– He was very influenced by what other mentally ill people wrote on social media. Several of them were people he met when he was hospitalized. Beathe stands in a living room in Østfold and looks out at the staffed housing where her 21-year-old son lives. He has a serious mental illness that is difficult to treat and has been hospitalized several times. Beathe and her son have had a close relationship through the illness. news has chosen not to use Beathe’s surname, out of consideration for the son. Photo: private Nevertheless, Beathe experienced that his son read and shared content on social media while he was at his most vulnerable. – When he came to himself after a psychosis and saw everything he had posted, he got anxiety. There was particularly a lot of conspiracy theories about the state, which he also got a lot of likes for, she says. Beathe has informed her son that she is telling the story to news. He supports her in that. Sharing the psyche on TikTok news recently showed in collaboration with Faktisk.no how young people openly share their lives from various institutions on TikTok. Professionals fear it could make treatment more difficult. Beathe agrees with that. She says that her son came into contact with others in the same situation via social media, which affected him in a negative way. That’s why she bought an old-fashioned phone without a camera for her son. One he could only call and send messages with. Beathe found that his son did not mind so much that he received such a phone call. The most important thing was that he could have contact with her. – That made it easier to get in a position to help him. It would have been best if all rooms had been equipped with a “dumb phone” that could only call a few numbers, she says. Regulations from the landline era When the regulations on access to telephones in psychiatry were drawn up, it was common to have a landline in the hallway. This means that no account was taken of the fact that everyone should have a gadget in their pocket that could easily broadcast pictures and films to the whole world. So how do healthcare professionals think the current regulations work? news has asked managers at psychiatric inpatient wards across the country. 41 managers at closed wards have responded. More than half of these believe that the regulations are too bad. Several managers point out that they have seen an increase in patients posting something they later regret. They therefore want an easier way to limit access to social media. At the same time, others point out that the possibility exists within the current regulations. – But there is a high threshold for doing so, and I think it should be. We probably use coercion as it is, says department chief Morten Selle at the emergency psychiatric department at Ullevål Hospital in Oslo. Chief medical officer Morten Selle does not believe that a change to the current regulations is the solution to the problem. He is nevertheless concerned that open sharing from within psychiatry could have consequences for patients in the long term – both socially and in professional life. Selle believes the solution is for doctors and therapists to talk more with the patient about the use of social media in a vulnerable phase of life. – Development has gone so fast that some of us are lagging behind. So I think that we therapists must become more aware of this, he says. The right to express oneself The Norwegian Directorate of Health is responsible for the legislation. Division director Johan Georg Torgersen points out that a more restrictive piece of legislation could violate basic human rights. According to division director Johan Georg Torgersen, he believes it is difficult to use the legislation to help patients with unhealthy mobile phone use. Photo: Anders Fehn/news – It is about the right to express oneself, to have contact with others and not to be socially isolated. It is therefore not certain that a change in the law is what is needed, he says. Torgersen believes that it is more effective if therapist and patient find good solutions together for mobile use. But he is open to listening to the concerns of psychiatric staff. – When the professional communities now describe this as a problem, they are most welcome to contact us. Then we can see what scope we have, he says. Difference between patients and inmates Back in the living room in Østfold, there are unopened Christmas presents in a corner. In recent months, Beathe’s son has been so unwell that they have had no physical contact. Beathe hopes that she will soon meet her son and give him the Christmas presents from last year. Beathe thinks it is strange that people who end up in prison are deprived of their mobile phones while psychiatric patients are allowed to keep them. – I don’t think that is true. I don’t understand the regulations, she says, and emphasizes that she does not believe there should be a total ban on mobile phones in psychiatric wards. – The most important thing is that they don’t have it at the start. So that they can land a bit, get to know the staff and start treatment. Eventually they might be able to get the phone back. About the survey news has surveyed how psychiatric inpatient units handle patients’ mobile use, and their experiences with this. The questions went to managers of psychiatric inpatient units in Norway (public and private with a public mission). The survey was sent out by e-mail via Questback in the period 17-25. January 2023. We obtained contact information from the regional health authorities, and by direct inquiries to the various departments. 119 out of 196 participated, a response rate of 61%. 41 of the respondents who answered the question about the regulations are managers at closed departments. Source: news Research Centre
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Beathe bought a “dumb phone” to prevent his son from going viral in psychosis – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio
