Neighbours

[cad]

I have a neighbour who unfortunately is very depressed has anger and health problems it must be terrible ,
I have every sympathy as to what this guys going through, it cant be an easy life .

I didn't know he had problems, I only heard the noise he very occasionally made ,
till a quick chat revealed his situation about 2-3 years ago .
We met on the street one day and tried to resolve our problems like 2 adults and he couldn't have made it easier .
About 5 months later when hes went of on one Ive went down to have a chat and a knifes produced which woke me up even more than the 3 AM alarm call I had of him banging the doors and screaming .

So the council got involved and the formalities went through ,you dont really want to have a chat with someone who's pulled a knife on you,so I left it to the appropriate dept

3 weeks later he has decided in his brain that I'm the bad guy , outcome , letter box knackered new lock and new handle required polyfill and a paint job ,
because his lapse resulted in my door hammered with a ball headed hammer and screw drivers ,plus damaged to the surrounding area police called ,social services got interested and the guy was committed for a couple of months great my doors needing repair which cost me ,hes run amok and everybody's got a bill me you and the rest of Edinburgh's citizens through our taxes .
That was a year ago .
Tonight after hearing virtually nothing well the odd bang and scream over the last 2 weeks hes went off on one again ,axe or hammer on the walls or doors of his house plus the banging off the doors for about 5 Mins ,now 5 mins may not sound much but not stop banging at 2. 45 in the morning certainly gets your attention ,and no I didn't go down to have a chat ,so Im back to the council tomorrow for round 2.
I know I'm not going down to confront him I dont know what hes got behind the door ,but the postie could knock on his door tomorrow for a signature for a letter ,the gas man to read a metre or who ever and walk straight into this ,hopefully the council can get someone up for a chat with this guy and he gets the help he needs .
But that's me up now waiting to see if there's any more noise and I'm off to work at 7
Any other people had situations like this ,if so what was the outcome ?
I should stress that I never hear him at any other time ,apart from the bumps and bangs off everyday life, which is fine ,but when he has a bad day it seems to take over your life you start waiting and listening for him to go off on one , then your sleep starts to suffer,is the council or police the only option.

[bighairyfaeleith]

you deed yet?

[MSK]

Thats one hell of a nightmare Cad, feel for ye mate. I am surprised you have put up with that for as long as you have, but for your quality of life you must be stressed to the hilt too, get to your GP, explain the situation to him/her & explain how the situation is affecting your life. Perhaps even get a letter from your GP so you can produce to the Council.

With regards the Council, they are obviously aware of the situation as will be Social services, dont turn a blind eye to any of this, record & report every incident. Do you have neighbours, how are they in all this ?

There is plenty of help & advice out there mate, I cant think of any of the top of my head but I think you should seek as much as you can.

Good luck..

[Beefster]

It's shocking that the situation has been allowed to go on for so long.

happyhibbie's advice is pretty much what I would say. As well as telling the council etc about events, start documenting everything too - by mobile, writing events down and so on. The more evidence you have to back up what you say, the better.

[Woody1985]

Normally I'd have said this guy sounds like a complete an utter **** but I think you mention he's been sectioned. It sounds like he's off his meds or they've been stopped as he's been deemed okay.

My mum recently developed psychosis and started to think her neighbours were out to get her and had similar interactions with the neighbours as you're experiencing, except she was the culprit. Not to the extent of banging hammers off the wall etc but verbal abuse when going past their door etc.

It was really difficult to get my mum the mental help she needed and the majority of the symptoms have died down after being on the meds but she has the odd outburst.

I don't really know what you can do but I certainly felt sorry for her neighbours. Maybe if they've got a relative or someone who comes to visit you could have a word but a lot of people close to them don't see what's going on and it could cause it to escalate if they mention you've discussed it.

Perhaps call the Royal Ed for some advice. It's probably not the correct channel but they can probably put you in contact with the right people. The police or council probably can't do much.

[MSK]

Normally I'd have said this guy sounds like a complete an utter **** but I think you mention he's been sectioned. It sounds like he's off his meds or they've been stopped as he's been deemed okay.

My mum recently developed psychosis and started to think her neighbours were out to get her and had similar interactions with the neighbours as you're experiencing, except she was the culprit. Not to the extent of banging hammers off the wall etc but verbal abuse when going past their door etc.

It was really difficult to get my mum the mental help she needed and the majority of the symptoms have died down after being on the meds but she has the odd outburst.

I don't really know what you can do but I certainly felt sorry for her neighbours. Maybe if they've got a relative or someone who comes to visit you could have a word but a lot of people close to them don't see what's going on and it could cause it to escalate if they mention you've discussed it.

Perhaps call the Royal Ed for some advice. It's probably not the correct channel but they can probably put you in contact with the right people. The police or council probably can't do much.Yes they can, the Police can/should intervene if the guy is running amok with a hammer etc & damaging property. They also have the powers to admit & have him detained on an emergency treatment order, sometimes with the offer of criminal charges being dropped should he comply with treatment.

The Council are also duty bound to act if he is a threat to the community, they can also laise with Social services & intervene to a point of offering treatment or possibly temp accomodation away from his current area. I doubt however that would be a quick fix knowing the Council.

