Diana: The attitudes of others – Taking ‘many’ medicines (2)
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Diana
Female
Age at interview: 22
Number of medicines: 13
Cultural background: Anglo-Australian
Diana has lost contact with friends, partly because of her mental health issues and because she could not tell them about the medicines she takes.
A few friends have known in the past and it's actually cost friendships. They've gone, ‘Well you're on antidepressants, are you crazy or something?’ It hasn't ended well and I also don't want people knowing exactly how ill I have been. I definitely just ... they know what they need to know, in some regards. If I want to tell them something, I will, but they also get quite concerned. The Oroxine, I'm happy for them to know about, but people seem to hear the word ‘antidepressant’ and go, you know, okay, it's not just a simple thing … it's you must be crazy or you're unsafe to be around. There's definitely a horrid stigma out there to mental health. Even though people are talking about it and making a difference, it's going to be a long process to really remove that stigma.
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.