Damien
Content Warning: These stories are about violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation and may include references to suicide or self-harming behaviours. They may contain graphic descriptions and strong language and may be distressing. Some narratives may be about First Nations people who have passed away. If you need support, please see Contact & support.
‘The abuse I have suffered in the past 18 months in the public system … has been horrendous, systemic and sadistic.’
Damien is a middle-aged man with a mental health condition. After an interaction with police, Damien was taken to a hospital mental health ward. He was admitted to the High Dependence Unit (HDU) for treatment and remained at the hospital for more than two months.
On the first morning, Damien tried to refuse an injection of a drug he knew would have an adverse effect on him. He was bashed by security staff. ‘In their reports they state “returned to the prone position”,’ Damien said. ‘These few words really mean punched, kicked and forced down to the ground.’
A day later his mother was allowed to visit and found him with a broken rib, yellow bruises all over his torso, and a broken finger.
Damien witnessed many incidents of violence against patients while he was in the ward.
He says patients were expected to accept all medication without question.
‘If any patient seeks an explanation of what they are directed to swallow it is taken as “refusing medication” with resulting penalties of security guards immediately called in to hold the patient down while the nurses inject you.’
For several weeks Damien was given an antipsychotic drug at a much higher dose than he was used to – a ‘chemical lobotomy’ he called it. He has had problems ever since.
Damien felt stereotyped and stigmatised from admission onwards and believes this reflected the ‘punitive culture’ of the ward, which he described as inhumane, humiliating and degrading.
For example, he said, patients were required ‘to approach the nurses’ window in a subjugated manner, with hunched shoulders and head down’. Then they had to ‘tap on the office window for attention and wait’.
Damien was allowed only one book at a time to read and there was little entertainment.
‘Up to 10 male patients at a time are held in the HDU ward … there is absolutely nothing to do and they are constantly provoked, “you can’t do this, you can’t go there, you can't do that”. They are held like bulls in a cage and provoked and is it any wonder they react?’
Damien believes the conditions on the ward represent an outdated view of mental health patients and their treatment. There is ‘little change from the “old” days of asylums,’ he says.
After his release, Damien made a complaint to the Mental Health Review Tribunal. He found the hearing unsatisfactory.
‘The whole mental health system needs to be overhauled.’
He says it is important that reform is led by people with disability, ‘not the “experts” who may have some qualification but lack any real understanding of the issues’.
‘Walk in the shoes of one with a disability for a day and see what does not work.’
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.