[Woody1985]

Yes they can, the Police can/should intervene if the guy is running amok with a hammer etc & damaging property. They also have the powers to admit & have him detained on an emergency treatment order, sometimes with the offer of criminal charges being dropped should he comply with treatment.

The Council are also duty bound to act if he is a threat to the community, they can also laise with Social services & intervene to a point of offering treatment or possibly temp accomodation away from his current area. I doubt however that would be a quick fix knowing the Council.

Perhaps, in my almost identical situation, after I'd removed a weapon from my mum, they turned up and gave her a lift to the hospital.

She had an assessment and was let out 45 minutes later.

Fortunately there is a home assessment team who came back after I made a compliant about the supposed assessment and they took her back to hospital because she was a risk to harming others or herself.

The police were great but other than a comforting discussion and dropping off at the hospital there didn't appear much more they could do.

[hughio]

You need to write all of this down in detail in a letter and send it to the Director of Administration.(Give dates and don't be afraid of expressing how alarming it all is.Keep it factual though.)
Copy it to the Chief executive and
Head of housing all at Edinburgh Council.

Copy it too to the chief constable at fettes

and to your local Councillor and your local MP.

This is a serious reply to what sounds like a serious problem for which you will get no help unless you really fight ...and by that I mean write these letters now.

[MSK]

Perhaps, in my almost identical situation, after I'd removed a weapon from my mum, they turned up and gave her a lift to the hospital.

She had an assessment and was let out 45 minutes later.

Fortunately there is a home assessment team who came back after I made a compliant about the supposed assessment and they took her back to hospital because she was a risk to harming others or herself.
The police were great but other than a comforting discussion and dropping off at the hospital there didn't appear much more they could do.There's a "grey" area there Woody ..the assessment is whether to deem you mentally fit or not, they tend not to believe in half way houses, if you are detained it is for the long run. There seems to be a reluctance though to dish out CTO's (compulsory treatment orders) now preferring the individual to be treated at home by the CCT/CPT.

The New Royal Edinburgh hospital (when built) will only have the capacity for 75 beds as opposed to the now 125.

I hope your Mum gets all the help she needs mate, must be a terrible time for you & your family.

[Woody1985]

There's a "grey" area there Woody ..the assessment is whether to deem you mentally fit or not, they tend not to believe in half way houses, if you are detained it is for the long run. There seems to be a reluctance though to dish out CTO's (compulsory treatment orders) now preferring the individual to be treated at home by the CCT/CPT.

The New Royal Edinburgh hospital (when built) will only have the capacity for 75 beds as opposed to the now 125.

I hope your Mum gets all the help she needs mate, must be a terrible time for you & your family.

The police were great in terms of discussing things but were just looking to take her to the hospital and drop her off. She didn't have any knives/screwdrivers by the time they arrived though.

She believed a bug had been implanted in her to track her movements and that her neighbour was trying to kill her. When attending the hospital she thought they were part of the conspiracy as well.

They tried to give me some straight down the line, text book answer they probably read from a script why she shouldn't be kept in. I was boiling and basically told the person that she had no idea of the scale of the things that were going on and she refused to listen and was always trying to get me off the phone. I told her I wanted to speak to someone else.

Eventually I was called back by another doctor who took the time to listen (to the exact same info I'd given the previous woman) and he agreed it was something serious and they sent out a home team who brought her in and she stayed in for about 8 weeks.

Freaky ****!

I'd certainly have been a lot more concerned for her neighbours safety if it went on much longer so the OP should probably get some proper advice soon!

Thanks for your thoughts. Most of it has died down now, it all happened in the last 5/6 months, so hopefully she'll get there.

[cad]

Thanks for your posts relating to my problem , its not as bad as all that its just so out of the blue when it happens it puts an edge to your life till the problems solved ,the social helped the last time it happened and after a call today its in hand with the profesionals so Ive been told so well done to them , hopefully the guys getting the treatment he needs .

I just hope hes no fooled them and Im up at 3 again :wink:
many thanks for the replies :top marks

[Dashing Bob S]

Mental illness is a terrible thing, and we still joke about it, but its harrowing for the neighbours, friends and families of someone in that situation.

In a similar case to Woody's mum, a good pal of mine developed identical psychosis symptoms, with no precedent for this in his previous behaviour. It started with him getting obsessive about certain ideas, things and people (it's tempting to make Yam jokes here, but I won't, cause it's serious and scary stuff), and the paranoid delusion of thinking certain people had it in for him.

The most frightening part for me was how, at the start, he made quite reasoned, cogent arguments to justify this, before he (almost thankfully) went into a meltdown where he was obviously losing it. The meds have regulated his behaviour, but he's lost a lot of his wit and sparkle, and you can see why people are often resistant to taking them.

In such case there needs to be a lot of communication between the family concerned, services, employers and neighbours. People are generally sympathetic if they are kept in the picture and know that the person is getting treatment to stop them putting themselves and others at risk.

Maybe its because I'm getting older and like a lot of illness mental illness tends to show up more frequently in later life, but is this on the increase?