Kerry Owen has suffered mental illness since childhood. But it took years for her to get the help she needed. At 30 she says her life is finally on track. Kate Liptrot reports.

WHEN she was 19-years-old and in her first year at university Kerry Owen first started experiencing delusions and hearing voices.

She was suffering from schizoaffective disorder, a form of schizophrenia, but was left in the frightening situation of being unable to get the treatment she needed.

It wasn’t until she was sectioned that Kerry was finally referred to a specialist Early Intervention in Psychosis team. Their support has been integral to improving her condition and she has gone on to complete a Masters in Public Health, secure a good job and is planning her wedding.

Now the York medical researcher is supporting a campaign by the charity the charity Rethink Mental Illness which has highlighted that people with schizophrenia in Britain are at risk of dying on average 20 years younger than the current British life expectancy of 81.

It is appealing for the necessary health care to be given to people with schizophrenia to address the scandalous injustice they face.

Recounting her own experience, Kerry, 30, of the Leeman Road area, said: “Throughout my childhood I had emotional and behavioural difficulties. I was bullied at school, and was admitted to an eating-disorders unit when I was 15. But it wasn’t until I was 19 and in my first year at university when I first started experiencing delusions and hearing voices.

“The first psychiatrist I saw was really unhelpful. She basically said that I should lower my expectations and give up my degree. I didn’t get the right treatment, and I felt like I was in ‘pass the parcel’.

“My GP would refer me, but then I’d be told I wasn’t getting treatment because I didn’t fit the right boxes. Yet no-one else would see me because I was deemed ‘too ill’ or ‘psychotic’. For years I’d just be bounced around with endless horrible assessments and no help.”

Kerry had support from her Quaker Meeting which paid for her to go to The Retreat where she had treatment with a psychologist, enabling her to understand the psychological effect of the bullying she had suffered.

The support helped Kerry to get better and finish her last year at the University of York.

She said: “I was also finally diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and told that I needed support from an Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) team. But the NHS psychiatrist wouldn’t refer me – I was only able to get that support after being sectioned.

“In the end, I waited for seven years before I finally got access to the EIP team, but I cannot say enough good things about the support I got from it – the staff have been amazing. With their support, I have gone from being sectioned to finishing my masters in Public Health.

“Now I’m engaged to be married, and have a job as a researcher on antibiotic resistance for the NHS. I believe the key to my recovery has been my EIP team, as well as peer support groups and my psychiatrist. I also rely on the support of my partner and friends, and have found running, dancing and mental health campaigning really beneficial for my mental health.”

The difficulty Kerry faced in accessing treatment is a familiar pattern to Rethink Mental Illness which said people living with schizophrenia in York and the rest of the country have a lower average life expectancy today than the general population of 1930s Britain.

Many factors put people with schizophrenia at risk, it said, including the impact of anti-psychotic medication, lifestyle, poor health monitoring by the NHS, and the dismissive attitude of some health professionals towards people with severe mental illness.

Mark Winstanley, CEO of Rethink Mental Illness, said: “It’s absolutely scandalous that people with schizophrenia in York and the rest of the country are dying younger on average today than the population of 1930s Britain – an era when the NHS didn’t exist, penicillin wasn’t available, and tuberculosis and smallpox were rife. Those with schizophrenia are being badly let down in so many areas of care, and it’s having a devastating impact.

“What is most galling is that many people with schizophrenia are dying from preventable physical health conditions like heart disease and diabetes. That’s because although they have a much higher risk of physical illnesses than average, they are missing out on crucial support for their physical health.

“Too many people with schizophrenia are also missing out on potentially life-changing treatments like talking therapies, and are just being fobbed off with medication alone. We would never say to someone with cancer that they can only have some of the treatments that are proven to work for their illness, but not others. Yet those with severe mental illness are expected to put up with second-class care.

“This has to change – it is completely inexcusable that so many people are dying unnecessarily. That’s why we’re launching the +20 campaign, to fight to give those with schizophrenia their 20 years back. We will not rest until people with schizophrenia have the same average life expectancy as everyone else.”

For more information go to rethink.org