how can you convince a family member to keep a relative in a medical hospital for treatment of psychosis?

[Vina]

a family member has been in hospital for treatment of psychosis but he is not complying with being given treatment (medicine and refusing food). one family member wants to withdraw the person from hospital due to this and also they think his requests arent adhered to eg (doesnt want to be given medication). how can i convince that the person should stay in the hospital? because if he is let out he said he will refuse the medication and also he may be violent and abusive if sent back home as has was like this previously and he is manipulative.

[Georgina]

Ask the family member what their medical background and qualifications are

Ask a senior professional to properly explain the downside in the patient going home and the side effects on both the patient and rest of the family and public safety

Explain that the EXPERTS are the hospital and as a family you should be telling them so that they CAN help the patient

[Joy]

Oh dear. This is terribly difficult and it depends a lot on how much influence these people have on the person who is sick. The one with the closest relationship or a partner should be able to swing the decision to the safe sensible one. If this is an outsider who's not around the sick person much you can see where they are coming from but they can't imagine the sick person being so sick all the time at home. If they only see them behaving well on medications in hospital they have no concept of what levels they can deteriorate to. Sick people half better in hospital can give a sterling oscar winning performance of how to be well! They practise on the staff there.

Maybe the staff can help convince the person who wants to let the sick person go home with no medication or support. Do they know what the diagnosis is and if so do they know what it means? Can you think of any specific events that have taken pace when the sick person is off medications? If so be sure to relate them in full detail to the misguided person who wants to let them go off doing their own thing. Make sure they really know what psychosis is and what specific psychosis this person has.

Maye the person is sick enough to be Sectioned under the Mental Health Act and forced to take the drugs until they are well enough to accept they are sick and need the chemicals to re-balance their brain's neurotransmitters. If so you can point this out to the misguided relative to emphasise the point you are making. Mental health staff and psychiatrists don't want to lock up well, happy, balanced people and drug them up at vast expense for the fun of it! Make the point that this person is so sick they can't even see how sick they are.

Good luck for resolving this one!

[Janet712inEngland]

Vina, it isn't your other family member's decision about leaving him in hospital. It's up to the doctors. If they believe he is stable and won't harm himself or others, they will send him home.

It isn't legal for the medical people to talk to others about the care they are giving a mental patient (unless he gives permission for this), because that's private information. HOWEVER, it is NOT illegal for you to communicate to the doctors in a one-way fashion. For example, you might write a letter to his psychiatrist and explain that you know a lot about him and you're not sure how much of this has come out already, but here's the story: then give them all you know. Be specific in your letter but don't write more than about 1 1/2 pages. Keeping it short makes you look like you've got your act together. Number your points and give examples, e.g.:

1) He is very manipulative. For example, he convinced our parents to give him lots of money that we all knew he was going to spend on drugs.
2) He has been talking about suicide consistently for three years, ever since our grandfather died.
3) He has hurt others physically but we have not reported it. On such-and-such date, he broke a table and then grabbed me around the neck.... etc.
4) He tells all of us that he will refuse to take medication once he leaves and we really, really don't trust him.

You get the picture.

So, providing information is helpful. Then --- it's up to the doctors to do what they need to do.

[Stephanie]

If he's in a hospital, they force the medication compliance. If they eat or don't eat is completely up to them though. You could call the hospital and talk to the staff or doctor but if this family member is higher up than you (a parent vs. an aunt) then that will be difficult to do. I would still stress my concerns though so they can make an educated decision when deciding to or not to release him.

If you'd like more information or support, please feel free to check out my website. It has a forum board, blog about the journey I take as a bipolar woman with a 5 year old diagnosed as Bipolar I with psychotic features, symptoms lists, and resources. Or you can just follow us on FB: http://www.facebook.com/lwamikids