Nyah
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.
‘I have been through hell, and when I came for help I got hell again.’
Nyah is in their 50s and lives with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
and dissociative identity disorder (DID).
‘I came here today because I have experienced patterns of neglect and abuse within the psychiatric system,’ Nyah told the Royal Commission, ‘and it started at the very beginning when I actually went for help.’
Nyah became homeless as a child.
‘I was on the street and I was picked up. I was put in commercial brothels at that age by policemen.’
Nyah said that experience caused a range of mental health disorders.
‘I know nine people in the whole world who have been through what I’ve been through as a young person. And you know, out of them, seven are gone. That’s the pressure and the experience, and how it impacts our lives.’
Nyah was admitted to a psychiatric unit, where they were misdiagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
‘It was just something that was given to you on arrival. There was no investigation, no therapy, no process of diagnosis, just that label. I was never told during that entire experience what was actually going on with me.’
Nyah said that one day a male patient assaulted them.
When Nyah was released from the unit, a doctor told them to ‘go home and pretend to be normal’.
‘It’s where I sort of disconnected with the whole mental health industry. It’s like, these people can’t help me. I’m on my own, and I had to go from there … I was frantically trying to figure out ways to save my own life because nobody else seemed to give a damn about it except me.’
Nyah went to hospital multiple times. On one occasion, after a suicide attempt with a drug prescribed to treat anxiety, a doctor prescribed more of the same drug.
‘He knew what had happened and where I’d been, he also knew that I was a single parent of a young child, and he gave me a bigger bottle of [the drug]. And a basically “Go kill yourself” attitude.’
It took four years for Nyah to find a psychologist who correctly diagnosed PTSD and DID.
‘He put me on an antipsychotic, and actually things started to stabilise and get better. You know, there was this whole four-year period where it was just one continual neglect after another, where there was no referral to anybody that could help, no actual discussion.’
Nyah said they still struggle to find treatment for PTSD.
‘Everywhere I go, all the patients have got anxiety and all the clinics are full. Even my psychologist, who I run to, tried for three weeks to get me in somewhere, and it’s just full of anxiety patients. Even places that are supposed to do trauma are all full.’
Nyah needs specialist help, but said the NDIA denied them funding.
‘All the cumulative trauma has never been dealt with, not in any substantive way, and every time I go for help it’s just not there. So, the disability remains active and imposing in my life, as opposed to something that I just live with.’
Nyah said they felt ‘completely abandoned by the mental health system’.
‘I’ve done my best and I’ve done my job, but I feel like the system hasn’t done its job.’
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.