To be beyond frustrated my MH trust told me I’m too complex?

In which case you probably need to pay for a one off assessment with a private psychiatrist to make a diagnosis. Psychologists and therapists do not usually diagnose. Private psychiatry is relatively available. Look for someone with experience in trauma related presentations.

or cut to the chase and just get an experienced EMDR therapist if you feel cPTSD is the problem. Sometimes a diagnostic label is not as helpful as a formulation which a good psychologist would be all over.

Honestly if you are able to afford to pay I doubt you will improve on that with NHS services and I say that as someone who works exclusively for the NHS. It doesn’t do everything and this is an area that is poorly served by the NHs.

There is the cuts in funding, but there is also research that shows much of what the NHS was offering was totally ineffective anyway.

I had to go private to see a psychiatrist and get a diagnosis of cptsd and then had private EMDR. It was amazing and cured me so very worth the money but I am very aware how lucky I was to be able to afford it and it makes me sad and angry that not everyone can.

It’s literally a cost thing nothing ideological.

CBT is manualised, can be delivered by less qualified people and a time limited course works for many conditions. Group therapies and skills training courses are also cost effective and are able to be offered online now so a lot of places are offering group DBT or CFT.

Compare those to the expense of months of 1:1 therapy with a highly qualified clinical psychologist who has a degree, PhD and post grad training that you would need for EMDR or any trauma therapy and you can see that the economics does not stack up for the NHS to be able to offer that level of input to people with anything but the most severe cases.

We’d like to help more people. We don’t somehow enjoy turning people away but the amount of investment that would be needed is absolutely huge and money would need to be diverted from other NHS services or from other government spending to do it

I remember the days before IAPT/ Talking therapies services existed and there was only 2nd care psychology and the wait list was well over 2 years to get any therapy for anything at all so the current situation is an improvement for people with conditions that NHS TT can treat but can’t be the solution for many others unless the funding model changes.

Most NHS Talking Therapies services would indeed not deal with cPTSD. They do almost entirely CBT for anxiety and depression. That does not equate to the entire mental health trust having nothing to offer you only the IAPT/ Taking therapy part of the service so you were correctly advised to go back to your GP and ask for a referral to a different part of the service.

In our area the symptoms and severity you describe would not meet criteria for secondary care mental health services which require significant risk and/ or disability. There is an under served gap for people with issue that don’t fit under primary care but aren’t severe enough for secondary. In some areas there may be services that do operate in that gap but, due to cost, these are fairly likely to be online groups as individual therapy for all who would like it and would benefit is simply unaffordable or unfunded by the ICB.

If there is not a suitable service then the only options ar le 3rd sector charitable ones like MIND or private. Your GP or local MIND might know if there are any charities locally who provide subsidised therapy. In our area there are a few but it’s different in different places.

Sorry for whinging on your thread! MH services suck.

I’m currently on a programme with Talking Therapies after calling my GP who recorded my problems as “mild mood observations” and told me to read some nhs articles and then self refer to TT if I felt needed. I was having daily panic attacks, crying all the time, insomnia, etc etc This has been on going since I was a child but I had no support at home to access help. Still no one gives a shit.

The TT assessment did view me as severe GAD and depression, with possible OCD, which they never followed up.

I go through the motions of the course, but it’s easy to omit things when no one looks you in the eyes.

The only thing they show mild interest in is self harm/suicidal ideation. I’m not sure how qualified my supporter is. She could be going through a script.

I got referred really quickly via GP and the service in my area has been great. I've had CPTSD for around 50 years they think and diagnosed far too late. I learnt to cope with it on my own. But they are on it right away if I have an episode where I need help. It really is something that needs to be treated by specialist services.

That's interesting to read @CharlotteLightandDark - thank you for posting. I've completed a course of CBT having had it twice before and it not working, but told I had to go through it again. I've also been referred back to the service as my issues are "too complex" for CBT - which is what I told them in the first place. I feel bad that someone has had to wait while I went through their process, which was always going to be a waste of everyone's time and resources.

I was given a temporary diagnosis of c ptsd post partum, told therapy could re traumatise me and give me a mental breakdown, so I didn't pursue it and there has been no follow up whatsoever.

Sorry that should say seems to be philosophical.

Its a lot of the reason I left working in general MH in the NHS. It was soul destroying to see people in need and know there was nothing you could do.

Having moved I can also see that Trusts are drastically different. Its not just about money either - see to be philosophical too. The ICBs have a lot to answer for.

It was a while ago. Total car crash.

And no that didn't help. My trust is so unbelievably useless it's untrue.

There is literally no mental health support where I am as far as I am concerned. My GP has been staggered at what has happened to me and how no one would do anything because I don't fit their tick boxes. Long story I'm not prepared to go into on here.

I am doing ok now, thanks.

But yes, anyone who says they can't get access to services, I believe because I've had first hand experience of it. People don't understand just how terrible the situation is unless they've had to deal with it.

The stress of dealing with this fuckwittery itself damages mental health - and it's people who did this shit least who are getting fucked by this.

The people needing to answer for this are the commissioners who are constantly cutting money for MH services and the government ministers on both sides who are pushing for services to be outsourced. It might be cheaper in the short term, but it puts money first, and patient care last.

Unfortunately, because most people dont really understand what is happening and why, it is the burned out staff working to impossible criteria who get focused on. Not that there arent some terrible staff there. But there are a lot of great people working in impossible situations.

Oh, thats really poor. I am so sorry. Could you get to A&E or call 999? Hope you are doing better now.

That was the crisis team.

So they've assessed someone and said 'we are the mental health team, but you are too mentally ill for us so you aren't are fucking problem so we are going to dump you off our books and are going to make someone with very complex mental health needs try and navigate a complex system all by themselves".

They aren't fit for purpose.

The number of NHS departments who just go 'nope you don't tick our box, not our fucking problem' and then dump you from great height and then no one will take you on is appalling.

There was a case of a guy, highlighted by the BBC not so long ago, who was so fed up of being dumped by departments who won't take responsibility and falling between them that he's now refusing treatment which will lead to his death because the stress of dealing with this kaftasque system has become that much.

The stress of dealing with this fuckwittery itself damages mental health - and it's people who did this shit least who are getting fucked by this.

That is great @Sillyquestion123 .

I am sorry that happened to you @RedToothBrush . Sounds like you needed the crisis team, not the Talking Therapy service. I hope its better now.

They wouldn't even assess me, because I couldn't speak on the phone and they only do phone assessments.

I'd was acknowledged as in crisis at the time.

I don't actually know what the point of them is where I live.

They have assessed you and deemed that you need more specialist care than what they can provide for you.
They have done the right thing. YABU

There’s a middle ground between talking therapies and secondary mental health care that is a bit of a void in most trusts.

In some (the trust I used to work for) there is GPimhs, which stands for GP integrated mental health services. It fills that gap and takes patients who are “too unwell for talking therapies” but not unwell enough for being accepted by community mental health services (which the bar is very very very high to get accepted by them, you have to have a serious mental health illness). Can you see if your trust provides this service, or a similar service?

Having said that, let the GP do your referral to CMHS. They might accept you and you deserve to get the help you need, even if the system isn’t fit for purpose.

I hope you get the support you need.