my 18 year old boyfriends mother made him go to a psychologist for about a month, he was also going to a early psychosis prevention team over that time. a week before he killed himself he was diagnosed with psychotic depression. he was prescribed meds that week which he didn’t take. however iv been researching psychotic depression, (and even though it was obvious to us all how depressed my bf was,) to be diagnosed with one of the most severe forms of depression, shouldn’t his family have been told by the psychiatric team to be aware of suicide? his mother was never told to be on suicide watch. i just don’t understand how professionals who understand how serious this form of depression is, could fail to tell his mum or family. is that due to client confidentiality? because i don’t think its right regardless of him being 18, to keep quiet on how serious that form of mental illness is. i mean how unwell do you have to be before psychologists start warning the family?
Nov 14
November 13th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
i’m not sure but it seems true that psychiatrists and psychologists simly don’t tell your parents anything.
i am also with an early intervention team for psychosis at the moment and they haven’t told my parents anything, even that when i drive i get voices telling me to crash and voices that tell me to make fires (which i have done). they say that this is dangerous yet they still don’t inform my parents.
so i’m not sure how far off the rails you have to be before they tell the parents.
i am so sorry about your boyfriend, that must be terrible. i guess sometimes things aren’t better left unsaid. x
November 13th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Suicide watch is a task for professionals in a hospital. It is a round the clock service and a family cannot do this. The remaining question is why did they let him go in this situation?
November 13th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I am very sorry to hear of your boyfriend’s passing. I too have suffered with psychotic depression for the past two years. I learned that if the person is over 18 and does not sign a consent form then the pdocs don’t have to tell the parents anything. It’s really tragic that this happened and it could have been avoided.
[Edit] No any professional in the psychologial profession would never tell someone not to take their meds. I think this psych was poorly trained or something. I would report him or her to dept of human services.
[Edit} I would still report him or her.