2.5 year wait for mental health intervention - panicked

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Difficult life circumstances and history of long lasting trauma . Dx of CPTSD last year after years of bouncing around mental health services all of my adult life without ever receiving a concrete diagnosis or effective treatment .

Consultant said last week I need urgent, highly specialised help - symptoms of cptsd take over every aspect of my life . They’ve referred me for trauma informed highly specialist treatment through a very specific team, have had ‘triage’ call and assessment in which they said I am urgently needing substantial support .

The urgent waiting list will take at least two and a half years they’re saying - said I’ll be seen in 2025 at the earliest .

In the meantime I’ve been told there is the option of using third sector/charity support - one of which says it might be able to provide similar-ish help within this year (they work mainly with care leavers and offenders though neither of which is me) ; or can pay for help - which would be £££ . Been given a list of private providers, 2 or 3 of whom which used to work for the same service before leaving .

I can’t believe the wait for NHS is so long . I feel like I should be grateful I’m going to get the help eventually somehow, whether it’s that charity or the NHS or both, I shouldn’t make a fuss that it’ll take a long time via the nhs but absolutely stunned .

I don’t blame the team at all they coudktb be more helpful and kind and clearly doing tier best with very limited resources, but I do blame the government a
bit for years of underfunding . Urgent help should never take so long . Either you’d be much worse off or cured by the time it arrives !!

That is a very long wait, but it isnt surprising following covid and with NHS budgets under huge pressure.

Can you find the money somehow and go private? Skip holidays, take a second job, sell the car, move to a cheaper flat to pay for it? It is your health that's at stake and until you solve it you can't move forward. Or if you are already in poverty and private care is completely unaffordable then try the 3rd sector option as your best next bet.

There will be no improvement in funding in the NHS; the UK will not find the money because we have major economic problems ahead . And imagine if there's another covid-esque problem - services will be cut and disrupted further. It may be longer than 2.5 years to wait.

The problem is, people nowadays are actively encouraged to reach put to the NHS for MH support for all sorts of issues which in the past were just ignored. That's a good thing, except the NHS isn't designed to handle this level of demand. If it isn't life threatening and is about quality of life rather than survival, it isn't going to attract funding as much as, say, emergency medical care or cancer treatment. You'll get critical care if you are at risk of suicide or self harm, but I think many MH services may be squeezed more and more.

Wishing you all the best with your treatment.

That’s very true re NHS dealing with a lot more mental health stuff . It is very specialised stuff (she said it was called ‘deep brain reorientation’ work) . I think it’s also a very small team .

It’s that I can’t leave the house much . I don’t have any friends, I’ve never had a relationship, and at the moment I don’t really get out of bed at all . Zero quality of life at times .

Re self harm and suicidal, have had the immediate intervention for that a few times - experience is that you get 6-8 hours therapy to sort of patch you up . Ive had therapy on and off since age 16 (I’m early thirties) and experience is always the same, you get a few weeks and CBT advice then the same starts all over again .

I’m terrified of it as mental illness killed my great grandmother, my grandmother and now my mum too is dying from its effects - I don’t want to be next .

I’ve got access to a crisis team if needed thankfully .

Yes re poverty, I definitely can’t afford what they’re offering at all privately .

The third sector thing sounds more promising, I’d never realised there’s charities exist for these things/that provide that sort of help - but I suppose you wouldn’t know unless you were in this situation .