h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Within the UK, while the medical services do recognise all the above mental illnesses and have methods of treating them, their track record of success is utterly appalling. I have never, ever, met a satisfied customer of the National Health Service's attempts to treat depression and the like.

I'd be interested to hear people's opinions on other country's health services (public health services, not expensive private treatments, which are probably good but out of most peoples reach, especially if they cannot work due to mental illness).

My experience of community service health care in Australia was fantastic. I am not saying that everyone has had a great experience such as myself, but there were some genuine, caring, and patient volunteer people out there when my husband and I needed them most.

My husband (then boyfriend) was diagnosed some five years ago as having had a "psychotic episode". This means that for all intents and purposes he could have been schizophrenic, or his condition of intense paranoia, halliucinations etc, might go away eventually (which, thank god, it did!)

We sought out community care in our area (inner city), where wonderful volunteer nurses came to our home every day to make sure he was doing okay, taking his medication, and most importantly reassuring him that there were people who understood him and didn't think he was "just crazy".

In my view, it was these people who made the difference, not the medication. They helped us in terms of emotional support (as I was also in desparate need of this, being reassured that this episode could end).

I don't know about Australian institutions, but I do know that when my husband contacted a support group made up of partially recovered schizophrenics, some of their stories were not so happy, their outcomes not so positive.

In terms of government sponsored health care, we had the option of committing him to a hospital, but the volunteers strongly advised us against it, as in their opinion it did more to hasten the illness rather than the cure! The option of sickness benefits was made available to him, which was lucky as he had to quit his job for some months to concentrate on recovering.

The voluntary community care thing sounds good, there are such things in the UK but not terribly well organised or linked (I've asked my doctor about them but he doesn't know and can't find out - he told me to look around myself for them, and I'd probably have to pay through the nose for them too!) and very overworked - I'm impressed that your husband had somebody visiting daily, that sounds very good.

In terms of sickness benefit, in the UK we have DLA (Disability Living Allowance) which is notoriously hard to get. They're just about recognising that depression and schizophrenia can count as disabilities but I was rejected for it when I definitely couldn't work, and have heard countless stories of people in far worse situations than myself being rejected all the time.

I think half the problem is that the health authorities here are ridiculously overworked. Last time I applied to see a psychologist on a regular basis, I was told that 1) There's a two year waiting list; and 2) Over half of the psychologists locally are currently on sick leave for stress!

A case of "doctor, cure thyself" here?

It sounds pretty desparate in the UK. As I said, Australia is no Utopia either, we seemed to stumble on some amazing people at the right time, and like I mentioned there were people we contacted later through support group that did not fare so well.

Try community services first of all, they are most likely to know of any volunteer people in the field. Perhaps you won't get daily visits, but it's better than booking into an expensive private clinic.

Second, try to scout local papers or even go on the web to see whether support groups exist in your area - perhaps some of those who have "gone there before" may have some advice about treatment.

As for your govenment not recognising mental illness as not falling into genuine disabilities - this sucks! It is soooo biochemical, and when someone comes down with a physical disease, pretty much comes to the same thing! Why is there still misinformation out there?

In Australia a few years back I remember an ad campaign aimed at dispelling this stigma about mental illness. I remember TV ads and train station posters with this message everywhere, which was great as it at least encourage debate with people who still ascribed to the belief that if you are depressed you are "putting it on" or if you are schizophrenic you are "crazy" or have "voices in your head" (implying wierdness).

That's good, we could do with something like that here. There is a government ad campaign running at the moment but it's aimed at people abusing the DLA service - the catchphrase being 'Benefit cheats - We're on to you'. Which isn't particularly encouraging for the people who really need the benefit! (also if they're on to the benefit cheats, why do they need to advertise the fact? ) I wish they'd spend the ad money on something a bit more practical.

My god, how reactive and near-sighted! Sounds like a very frightened way of dealing with the issue...

The sad part is that for every "cheat" they will catch and feel highly smug about, they will doubtless have turned down 9 other genuine sufferers who need the benefit.

Does your country have current affairs programs that deal with these cases. That is, round up about 10 sufferers that have been knocked back, get professional opinions and essentially say "the system needs a re-think?"

That could generate some public debate...

From what I've seen DLA is difficult to get for anyone with a disability, not just a mental health problem. The problem is that the forms are very long-winded and compicated and if you've got a mental health problem they can seem even more challenging to complete. They are also assessed by admin staff in offices not by people with medical knowledge. The best way to successfully claim DLA is to get professional help with completing the forms. Psychiatric social workers fill in these forms all the time and they best know what to write and how to phrase it.

A big problem in Britain is that the onus is on the sufferer of a mental illness to seek out help when the nature of their illness often prevents them from being able to do so. Peregrin, your GP sounds c**p. Have you managed to get things sorted yet? There is help out there and some of it is good but the difficulty is accessing it when no-one is around to help you. Once you have accessed it you'll be amazed at the help that is available.