Police to Paranoia: My true story of when I was sectioned under the Mental Health Act as a serving Police Officer
£9.50
At the age of 29 years Rebecca was leading a normal life. Dream job as a police officer, working in the Public Protection Unit, stable relationship and loving family and friends. She couldn’t have asked for a better life until a couple of traumatic incidents changed her life in ways that she would never have imagined and the next few months to come turned her whole life upside down.
Being arrested in her own home, by her own colleagues was not only humiliating but the scariest time of her life.
Rebecca is now a mother of two and happily married and having faced death first hand, now lives life to the full. This book is an honest, true account of how she fought to get out of a psychiatric hospital where she was held for 28 days. She overcame her psychosis, and set herself one more goal, could she get her career back in the police force? Mental health is different for every individual as is hope but this book will hopefully give those suffering, the push or motivation to keep going and realise that the impossible is still within reach.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Rebecca J House (26 Feb. 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 216 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1805411195 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1805411192 |
| Dimensions | 12.7 x 1.37 x 20.32 cm |
by Louise H.
I read this over a couple of days. The description of the author wanting to end her life, not because she wanted to die, but to end her mental torture, was chilling. This was not least because of how much it sounded when I was first unwell at university.
As an AMHP, I’m horrified to hear what happened on the ward. It goes against every ounce of my training around the Mental Health Act and its accompanying Code of Practice. The only comfort I can give myself, is that this was many years ago, and I want to truly believe none of my current colleagues would ever engage in such awful actions.
As an AMHP as well though, I do have some niggles. s.136 is a police power to move someone to a place of safety and for further assessment. It confers no power on relation to any decision made about admission to hospital for treatment, and treatment normally isn’t permitted under s.136, unless you’re using another framework, such as the MCA. Also, you can be detained and have capacity. Hence, I found page 11, a little misleading. The account of police removing the author from her home is also quite confusing. Only in very few circumstances, can police use s.136 in the home address, and if this is what they were using, why on earth was the author taken into custody?! If they were using a different framework, ie. arrest, then what on earth were the police basing this on?! Maybe things were different them years ago, but the latest full draft of the Mental Health Act, still used today, is the 1983 version. Likewise, I am not sure who the author’s Nearest Relative would have been during her admission, but the law has always given the Nearest Relative the power to order discharge, whereas this account appears to suggest this option wasn’t put to her parents. It is also curious that tribunals were never mentioned. These rights should have been repeated to the author on a regular basis and given to her in writing. Again, this was also in the law in 1983, as was that s.2 is UP TO 28 days, not automatically 28 days.
by AnonAMHP
I connected with Rebecca recently because of our author journeys and with us both serving as a police officers.
What I can say having now read Rebecca’s book is that Rebecca House is no ordinary human being!
She is tenacious, motivated, determined and she wasn’t going to let her spiral into depression and psychosis defeat her or kill her. Working in a highly a traumatic environment and frequently dealing with death and the worst things life can throw at people in the role of a frontline police officer, Rebecca faces multiple complex factors across several areas of her life which cause her to lose herself and her mind [including the medication administered by the medical profession, which makes matters worse]
This is her dramatic true story of how she finds herself on a slope towards self destruction; she ends up being sectioned by her own colleagues & seems without hope BUT … can she turn it all around ? This is a MUST read book for everyone who knows how important mental health is and for those looking for hope and a way through and out, whether in policing or in any walk of life.
It is harrowing and.shocking but also inspirational & thought provoking. So many things resonated with my own experiences of falling into my own hole in 2020 and against all odds being able to turn things around. This book is brilliantly written and you will not be able to put it down once you have started. It is gripping and will inspire you! Thank you Rebecca for being willing to speak candidly and openly about your journey to help others and give hope.
by Louise H.
Been reading your book while in the Maldives. As a Lancs cop, I too have struggled with MH after becoming disabled following an injury on duty. You are an inspiration to many strong women in the force ???????? thanks for a great read xx
by gb
Amazing, how institutes can get away with bad treatment of a another human . We’ll worth the read
by Amazon Customer
My daughter is undertaking a research assignment using autobiographical accounts on how mental health conditions impact on the ability to engage in occupations. She found this book to be very insightful and has leant so much from Rebecca’s experiences, finding them to be both moving and eye opening. An excellent read.
by Gordon Bankes
Having read Rebecca House’s book Police Paranoia twice I realise how much we take for granted the work of the Police. We all hear about their work involving the solving of crimes but what we don’t realise is the trauma and effects on officers mental health following incidents they come across on a daily basis.
Being more often the first responder to crimes whether it is a brutal killing or a tragic lost of a young life through suicide, police officers have to cope with the mental effects for the rest of their lives.
Rebecca’s book highlights the issues she went through following being sectioned under the Mental Health Act. It is a dramatic well written true story of her role as a young police officer in an environment in which she was dealing with death on a daily basis.
The book gives an insight into the treatment she was sadly put through following her mental health breakdown. She is a strong resilient person in which many may not be able to come through .We don’t hear about those cases but Rebecca has had the courage to put her head above the parapet to raise the issues and long may she continue her campaign.
Because of her strength of character and the support from friends and family she is now leading a happy life.
We all have tools within our character to take care of the mental health issues which life often throws at us, but we must be aware of them in the first place. These are such things as regular exercise whether through running, walking, cycling or just enjoying the things we love most.
Long may Rebecca continue her campaign to help others, bring awareness and make changes.
Finally I particularly love the final line ‘Always remember tough times never last but tough people do’