11 ANNE SOPPITT summary

Start of DVCPro Tape 01 of 04 – VHS Tape 01 of 01        01:00:47 - 01:59:00
 
Earliest Memories
Born Clapham Common.  Went to boarding school aged three. Then to convent schools.  Aged 8 mother married Anne’s stepfather. Anne expelled from school and A. went to live with step-grandmother. 
 
First experience of psychiatry
A. taken to Belgrave Children’s Hospital to see Child Psychiatrist, then to Adolescent Unit at Bethlem Royal at thirteen years.  A. talks briefly about her father. 
 
Rampton Hospital
A. talks about getting educated at Rampton Hospital in the 1970’s. 
 
Teenage years in Cane Hill Hospital and Bethlem Royal
A. talking about her experiences as an adolescent. A. in Bethlem Royal for two and a half years.
 
Sydenham and Jordan’s  and Farnborough Hospitals 
A. discharged from Bethlem Royal and became a Cadet Nurse at Sydenham and Jordan’s Hospital for nine months.  A. then took an overdose and sent to Farnborough Hospital.  Took an overdose at Farnborough and sent to their annexe at Cane Hill Hospital where A. put on a ward with ‘lost patients’.
 
Cane Hill Hospital
A. describes various aspects of day-to-day life on the wards at Cane Hill. 
 
Strong Dresses
A. describes having to wear strong dresses, the material and when and why they were used.  A. aged between fifteen and seventeen. A describes smashing windows and self-harm.
 
Padded Cells and Rampton Hospital
A. describes a padded cells, and her experience of being locked in one at Rampton Hospital.  A. describes having a (religious experience) vision.  A. describes being sent to Rampton because of a trade Unions dispute at Cane Hill.  A. spent four and a half years in Rampton. A. talks about the drug treatment there and describes various aspects of Rampton Hospital.
 
Leaving Rampton Hospital
A. talks about leaving Rampton.  A. given money and state benefits to set up her flat in Partridge Knoll.  Talks about learning skills from special training provided by Rampton to prepare for living in the community.
 
01:29:10
 
Leaving Rampton Hospital - Cane Hill secure unit
Just prior to being discharged from Rampton A. sent to secure unit at Cane Hill Hospital.  A learnt to cook and handle money.  A has first experiences of living independently outside of hospital.
Experiences of Rampton Hospital
A. describes the range of social and educational activities at Rampton.  Also about learning social skills from an American Psychologist.
 
Anne talking about being open to others about being a user of mental health services
A. talks about her recent experiences of belonging to Purley Baptist Church (Surrey).  Talks about Steve Chalk one of the Church Members who appears on some television programmes.  Talks about a recent fund-raising event on television where the money went to MIND - (a national mental health charity)
 
Anne’s mother
A. talks about the fact that she has had no contact with her mother.  Mentions why she has decided not to try to trace her mother.  A. last saw her mother when A was seventeen and was in a padded cell at the time.  A. describes her memories of her mother.
 
Anne’s father
A. talks about her surname which came from her father.  A. talks about how members of her Church tried to persuade her to follow up information in order to find her mother. 
 
Anne’s experiences at Purley Baptist Church
A. talks about her initial feelings of rejection by some of the members of the Church, and her fear of possibly be being rejected by her mother if A were to find her.  A. talking about how she has found ways to get the Church members to accept her. A. talks of the stigma of mental health (meaning illness).
 
Psychiatric diagnoses
A. talks about being given various diagnoses of schizophrenia, personality disorder, manic depressive, anxiety depression. 
 
Sister ‘Mother’ Riley and other friends of Anne
A. talks about one of the nurses at Cane Hill Sister Riley, who was kind to Anne. A. talks about her friends, Pat whom Anne calls ‘mum’ and Pat’s husband and daughter. 
 
Anne’s ‘first’ breakdown
A. describes her experiences in January 1999 as her first breakdown.  Talks aboutreasons behind this, and her leaving from her own home in Partridge Knoll to go into a private psychiatric hospital.  A. talks about the difficulties she encountered when she worked on a voluntary basis with children.
 
 
DVCPro Tape 02 of 04 – VHS Tape 01 of 01                      02:00:39 – 03:00:21
 
Experiences of doing voluntary work since leaving Rampton and Cane Hill   
A. talks about cleaning work and working for PDSA and losing this job when they found she had been in Rampton.  A. worked for Nestles in Croydon when she was still “certified” and being sacked when the company found out about it. Talks of current voluntary work and looking after people who live in the same flats as she does now.
 
Anne’s current housing
A. describes the flat where she now lives and her experiences leading to being admitted to hospital in January 1999.  Talks about her friend June whom A. had known in Partridge Knoll.
 
Slyvia - Anne’s friend
A. talks about Sylvia, whom A. first met when Sylvia was one of the League of Friends who used to visit Rampton Hospital.  Sylvia helped to get Anne accommodation when she left Rampton in 1982.
 
Anne’s experiences in Rampton Hospital and trying to leave it
A. talks about her frustrations and behaviour in hospital when she wanted to leave.  
 
