Hiya, i am just writing on here for some advice or to see if anyone can relate to me abit...
As i have posted here before, i suffer from selective mutism and severe anxiety. I was in town and it was very busy which caused me to have a major panic attack in boots. I was crying and i went into an empty isle and self harmed. Unknown to me security had seen all this on the CCTV and called an ambulance, when the ambulance showed up so did the police. This made extra stressed and i went into total meltdown. Longs and shorts of it are i ended up being detained by the police, and handcuffed "for my own safety" this caused to to become very distressed and i cannot communicate with people i don't know though words and my upset caused me to start struggling and resisiting as i had no other way to tell them how i was feeling.
I was then told that i was too violent for the 136 suite and that they were taking me to custody. At this point i could not stop crying and they were short with me and told me to stop crying and that it was my fault i got detained as i cleary had nothing to say for myself (Though to be fair at this point they were unaware i have SM) I then started to kick the seat of the car and ended up having leg ties put on me :/
When we got to custody everyone was very rude, i was yelled at for not speaking told to stop misbehaving and speak until they un-handcuffed me and i made a writing gesture at which point i wrote down why i couldn't speak and how i was feeling. To be fair the person who yelled at me apologized.
I ended up being left in a cell for 9 hours until i could be assesed and all they said in the assesment was that they were going to put me in contact with the crisis team (someone is coming to see me tomorrow) and go from there. I feel like i've been given no help or understanding thoughout the whole situation and im now home feeling awful. Has anyone else had any similar experiances or can someone offer me advice on helping to prevent this sort of thing happening again?
I've never been sectioned 136 but what about getting a medical bracelet/necklace that lists your issues that may help alert people about the mutism should something like this happen again.
I don't know how the bracelets work but google will be your friend!
When we lose twenty pounds... we may be losing the twenty best pounds we have! We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love and honesty. ~Woody Allen
Is a chocolate muffin loving glitter ball
That sounds horrible, I'm really sorry you had to go through that. I've been through similar crap S136 experiences, and it is a horrible horrible thing to happen.
Please try to spend a few days being nice to yourself, and doing anything that helps you feel safe. Is there anyone IRL you can talk to for support & maybe a hug?
I've got a really high-visibility neon yellow 'MEDIC ALERT' thing that goes on my shoelaces, in case of s136 or similar - this is so hopefully people can see it and work out that there is something medically wrong, I'm not 'just being difficult'. Much easier to spot than a medic alert bracelet, and it has a paper insert for phone numbers, meds, etc. Brought from a running shop.
My CMHT have these crisis cards which they leave in reception for people to pick up and fill in. The idea is that you keep them in your purse or wallet, and you write down your name and address, what medication you're on, your diagnosis, the phone number of your CMHT and your nearest relative. That way, in a crisis when maybe you can't communicate, you hand the card over and the police or whoever is dealing with you know a bit more about what is going on and can ring the relevant people.
I understand that what you experienced was horrible, but I'd also like to point out that the police have next to no training in mental health, and what little training they do get is very generic. The police are trained to deal with violent offenders, not mental health patients, and so things like this occur.
I also like the idea of a medic alert bracelet. Sounds like a really useful idea.
Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back, everything is different…
you once called your brain a hard drive, well say hello to the virus.
A very similar thing happened to me a few weeks ago, I was put into police custody, strip searched, left in a cell for 14 hours, the staff were beyond awful, the crisis team came out and said she can go home, I found myself standing outside a police station miles from home on my own, they didn't give a toss, so I can 100% relate to how you're feeling.
Try to relax and put what happened behind you. Look after yourself **hugs**
Push will get a person almost anywhere except through a door marked “pull".
I think having a crisis card on you is a great idea, or a medical bracelet.
I too have had an unpleasant 136 experience, although I guess I can't really blame the police as they have little/no training in dealing with mental health issues.
To prevent the same sort of thing happening in future, I would really recommend carrying some kind of information on you, I now do.
Still, it doesn't take away the horribleness of your experience, I'm sorry that happened to you and hope you can maybe take a small positive from the situation by taking steps to prevent it happening again.
I can only echo what everyone else is saying. I've been fortunate enoughto only be in this situation when my carer/spouse is with me so she tells them everything and they're fine with me but now I have a card in both my wallets with it all written on, just in case. because if they're worried or don't know your name they look in your wallet at cards/i.d
