be by men and shouldn't be an over-reaction."

"Different staff react to crises in different ways. For some, a standard response is to jag me up straight away, while others take time to talk to me and calm me down. Others sit me down to listen to music to settle me."

"When there's a problem the staff always seem to assume that I'm the cause of it - perhaps they should take the time to find out what's happening before they come to drag me off."

"Can you imagine the terror this [forcible injection] awakens in a person who's been sexually assaulted in the past? By far the majority of forcible injections I've witnessed-and all that I've been subjected to myself-could have been avoided by the nurses showing patience, and trying to de-escalate the situation with a bit of calmness and common sense."

"I said that I would go to my room and behave quietly and wanted to just take tablets. But at the ward round they forced me to have depot. I hadn't refused medication, I had asked for alternatives."

"I do need to take my medication now, even just as a common courtesy to the community. I need medication if I'm to get well and avoid distressing others."

"Mental illness can make life interesting. It was far more interesting when I was ill - it was a world of excitement - medication has put me back into the drudgery of life."

"They use drugs, not just to help with symptoms but to stop the way you're behaving, without sitting down to discuss what's happening."

"Some people get so doped up they can't think properly. They can be so out of it that they can't do anything. It's like their life has been taken away from them."

"Most psychiatrists would never put up with the effects I've had to live with throughout my adult life-severe weight gain, lack of libido, incontinence, dry mouth, headaches, sweats, palpitations, chronic fatigue, dribbling, shuffling legs and feet. And psychosis."

"The staff have been brilliant in the IPCU. Yet I've been there with staff on either side of me and still been punched in the face by a fellow patient, even though I'm meant to be there for my own protection. I've also woken in my room to find a naked man staring at me."

"Make an advocate available as a matter of course. Make them come and see you to see if you want their help. They're needed both when you're ill and when you're a bit better."

"They often say that people can speak up for themselves so they don't need advocates, but equally they often don't listen when we speak."

"It's like you lose trust with others and they don't trust you. Your opinions are no longer valid. You feel outcast."

"You fall into feeling that you're a reject. Even if you had a real life before, the real life doesn't seem important to them, so how do you get back to your real life? This is not real life. We're not participating in life. You're put on one side and don't feel that you're a participant anymore because you've been Sectioned and neglected."

"The routine chores, children, work that keeps you busy… in our world people don't work and the simple things stop that used to take up your time. This lack of things to do removes you from life."

"It may be good to have a car but I have no reason to drive it anywhere."

"It's pointless having a phone as I don't need one. No one would call anyway."

"We could get more help in practical coping skills from OTs, psychologists, social or childcare services and so on. Doctors should be somewhere right down the hierarchy and should just deal with the symptoms of illness."

"Find out what we want out of our lives before you start anything. It could be a whole range of things. For some of us it may be having a job to go back to, or an altered working environment, or maybe the chance to do something different. Whatever we do it has to feel worthwhile, but at present it feels too far off."

"I feel that I've now earned the right to suffer in silence. I don't want people poking about in my life."

"A lot of what works for us is very ordinary; it's being around people who care for us."

"I was promised support at home five days a week. I only got three days but it's good, especially the support in the evenings which is very good."

"Supported accommodation is a good place. It's a place to sleep, to have a bed… it's a lot better than hospital."

"People have helped me believe in myself. Sometimes they've helped me when I've needed to be in hospital, but they've also helped me with independence and the knowledge that I can live out of hospital with help if needed."

"It's like good parenting that many of us never had. They need to help you move on happily with support and the knowledge that they're still there for you. The balance between support and protection is a very, very difficult one to achieve safely."