buticanfeelyours

Aussie Aussie Aussie?

Once committed, how does one get out of the system?

My cousin is currently being held on an involuntary treatment order. He has been in and out of psych wards for around 3 years now, and it's escalated to him being held at the 'last stop' facility for our state. When lucid his attitude is denial and he demonstrates a lack of understanding of the magnitude of his illness so I suspect he has a long road of recovery in front of him.

All this to ask what defines recovery? What indicators are mental health professionals looking for when assessing a patients progress, and what boxes are they looking to check before de-escalating the level of care required.

As someone trying to act as a patients ally, this information seems hard to come by. Rationally I would think that adopting an attitude of acceptance, demonstrating persistence in understanding your mental state and showing a proactive and consistent commitment to following your treatment plan would have you on the fast track to being released into your own custody. Is that at all what you are looking for? Is there a more specific set of objectives?

I haven't been able to have the overall goal of acute treatment explained. The best answers I'm getting are that it's sessions with psychiatrists, observations and changing up drug regimes based on the reports. No one seems to be able to answer 'to what end?', or 'what are we specifically working towards?', or 'what milestones are we trying to achieve'.

I feel like with this knowledge I could offer more effective family support.