Researchers warn older people with mental health problems are becoming isolated because they are unable to depend on family
Older people in Scotland with mental health problems are being abandoned by their families, researchers have found.
Experts from the Scottish Mental Health Cooperative said they have spoken with a number of people from older generations experiencing mental health problems who are facing isolation because their families either live too far away to make regular visits or just choose not to.
The cooperative, which is made up of more than 50 local mental health organisations from across the country, is conducting research as part of its Age in Mind project which aims to identify and reduce the discrimination faced by people over 50 who have experienced mental health problems.
Researchers are conducting surveys and have spoken to over 160 people within the age group but revealed the worrying revelation ahead of making their final report.
People of my generation who were in asylums were denied the opportunity to start our own families
One 68-year-old, Dianna Manson, from Edinburgh, who has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, told researchers a major problem is that people who were diagnosed in their younger life were denied the opportunity to start families of their own.
“People who have experienced mental health problems absolutely find themselves far more isolated as they get older. The reason for this is usually your family have disappeared out of your life,” she said.
“People of my generation who were in asylums were denied the opportunity to start our own families.
“If we had children they were taken away as children would not be kept with a parent with a mental health problem.
“So we are very much on our own and if we need to rely on people it is extended family. Friends we have made through our lives have often been other service users and we can’t keep in touch.”
David Sinclair, 72, from Glasgow, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1965 although never given medication, spoke to researchers about the effect of being stigmatised.
“I certainly have faced stigma and isolation," he said.
“Being out of contact with people is a large issue, you feel outside the world, you can be stigmatised by family members and neighbours think you are part of a different generation so don’t bother.
“I don’t mention my mental health at all outside, you get stigmatised as soon as you open your mouth, you see the barriers coming down.”
The cooperative’s research when completed will be used to influence service areas where discrimination is taking place, including policy and practice nationally and locally.
David Delaney, chair of the Scottish Mental Health Cooperative, said: “Our members are all providing community-based mental health services to people across all ages, but we see how those with long-term conditions are now growing older and the impact that mental health stigma and discrimination over many decades, has had on their lives.
“As they reflect back on what mental health care has been in the past, we need to learn from their experiences for future generations so that we do not replicate similar situations but rather show ourselves to be a caring and understanding society and relegate stigma and discrimination to the past.”
Calum Irving, director of See Me, Scotland's programme to end mental health discrimination, which is funding the Age in Mind project, added: “This project is developing a picture of what stigma and discrimination can be like for older generations in Scotland.
“As a society we need to value older people in this country. If they are isolated then there needs to be better infrastructure in place to provide support so people aren’t alone.”
