Hello, I'm new here and wanting some advice on where to go next for my partner, who suffers from depression.
To cut a very long story short, we've been friends for 10 years, been together for 4 years. Only in the last 18 months has he shown signs of suffering from depression, and the past six months it has got so much worse.
We have been in and out of the mental health unit at our local hospital but they don't seem to want to help him. He's admitted himself to the emergency department on more than three occasions in the past six months after he threatened suicide and I've driven him to hospital. I've also called the ambulance on him twice to pick him up when he refused to get in the car with me.
All the mental health team seem to want to do is put him on detox for alcohol abuse. But he's not an alcoholic - his drinking is a symptom of his depression but nobody seems to want to recognise that? They have put him on drugs to combat the "cravings" of alcohol, but the medication clearly states he should not be taking it if he suffers from depression.
One time the ambulance officers finally convinced him to go with them after an hour of talking to him, took him to the ED at the hospital and he spoke to someone at mental health, only for them to call me not five minutes after he arrived saying he "was fine" and wanted to come home, gave him a cab voucher and sent him on his way!
It's got to the point where he says he wants to end his life on a daily basis. But I don't know where else to turn, when I have been to both our regional hospital AND a hospital in Brisbane to try and seek help. All they could do is tell him to go back to his GP and discuss a "mental health plan" which he has done, and finally after weeks has an appointment with a counsellor at the end of the week. I'm just not sure if he'll make it until then, that's how bad it is.
Does anyone have any advice? Where else do I turn when our mental health team and his local GP aren't helping him quickly?
Thank you
