Doctors worry about the stigma of mental illness

Doctors are worried about the stigma of having a mental illness Click here for the full story There are good reasons to be worried, because when doctors end up in the hands of the General Medical Council, their careers are over.





The General Medical Council has an old-fashioned view of mental ill health. If someone is not of "sound mind", then they are worse than Dr Shipman who was at least of" sound mind". The General Medical Council knows how dangerous doctors with mental health problems are, because they read the Sun. You know, the stories with headlines like "Psycho killer" - although to be fair to the Sun, even they have cleaned up their act.


The General Medical Council knows how much it helps a person's mental health to be put in trial in front of their peers, to have their psychiatric notes peered over by everyone from the Chairman to the Char lady.
1 - It stops doctors seeking help.
2 - It promotes stigma and discrimination. And
3 - It enhances the reputation of the medical profession.


Three birds with one stone! It worked in the middle ages, and it works now. It worked in Soviet Russia, where dissidents ended up in psychiatric wards.

The General Medical Council is weeding mental illness out of the medical profession. If you declare a mental illness, you won't be selected, if you have poor mental health as a student, - a bit of depression etc you will be suspended. And if the medical student conceals their mental health problems until later in their career, its easy - they get done for concealment! If you have feelings, get upset, or even too happy, leave medicine now. Those feelings will get you into trouble. Because if you have feelings, (as opposed to being a psychopath or sociopath) you are at RISK OF MENTAL ILLNESS.

Everyone with a "risk of mental illness", is a target for the General Medical Council. Health procedures include mental ill health and the "risk of mental ill health".

In 2003/4 9 of 215 doctors under GMC "supervision" by the health procedures, died. Three at least were suicide. Once this was brought to their attention, the GMC took appropriate action - they stopped collecting the information.


As Dr India and others will tell you, there is no escape from the Health Gulag. You cannot eliminate risk, so its safer to eliminate the doctor.


Nice work Philips, Catto, Rubin, Findlay and the soon to be appointed Niall Dickson

And Niall,

I will be disappointed if you don't carry on destroying doctors with mental health problems, or continue the quasi judicial show trials (Open to the public Monday to Friday lunchtime, London and Manchester) or the absurdities of medical regulation and revalidation. If you did try and do something positive, Dr Rita Pal and I might run out things to write about and that would be a shame.

Copyright (c) Liz Miller
http://www.lizmiller.co.uk


http://www.lizmiller.info/


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2 Employment

3 Health Advice


1 Financial Advice

Money Guardian
Learn about money where you can. Web based information on a wide range of money related issues.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money

Money Saving Expert
A useful web based source of money saving information and ideas.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

National Debtline
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Telephone 0808 808 4000 http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/

PayPlan
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Telephone 0800 917 7823 http://www.payplan.com/

Consumer Credit Counselling Service
A charity that assists people who are in financial difficulty by providing free, independent, impartial and realistic advice. It is run by the Credit Industry, and has an interest in helping you pay your debts, as opposed to going bankrupt
Telephone 0800 138 1111 http://www.cccs.co.uk/

The UK Insolvency Helpline -
The UK Insolvency Helpline is a national telephone helpline for people with debt problems all over the UK. The service is free, confidential and independent
Telephone 0800 0746918 Website http://www.insolvencyhelpline.co.uk/

For doctors
Royal Medical Benevolent Fund Helps GMC registered doctors and their dependants in need, if resident in the UK. http://www.rmbf.org/

2 Employment Advice

Flexible working
Advice about flexible working and helping develop a life work balance that supports you and your family.
http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/

Disability Discrimination
For Employers
A quick guide to your obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act
http://www.shaw-trust.org.uk/page/6/92/

How to approach the problem of mental health in the workplace
http://www.tacklementalhealth.org.uk/

For Employees,
Mental ill health is included in the Disability Discrimination legislation.

Disability as described by the Disabilty Discrimination Act
a) It has to be long term, ie it has already lasted or is likely to last more than 12 months
b) It has to be substantial,
c) It has to affect a person’s ordinary day to day activity, even if treatment effectively controls the symptoms.

Find out more
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/RightsAndObligations/DisabilityRights/DG_4001068


3 Health Advice

i) Mental Health

Mental Health Foundation
http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/

Mind Apples
http://mindapples.org/

Information about depression
www.bluepages.anu.edu.au/symptoms.html

Free online Computerised Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
http://www.moodgym.anu.edu.au/
http://www.myray.com/


ii) Lifestyle

Dr Liz Miller Top Ten Health tips
http://doctorbloggs.blogspot.com/2008/08/dr.html


iii) Diet
Improve your diet
http://www.sustainweb.org/pdf/MHRep_LowRes.pdf

The scientific evidence linking diet and mental health
http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/?EntryId5=40150&q=0%c2%acchanging+diets%c2%ac


iv) Reading list

The Natural Way to Beat Depression - Basant K. Puri, Hilary Boyd
Potatoes not Prozac - Kathleen DesMaisons
Manage your mind - Hope & Butler
Healing without Prozac – David Serban-Schreiber



Copyright (c) Dr. Liz Miller
http://www.drlizmiller.co.uk

http://www.lizmiller.info/

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Letter to the Disability Rights Commission

To the Disability Rights Commission,

As a psychiatrist I am writing to express my strong concerns regarding the General Medical Councils approach towards doctor-patients who suffer from mental illness. I believe that their actions in these cases contravene the Disability Discrimination Act and as such are illegal.