Drug treatment and ECT.
A. describes being given drugs and ECT, and deep insulin treatment.  Talks about being treated like an animal when she was in hospital.
 
Croydon Mental Health services
A. talks about happier times in Bromley in Cane Hill Hospital with a particular staff member.  Talks about current mental health services in the area and about trying to get a community psychiatric nurse (CPN). Also about Sandra the Warden at the flats where A. lives.
 
Early ambitions and the Mental Aftercare Hostel
A. talks about her early wish to become a children’s nurse and her work at Dockingham Hill Day Nursery in 1970 whilst she was in a Mental Aftercare Hostel in Honour Oak Park.
 
Anne’s experiences of Purley Baptist Church
A. talks about the members of the Church and their reaction to her.  Also about the problems she encountered there. A. talks about her early experiences of being sent to a Child’s guidance clinic.  Then more about her work at the Church with children and teenagers.  Also about the stigma of mental health (illness) and the Church member’s attitudes. Then more about her work with children whilst living in Partridge Knoll. 
 
02:31:04
 
Anne’s voluntary work and involvement with children
A. describes various situations where because of stigma others have worried about her being involved with children.  A. then talks about some local children.  A. then talks about the support she has got from professionals who say it is ok for her to work with children.  Talks more about her experiences of stigma from the community and being upset about this.
 
Fear of psychiatric hospital
A. talks of deep fear of Bethlem Royal Hospital and her reasons why this is so.
Fear of being sectioned                                                                                 
A. talks of fears and about her dislike of taking psychiatric drugs. 
 
Current drug treatment                                                                                              
A. talks about agreeing to take Prozac and Sulpiride, and about not being happy about Sulpiride.  Diagnosed with anxiety depression. 
 
Support from friends
A. talks about various friends who support and help her and about the help from the friends at Purley Baptist Church.   A. describes why she wants some input currently from the statutory community mental health services.  Briefly mentions being admitted to May Day hospital in Croydon.
 
Memories of Cane Hill Hospital                                                                      
A. describes the social activities at Cane Hill, including outings and holidays. 
 
Anne’s experiences of going abroad
A. went to Lourdes with Mind user’s group.  Had been to Spain.  A. describes wanting to go to the Holy Land with the Church but the minister not agreeing for fear A. might become ill.  A. then talks about another time when she saved money to go to the Holy Land.
 
Friends and experiencing stigma
A. describes various experiences of being treated differently to others because of the stigma of mental illness.  Talks about other mental health service users who attend her Church.  Talks about a friend, John Earwicker who gives A. support and friendship.
 
 
DVCPro Tape 03 of 04 – VHS Tape 01 of 01                      03:00:21 – 03:55:00
 
Anne’s childhood and adolescence
A. went to a boarding school aged three and left aged eight. At nine years old A. went to Belgrave Children’s Hospital, then to Bethlem Royal adolescent section aged eleven or twelve.  Aged fifteen was a cadet nurse, then had a breakdown and went to Cane Hill aged about seventeen.
 
Honour Oak Hospital
After Cane Hill, A. went to Honour Oak hospital.  Worked as a nursery nurse then had a breakdown and went back to Cane Hill, then eventually to Rampton top security hospital in Nottingham in 1976.
 
Leaving Rampton
A. left Rampton in Dec. 1982/1 then went to Cane Hill secure unit for a year.  Moved to a flat in Mar 1982 and stayed there until Sep. 1998.  Now in sheltered accommodation in Borough Grange in Sanderstead.  A is now fifty nine years old.
 
Anne’s birth and parents
A. born in father’s house, mother’s house nearby.  A. never saw her father.            A. lived with her step grandmother. 
Schooling       
A. left the boarding school and sent to Parkside Secondary Modern in Brixton, London. 
 
Anne’s grandmother and the alms house
A. describes her memories of her grandmother (her stepfather’s mother) and her living in an alms house. 
 
Anne’s stepfather and mother and real father
A. briefly talks about her stepfather then describes her mother.  Mother was well educated.  Father was a stockbroker in London, he paid for A’s education.
 
Anne’s other relatives
A. not aware of any brothers or sisters from her father’s side.  A not sure if she had any on her stepfather’s side.  A’s mother had sisters, Anne’s aunts.  Anne aware of two aunts and has a cousin and owns a letters written by an aunt.  Last heard from her aunt in America whilst in Rampton.  A assumes aunts have since died. 
 
Memories of convent school
A. talks about learning the rosary.  Also about punishments. Learning Latin.  A. enjoyed music and sports. Recalls writing to her father asking for a tennis racket which he sent her.  Recalls ends of terms and her trunk being shipped off to holiday school.
 
Friends at school
A. has no memories of any friends at school                                                                                                                                                                                    
Pegging Stations and memories of Cane Hill hospital
A. describes ‘Pegging Stations’ in the hospital where staff checked patients were in.  Describes the wards and the commodes. 
 
Drug treatment at Cane Hill   
A. describes use of a drug called Chlorhydrate, a liquid sleeping drug, used to ‘shut me up’. 
 
