Recently I had my own unfortunate series of events, placing me in somewhat of a quandary. A “friend” (and I’ve grown to use the word very loosely) of mine began a sort of “smear campaign” directed at several people including in no small way, myself. I didn’t know this at the time, and it was only by chance -and due to a rather poor error of judgement on my part regarding someone else- that I even found out this was happening. Eventually, the gossip was beginning to affect another friend of mine. The problem became an impossible to win catch 22 situation; Stay, and the gossip and talking behind backs would not stop, driving one friend to insanity, or go….. Well, I chose to go, but although the gossip stopped and she didn’t go mad, there is now a rather large metaphorical wall between us, built from bricks of bullshit. And bullshit bricks are some of the strongest.

Anyway, enough backstory. This got me thinking about the state of mental health treatment in this country. See, the original series of gossip and rumour based attacks were from someone who is mentally ill. To the extent of actually being sectioned. They’ve attacked other people in such a manner before, via text, email… never in person. Always behind their back. Various degrees of fantastical story driven by a compulsive need for attention mixed with an unhealthy dose of paranoia.

Now, having worked closely with the mentally ill before, I am aware of the rules, controls and procedures regarding interaction with the mentally ill. They are complex and numerous, limiting the interaction between yourself and aforementioned fruitcake. The therapist this person sees will have all these precautions in place to protect themselves. Once the fruitcake leaves the therapists office however, there is no protection for the rest of us. Unless you’ve had the right training -which most of the population haven’t had- you’d be at risk. Risk of what? Well, at risk of the kind of psychotic psychological attack launched by such a delusional individual, exactly the risk that therapist has a rule-book to protect themselves from. You think those rules are there for fun?

We constantly hear through subjects such as victim support etc that the psychological effects of crime can be worse and more far reaching than any physical effects. So why is the government so unconcerned when it comes to our psychological safety. They’ll take someone off the streets if they pose us a physical risk, but (even if there’s enough risk for a mental health worker to worry) the general populous will interact with them blissfully unaware of the danger, the havoc and destruction their fantasies may cause and without the training to see the warning signs. So either the psychological effects of crime aren’t as serious as these campaign groups would have you believe…. or the government is leaving us seriously unprotected. Save us… before we all go mad!!