“Cut it out, please” – an article from the Guardian’s G2 today by an inner city A&E worker, i suppose it balances out all the good stuff re. NICE guidelines, however i do not agree with at least half of it and i had a bit of an emotional response when i read it on the train this morning:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,3605,1274907,00.html
2 Comments
Ron
October 17, 2004Let me start by saying that I have enormous admiration for the vast majority of staff in all the caring professions. Qualifying that, I also have first hand experience of a small minority that, for whatever reason, have forgotten what caring means.
This article brings out some very valid arguments and highlights the decline in services which the health service is suffering from. Lack of funding and falling numbers of properly trained medical staff have left the NHS in crisis.
I have to say that I am usually extremely careful to avoid needing third party intervention when I SI. Only on one occasion can I recall having to visit A&E. That doesn’t remove the possibility at any time that I might as loss of control often happens without warning .
Those that do require medical attention are already suffering from guilt and shame and low self esteem. A rude, tired, inattentive nurse or doctor can magnify those feelings a hundredfold.
Ron
Wedge
August 3, 2004It’s an understandable feeling, the fruistration at having to patch a person up, knowing they;ll prolly harm themselves again. It’s sad, thankless and frustratiing. But self injury isn’t really about the wounds and stitches is it? It’s a whole syndrome encompassing mental and emotional distress, low self esteem, and perhaps even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. What I’m saying is that SI should be seen from a psychological perspective. That’s why the NICE guidelines for the NHS state that every SI admission should be seen by a psychiatric nurse.
Other papers have run other stories this week, we can read a lot of people’s thoughts at the moment.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1272404,00.html