Getting complaints

[Lonewolf]

I suffer from 'night horrors' and 'night sweats' a lot and my neighbours have complained to me and the housing officer about me disturbing them by shouting out loud, in the early hours of the morning! This happens a lot, so sometimes im too scared to sleep in fear of more hassle!! Any ideas?

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Are these neighbors to one side or the other of you, or above or below in a flat/apartment? Is there a way for you to rearrange your bedroom perhaps so you're not as close to an adjoining wall? Or possibly use a carpet or heavier curtains to absorb the sounds better?

Ultimately, this is a mental health issue over which you have little or no voluntary control so while one can sympathize with the neighbors this isn't something you are doing intentionally to annoy them and to some extent they are simply going to have to live with it.

Are you in a "council house" or some form of subsidized housing? If so, have you or someone on your behalf tried to explain the situation to the housing officer?

 

[Lonewolf]

I live on the top floor of a block of flats and the walls between them are not made of brick, its hard board!! i have neighbours either side and one directly below me! Unfortunately, i can't prove that i am not doing this deliberately! The neighbours either side of me have told me about this problem and that if it continued they would tell the housing officer about it and obviously, its continued! I have spoken to a mental health worker and she said that the neighbours will have to accept this as part of an illness, she suggested that she wrote to the housing officer, so maybe that will ease things for a while? I feel a bit nervous about the neighbours finding out about my mental health issues. But i suppose that is the only way to sort out this problem!! thanks for listening!!

 

[rdw]

I think the assistance of your mental health worker is a great solution to your dilemma.

 

[MHealthJo]

Yes... and not everyone thinks the same way about mental illness. A lot of people can be quite understanding and positive. Probably more so than now, when they have no idea what to think of the situation. Hope the situation is more settled for you soon.