My mental health took a turn for the worst years ago following a traumatic event. In 2000 I was diagnosed with depression, and a year later I was also diagnosed with PTSD / severe depression. I moved to Torbay and was referred to the community mental health services that have closed down in 2014. Unfortunately I saw a now retired psychiatrist that I couldn’t relate to. She went on to give me the label of BPD. So many labels, and overprescribing of mental health medication was standard practice back then. I became a ghost of the person I was before. I didn’t just gain weight - I piled weight on. I went from being very slight in weight to obese. I was afraid to challenge anything I was told for many years. During this time I was on a huge amount of diazepam and anything that could mentally paralyse my brain from free thinking. I was told that I would be visiting the outpatient of the mental hospital for a course of treatment. I was not given any information about the treatment. Apparently I was given ECT for 8 sessions minimum. I cannot find anything in my medical records about this treatment. Nothing is recorded and open to me to be able to take legal action. I know that what happened to me was very wrong.
My plea is where do I begin? How can I find the facts about this abuse that happened to me please? Without the whistleblowers this could happen to someone else. I sincerely need help with this one.
