JH’s story:

Two years ago my wife was acting erratically and out of character, hardy getting any sleep and working herself into the ground. She made strange and irrational inferences and became delusional. When I tried to speak to her about it she became defensive and even abusive. The situation worsened until one morning she had a break down. She rang me at the school where I teach, saying that she was unable to get out of bed and feeling suicidal.

That night, having rung NHS direct, I managed to persuade her to go the Whittington to see a doctor on an emergency basis. The doctor we saw was fantastic. He recognised my wife’s condition and spoke with her in a very sensitive and understanding way. He prescribed some medication which got us through the initial crisis until we could begin to access some psychiatric care. Psychiatric services in the NHS are woefully underfunded and it took a long time to finally get get an accurate diagnosis and appropriate medication. Thankfully, wife is now back at work in her demanding media job and is managing her condition superbly well. However, if it wasn’t for that initial contact with that doctor at the Whittington in the middle of the night, she might not be alive today.