I have been made aware of the following:-

1. Doctors who suffer from relapsing remitting conditions, for example bipolar affective disorder, are being prevented from working for protracted lengths of time (months-years) during periods when the doctor is fully well and able to function at work.

2. Doctors are called to GMC court hearings during which they are expected to justify behaviour that occurred when unwell and which is totally unrelated to their medical practice.

3. Doctors are expected to attend these hearings even when they are acutely unwell and would not be considered fit to plead in criminal proceedings.

4. Doctors are approached by the GMC by letters addressed to acute psychiatric wards while they are inpatients.

5. Doctors have been assessed by GMC appointed examiners for fitness to practice whilst acutely unwell and admitted formally under section 3 of the Mental health Act 1983 (i.e. sectioned).

The consequences of these actions are that doctors who suffer from mental illness are being forced to leave the medical profession. In addition I am aware of a number of doctors who have completed suicide whilst undergoing GMC health procedures.

I believe that the GMC procedures are an example of discrimination towards mental illness at the highest level within the medical profession.

I have contacted the Royal College of Psychiatrists expressing my concerns.

I would ask for your urgent advice and assistance in addressing these issues.

Many Thanks

Dr XXXX MRCPsych


XXXX killed herself sometime around Febuary the 12th 2008

XXXX was a fervent campaigner for the rights of people with mental health problems, specifically doctors. Doctors are important, not because doctors are somehow special people, but because of their influence in society. If we cannot get our act together as to how to handle mental health issues, what hope is there for everyone else with mental health who does not have our privileges?

Copyright (c) Dr. Liz Miller
http://www.drlizmiller.co.uk

Doctors Mental Health

Good Morning,

We had the first meeting for some time of the Doctors Support Network yesterday. This is a self help group for doctors who have mental health problems. I am sure that most of the public finds it difficult to understand that doctors too get ill. It took me some time to come to terms with it as well. When I was first ill with manic depression, I was convinced that 'they' were lying to me. After all everyone knows that doctors don't get ill - do they? It wasn't until I was in a ward with 20 other doctors and health care workers that the penny finally dropped, that yes, doctors do get ill, just as much as anyone else.

Interestingly, we had exactly the same response from the medical profession - who told us ten years ago 'good luck with your group, but I am sure you will find there is no need for it.' Ten years later and we are still going.

My bug bear in all of this has been the GMC. The General Medical Council who set the agenda of how to deal with sick doctors. Their approach is medieval. A doctor is literally brought before a tribunal and 'charged' with the 'crime' of being unwell and consequently unfit to work. If found 'guilty' their registration is suspended or conditions placed on it. This makes it impossible to work either in the present or in the future as they must tell all potential employers that they have been investigation by the GMC and have restrictions on their practice.

Most of you are thinking - that sounds fine and reasonable. And yes, sick doctors should not work. However if 'sick' and 'well' are decided by an institution such as the GMC that acts as judge jury and executioner at a tribunal or court in which a doctor can not even present evidence or medical reports in their defence, this will discourage doctors from seeking treatment before their health problems seriously affect with their practice. A significant number of doctors with health problems only come to light when their suicide attempt fails. On the other hand doctors succeed in killing themselves at a rate of one a week.

Does this matter? are doctors a specially priviledged group that should be treated whilst the rest of the population suffer in silence? Not at all, but whilst doctors' own health, mental and physical, is ignored and the attitudes that prevail within the profession are akin to 'never did me any harm' 'illness is shameful' 'if you can't cope, then you shouldn't have decided to be a doctor' and 'we worked far harder in our day' then this attitude will be passed onto patients and patients will be treated with the same disrespect with which doctors treat themselves and their colleagues.

The reason that ten years after my last 'breakdown' I am concerned with doctors health is that i believe those attitudes are passed on to patients. Just as I am concerned that doctors learn to manage health, rather than treat disease, their own and other peoples', I am also concerned that teachers respect education, and enjoy learning and that police respect and abide by the law and that accountants are numerate and honest and so on. I have a meeting with the GMC in October, I hope that finally after ten years they will listen to reason and appreciate that no one wants sick doctors to work, but when well have something special to offer their patients. Moreover whilst the GMC adopts a punitive approach to health, then it will continue to be driven underground.

In the meantime, don't miss my five minutes of fame on Tuesday, BBC 2 at 9pm - Part 2 of the Stephen Fry documentary, 'The secret life of the manic depressive'

Copyright (c) Dr. Liz Miller

http://www.drlizmiller.co.uk