Toilets and washing facilities at Cane Hill
A. describes strip washing, carbolic soap and having no privacy when washing in the ‘basin room’.  Talks of using a commode without any privacy. 
 
Mother and Baby unit at Queens Ward in Cane Hill
A. briefly mentions this unit.
 
Everyday life at Cane Hill Hospital                                                                 
A. describes various aspects of life at Cane hill, getting up in the morning, breakfast, punishments, meals, and the cutlery used.  Describes the food on offer there. A. talks about putting on lots of weight there due to the drug treatment.
 
Rewards and punishments for ‘good’ and ‘bad’ behaviour                                       
A. talks about food being used as a reward for good behaviour, such as cleaning the ward.  
03:29:22
 
Rampton Hospital
A. talks about being verbally aggressive due to frustration of being in Rampton.  Also about good things in Rampton such as gardening, collating in the print (room), being taught to read and write.  An Olympic sized swimming pool.
 
Leaving Rampton                                                                               
A. describes the process involved in leaving Rampton and moving into the community.  Talks about her birthday parties since leaving hospital. Mentions that this was her first ever experience of having a birthday party.                                                                                                                                                             
Anne’s current situation
A. talk about her hopes to go to India in March 2000. 
 
Cane Hill Hospital                                                                                                       
A. talk about the separation of male and females at the hospital and this changing in latter years to mixed men and women.  A. describes the Recreation facilities at the hospital, dances, bingo, beetle drive.  Also talk about the hospital shop and church. 
 
Earliest memories of being admitted to hospital
A. talks about her first impressions of hospital and the numbers of people there.  Describes the dormitory and the patients, the hospital clothing and bedding.
 
Smoking in hospital                                                                                                    
A. talks about how most patients smoked and the efforts patients went to find anything to smoke, people picking up dog ends and using toilet paper in place of rolling papers (due to not being able to afford cigarettes).
 
Anne’s current housing situation                                                       
A. talks about the recent problems she’s had regarding a complaint made about her from another resident.  Talks about the attitudes of other residents.  Talks about some of the difficulties of leaving the institution and living in the community.
 
Adapting to life outside hospital
A explains how patients addressed nurses and vice-versa.  Anne talks of difficulties adapting to current use of Christian names rather than surnames or other forms of formal address. Also talks about her first experiences of a computer.
 
Anne’s education and pastimes
A. talks about difference between herself and those with a learning difficulty.  Also about her ability to knit and follow knitting patterns.   A. talks about how active she is.
                                                                                                                                   
Reactions to drug treatment  
A. describes the detrimental physical and emotional effects of drug treatment and the side effects of the medication.
 
 
 
 
DVCPro Tape 04 of 04 – VHS Tape 01 of 01                      04:00:59 – 05:06:46
 
Highgrove Priory Hospital admission - January 1999
A. describes what lead up to her admission to Highgrove Priory Hospital.  A’s friends paid for her to go there.  A. describes the hospital.  Talks about support from friends at the church.
 
Treatment at Highgrove Priory Hospital
A. received a variety of therapies including psychological treatment. A  Talks of surprise at being asked what medication she would be prepared to take. Mentions coming off Depixol and being put on Sulpiride and Prozac instead. 
 
HRT and other treatments
Mentions that she has had HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) for the past nineteen years. A. says she wants to come off the Prozac and Sulpiride.   Talks of using a herbal tablet.
 
Relationships and friendships
A. talks of her deep friendship with Sylvia whom A. met when Sylvia was a member of the League of Friends of Rampton Hospital.  Mentions Anne Williams a Social Worker and the trust A. has in her.
 
Church activities
A. talks about various Church activities she has been involved with, and about how she came to find out about Purley Baptist Church in Christmas 1983. A. involved with the Cub (scouts).  Also A worked for fourteen years cleaning for a member of the church. A. is a member of the tennis club. 
 
Friendships
A. talks of the various networks of friends she now has.   Also mentions being on Valium.
 
Boyfriend
A. says she really only had one boyfriend.  Talks about sexual relationships and this in relation to the boyfriend’s Roman Catholic religion.       
 
04:29:21
 
Children
A. talks about how she would love to have had children of her own.  Talks of various friendships she now has with several children, one of whom has chosen to call A. ‘Nanny’ and whom A. describes as her adopted granddaughter.  
 
Anne’s Christian faith and current housing situation
A. talks about Church friends and the effect of her Christian faith on her life. 
Anne’s talks about her current problems with her neighbour/s and the support from friends.  Anne talks about housing conditions.
 

The future
A. talks about looking forward to the future, about wanting to do more to further understanding of mental health. 
 
Memories of Rampton and expressing emotion
A. talks about the way she has changed regarding showing her emotions.  A. again talks about the current problem at home about noise. 
 
Photographs
A. shows several photographs of the friends in her life and of several of those mentioned throughout the interview.
 
 
End of DVCPro Tape 04 of 04 – End of VHS Tape 01 of 01
 
 
 
INTERVIEW ENDS