Editorial June 2005
A book review and a miscellany of news

past caring
Following links on the Internet can lead to serendipitous discoveries. *

A recent article in The Guardian about a retired journalist's positive experience of self-publishing (so often denigrated) led me to Polperro Press and to a compelling read; a revelatory book about caring for relatives, which throws a new light upon this humble task, taken for granted, undervalued and unrewarded in our society.

Finances are an ubiquitous worry; the small care allowances used to be stopped the day after a death - the carer was expected to be available for work next day! The work of informal carers saves the tax-payer £ billions a year.

What may be important for psychiatrists is Audrey Jenkinson's highlighting of the protracted adjustments to the unanticipated yawning gulf that so often follows, and long remains, after the burden of caring is lifted by death, or as a sequel to long-term care admission (rarely guilt free).

Her sharing with us graphic cameos of the lives 'past caring' of many interviewees is judiciously interspersed between the running account of the stages of her own hard won rehabilitation; not so easy for carers to spread their wings and take advice to get on with their own lives 'past caring'.

Delayed but then protracted exhaustion, maybe years later, amounting to chronic fatigue syndrome, is commonplace. Relationships and sex become 'scary prospects'. Marriages break up after caring finishes. Many, many insights leap from the pages, ones that may not have occurred to us as we concentrate upon our index patients when we all meet, and their carers do likewise, putting their own needs aside.

Audrey Jenkinson's account of getting the book written, then into print, is both daunting and inspiring. Ultimately, in Polperro's well organised and fully professional production, it became deservedly a runaway success. Short of embarking on a book, do let Points of View have some of your own experiences which deserve to be shared? Notices and recommendations of books you have come across would be welcome.

*One thing leads to another......

The Guardian 1st June carries an account of interviews with MPs suddenly "past caring" for their constituencies, after being Thrown out of the House.

It is salutary to read how many of them encounter severe symptoms, similar to those highlighted by Audrey Jenkinson in her book - "Trauma, a bereavement, a death in the family - defeated MPs talk about the shock of defeat in the same terms" and many have a long journey to come to terms with their new situation and to get beyond symptoms of clinical depression, e.g. "You can't taste food and you can't sleep. Dressing is difficult, as is hair-washing, ditching dead lightbulbs and dismantling the ironing board."

Well worth reading; your ex-MP may need your help? PGW

Past Caring (£8.95) polperro.press@virgin.net

Flexibilitas Cerea Has this condition, very familiar to older clinical psychiatrists, disappeared? I was surprised to see the BBC advertising for help with a documentary about waxy flexibility. I had a comparatively recent case but the records are not readily accessible.

There must be many readers of scpnet who might be able to help? - Rachel Oliver, 0208 752 6447.

Hospital Doctor 16 June
See: GMC investigations need 'to get rid of minor & spurious complaints'.
News of the latest "whistleblowing" case. Both on p.1.

COMPLAINTS GMC has rethink over complaints