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Roz D’Ombraine Hewitt: ‘Lots of people don’t know what schizophrenia is.’ |
‘Chemical cosh’ is not a cure-all
Study of schizophrenia says treating patients with drugs is not the answer
DOCTORS must avoid relying on drugs to treat people with schizophrenia, a leading Highgate writer has claimed.
Journalist and broadcaster Roz D’Ombraine Hewitt, a member of the British Psychological Society (BPS), argues that the most effective treatment is not by “dosing up” patients, but through effective support, work opportunities and the provision of day centres.
She said: “Medication isn’t the only story. There’s so much that can help people, not just the chemical cosh.”
According to Mrs D’Ombraine Hewitt, of Cromwell Avenue, Highgate, there is now strong research from psychologists showing that alternative treatments, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, can play a vital role in preserving quality of life.
With a controversial new mental health bill advocating greater powers for forced treatment currently being debated in Parliament, the BPS has lobbied the government to take its findings into account.
They want health chiefs to reduce the focus on compulsory treatment orders – where patients are forced to take medication against their will – in favour of other means of treatment and support.
Schizophrenia affects about one in a hundred people at some point in their lives, which can be a time of great uncertainty and fear. Yet to this day there are widely held misconceptions about the causes and consequences.
The disorder, which comes from the Greek word for “split mind”, is a psychiatric diagnosis typically characterised by problems with the sufferer’s perception of reality. Schizophrenics also demonstrate disorganised thinking and can often experience delusions or hallucinations.
Mrs D’Ombraine Hewitt has recently written a book, Moving On: A Guide to Good Health and Recovery from Schizophrenia, which aims to dispel some of the misconceptions around the condition and offer practical support to sufferers and their families.
Although there are some academic and self-help books on the subject, she says, there were no books giving concrete guidance on how to continue living a fulfilling and healthy life.
She said: “One of the contributors to the book, for example, was absolutely terrified when she was first diagnosed. She thought she’d have a split personality and would start doing things she was unaware of.”
The book is based on research and advice from those who work with diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia, and from people who know what it is like to live with the condition.
It also provides all the information – such as sources of support and counselling and state benefits and legal rights – that is invaluable in coming to terms with a diagnosis.
While schizophrenia can be a severe and debilitating disorder, it is not degenerative or life-threatening and in recent years, a combination of improved knowledge, better psychological treatment and more tolerable medication have greatly increased people’s ability to manage their symptoms and their life.
Mrs D’Ombraine Hewitt said: “Lots of people don’t actually know what schizophrenia is. That was a great starting point to dispel misconceptions – start with the basics and build up from there.”
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Hello . I have just read a brief and moving article by Ms. Hewitt, in which she discusses why she wrote "Moving On: A guide to good health and recovery for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia". Then I read, briefly, from your website in regard to this book. I live far away from England in a place nevertheless called 'British' Columbia. I just have to say that, in my characteristic naivity, I am astonished and deeply chagrined to finally acquiesce to this apparent truth: The professional world of psychology and psychiatry knows as little today as they did in 1970, when I, personally, demonstrated symptoms of psychosis!
I appreciated the Ms. Hewitt's brief article concerned with her motives in the writing of her book, and am sad to say that I have not, inspite of seeming probabiltie, encounterred this message before, simple and clear as it is. Her messages exposing a number of myths concerning "schizophrenia" are common sense to me, and I had assumed that they were commonly known. Apparently not so. It is, then, a good thing that she has written her book!
I wanted to thank her, and your email and website were as close as I could get to doing this. Perhaps you could forward this to her, if you choose.
In closing, I must say that I expect it was no accident that Roz refers to "people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia" instead of "people with schizophrenia". It remains a simple observation of mine that you cannot cure what you cannot explain. It is therefore discreet to note that such a diagnosis means little coming from those who have made little or no progress in the 37 years of my supposed condition!
May I am just getting good at being 'schizophrenic. Maybe I never "had' "it". And maybe 'it' is a misnomer/non-entity. But I am doing quite well as it is, and thank God for His/Her/It's contributions to my relative sanity. God knows, if anyone does, that religion made substantial contributions to my in-sanity!
The 'God' to which I refer appears clearly and happily in the books by Neale Donald Walsch. I at last see in print words worthy of Divinity- and Humanity's Hopes.
Best to you all.
Dave Wilson |
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