fatvegan

That was the title of one of the cover articles in Tharunka a few weeks back. Last night, trying to find somewhere for my friend to stay, I was reminded yet again of how crap our health system is. It's shite. Chronic depression is hard to treat, but that's it's job. The health system doesn't even do a bad job of dealing with long term depression. It does no job at all. The only way my friend would have been able to find a bed last night, was by harming herself, and for me to call and ambulance. No one will take you seriously until you've done serious harm to yourself. And it has to be recent harm. Just because you've tried to kill yourself in the past, and think you will again has no significance at all. Until you have tried in the last few hours, you are wasting your time trying to get a bed. There are the private hospitals, but they can get rid of you whenever they want. And most people can't afford them anyway.

My friend understands the system, and knows how to use it well. Most people don't. If it can't even work for her, then it probably won't work for anyone.