It seems like I’ve hit the first significant hurdle with my brother and our project. He has been in hospital for the last 2 months. He had a manic episode and was persuaded by some nurses to admit himself to hospital to avoid a section. At first he was in ward 5, in the Royal Edinburgh, which is not locked, but is the ward for people with serious or long term mental illness. Then he was downgraded to ward 2, the open ward, and has been on passes (allowed out during the day, at first accompanied, then unaccompanies). He has now been discharged.
But what triggered the episode? His doctor at the Royal Edinburgh, professor Owens, was surprised at how fast the episode had come around after the last one. Both he and my father think it was Archie smoking dope that triggered it. There are two reasons for thinking this: firstly, the latest research shows that one in four people are vulnerable to cannabis, suggesting a direct link with psychotic episodes within this group (see the Psychotheories section of www.saulsrecreation.com, Times article from April 12, 2005, by Mark Henderson. NB I am still working on this section, so if you want the article, please post a comment on the blog, and I’ll send it). Both professor Owens were outraged by Archie’s admission he had smoked a joint, and – to varying degrees (my father feeling more certain) – decided that was the most likely trigger. Curiously, this was reinforced by my brother, who admitted he had smoked it because he “couldn’t cope with being normal.” Aside from the astonishing implication that he is now better suited to struggling with manic depression than he is struggling with daily worries, it implies that Archie also detects the connection with dope and mania.
But Dr Ross, Archie’s GP, and my mother, both think it might have been anxiety about the “project” and talking to me that might have contributed. This has irritated me quite badly. Apart from the fact there is no particular evidence to back this up (no article in the Times, that’s for sure), I haven’t even been going into any great depth with Archie – yet. If they are worried now, what about later, when we start going back over the history… this one, I’ve got to think about anyway, because I can’t let myself push Archie into danger. But the irony here is that both Dr Ross and – especially – my mother take the establishment line that Archie’s illness is primarily biologically caused and triggered. So how would a few chats with his brother (me) constitute a more likely trigger, for them, than cannabis?
And if something like conversation can be a trigger, maybe my mother and Dr Ross would be willing to reconsider Archie’s whole case history – and wonder whether there weren’t non-biological, real life, family causes for the illness in the first place???
To be bloody continued…
