Bentley
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Bentley, in his early 50s, has been hospitalised for mental illness numerous times. The first time was in his early 20s, when he spent about six months in the psychiatric ward of the hospital in the regional town where he still lives.
He described the ward as ‘derelict’. It was cold, with ‘paint flaking off the walls’, and other patients who were ‘just ranting and raving and carrying on’. He had never experienced anything like it before.
‘It was an absolutely terrifying trauma to my soul – just turning up in this hospital exposed to that and then given tablets that turned me into a zombie, a mindless dribbling zombie for months on end. It was horrific, absolutely incredible,’ Bentley said.
‘I remember, when I was first hospitalised, the effect of the medication they gave me was a cruel – like, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't relax, I was up pacing all the time, day and night … and I went to talk to this nurse who responded by grabbing me and by force put me down on the bed and, like, pushed me further into the bed and said "Go to sleep." But I couldn't because of the effects of the medication.’
Staff gave Bentley food he struggled to eat – ‘Sweets and coffee, caffeine and junk … white bread laid on.’ He didn’t want to eat it ‘because it’s just garbage food’.
‘There’s no nutrition, there’s no life in the food … [but] the medication gives you this hunger you can’t control so you basically – if that’s health, well, I’m insane.’
These issues have been a constant during all his involuntary detentions for mental health treatment.
Bentley is particularly angry about the medication he is forced to take.
‘You've got no say, you can't complain about this thing. If you do, you are strapped down on the bed or injected with sedation to put you comatose for a day or two, this sort of thing. It is abuse. And the side effects are abuse. It destroys the health of the person. It has destroyed my health.’
He is also angry that other treatments or supports aren’t available.
‘They don’t offer any answers. They don’t say a word and this has been going on for 30 years. They don’t validate or comfort, all they do and all they’ve ever, ever done is medication, junk food and being locked up. There’s no answers. There’s never been any answers, never a kind word or any friendships … goodwill or affection, there’s none of that.’
Bentley told the Royal Commission his lengthy mental health history means he is stigmatised in the community.
‘It’s as though the person with a mental illness has no heart or soul and no intelligence or wouldn’t have a clue, sort of thing, as if they’re an absolute moron with no feelings. I’ve struck it so many times … It’s unbelievably arrogant and condescending.’
Bentley finds it hard to get work and says he been significantly underpaid because of his disability. He complained about one employer to the Fair Work Commission, which eventually found in his favour.
He would like to make a formal complaint about the treatment he’s had in the mental health system, but is not sure where to do that.
‘I've tried for 30 years to find someone to listen and actually make a complaint, but there hasn't been – there is no-one. There hasn't been anyone and that is just like such a torture. Absolute torture,’ Bentley said.
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.