A DEVOTED mum-of-two killed herself just days after celebrating Christmas with her family, an inquest has heard.

Suzan Arisoy, of Broadmead Road, Woodford Green, died from a drug overdose after telling her family that she had "had enough" of the torment caused by her mental illness.

A hearing today (Tuesday) at Walthamstow Coroners Court, was told that the 41-year-old - who suffered from bipolar disorder and depression - took a fatal quantity of a sedative at Goodmayes Hospital on December 27, 2008.

Ms Arisoy's partner Andrew Wallace, 44, described how he had to intervene to stop her harming herself with a pair of scissors when she came home from hospital to spend Christmas with him and children Ashiq, 21, and Jordan, 12 - shortly before her death.

He said: "We were like soul mates. I had known her since I was 12 years old and been with her for 18 years.

"She was an extremely intelligent, bright person, and knew so much about the condition she suffered from. She did a lot of reading about it.

"On Boxing Day she said she wanted to go to bed and went upstairs and locked herself in the bedroom.

"I told her I would kick the door down if she didn't open it. When I opened the door she ran back to the middle of the room with a pair of scissors.

"She seemed to be threatening to cut her wrists. She said 'I can't take this no more.'"

The court heard that she had returned to Goodmayes Hospital - where she was a voluntary patient - at around 10pm on Boxing Day evening, and was found dead by nursing staff just before 6.30am the following morning.

Mr Wallace told the court that Ms Arisoy had been unhappy with the side effects of the Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) she had been undergoing at the hospital and that she felt like a "guinea pig" because of all the treatments she had been through.

He said she believed her views were not being taken seriously by the hospital.

Andrew Margo, a consultant psychiatrist at Goodmayes, said he and the rest of the staff who cared for Ms Arisoy were devastated by her death.

He told the court that ECT had appeared to help Ms Arisoy's condition but that she had refused a course of the treatment shortly before Christmas.

He said: "We thought things were going ok but she was capable of putting up a front to conceal her feelings."

Dr Margo said she had also been refused leave to go home from the hospital in November because there was concern that she had been 'hoarding' tablets.

Deputy Coroner, Dr William Dolman, recorded that Ms Arisoy had died of cardiac-respiratory arrest due to Zopiclone overdose, and that she had killed herself "while the balance of her mind was disturbed."

The coroner went on to criticise the use of the term 'service user' to describe Ms Arisoy in her notes.

He said: "She was a person, a patient, a human - not a service user."

After the hearing, Suzan's sister Lisa Arisoy, 38, described her as a lovely person, who had enjoyed writing poetry.

Mr Wallace said she had devoted much of her time to championing the interests of other people suffering from mental healtillness in Redbridge.

He said: "She worked for an organisation called the Hub in Chadwell Heath where she acted as an advocate for other people with mental health problems.

"She was focused on getting more support for mentally ill people."