to think that the NHS Mental Health Services are USELESS?

[TeenTwinsToddlerandTiaras]

I have been involved with them now for 6 years due to suffering from OCD, extreme anxiety and depression. I swear that I got worse since being involved with them in addition to the stigma and feeling of worthlessness that being diagnosed with a mental health 'illness' brings.

I went for my 2nd follow up appointment in 6 months with an NHS psychiatrist yesterday and I told him that I did not want any more involvement with them as I could manage without their 'help' and I was told that they would not discharge me from their services as they were not convinced I was better . They have had no involvement with me for 6 months since they threatened me with SS and I have never even seen that psychiatrist before! He insisted that I take a CRISIS card with the emergency helpline no. on even though I said I did not need it and never have.

I have been told that as I refused pills (tried them and they made me feel worse) I obviously did not want to get better and must be attention seeking , threatened with social services as being a risk to my children even though the nature of my 'illness' means that I am probably the least likely type of person to harm anyone which has been very well documented (I did get an apology but that still put me in a headspin), told that I would have to live with this for the rest of my life and must learn to 'manage' with it (that took me to the brink I must say).

I was absolutely no closer to getting better until I had the good luck to find myself a good counsellor a few months back, after trying a few duds, who taught me to empathise with myself rather than continuously beat myself up all the time for my failure to get better so exacerbating it. In fact she told me that rather than being mentally 'ill' I was reacting to my experiences and the mess that I had become was totally understandable and even normal as I have been in pain and I had to heal that before anything else would help.

Childhood trauma and abuse, the death of a child and the serious illness of another, the loss of a home and financial security were the cause of my 'illness' and it has been a complete nightmare but I am glad to say the tide is now slowly turning and my terrified brain is starting to calm down but I really feel the NHS offered me nothing but tried to force pills down my throat and a short course of ineffectual CBT which did not even scratch the surface. Has anyone else found this to be the case?

YABU to generalise in that manner. Like everything, the quality of the service varies and with NHS cutbacks, resources are very limited.

I am a Mental Health Nurse working in an in-patient unit and we all work extremely hard for our patients. Throw away comments about there being lots of suicides in hospital make me bristle because we work so fucking hard to maintain patients safety, it's a never ending, thankless challenge! I have been involved in an incident where a patient died and I will carry that with me until the day I die. I was in no way responsible but it feels like shit and never leaves you.

I acknowledge that resources are very limited and we are limited by what services are available but certainly on my ward we all do our absolute best to ensure patients get the support and help they need.

The service as a whole is underfunded ultimately, just like the rest of the NHS.....

Not a throw-away comment, my sister has been an inpatient many times and the hospital has failed to keep her safe. There have been numerous complaints upheld against the unit (including sexual abuse) and it is now to close.

I'm sure some individuals do a great job. Just unfortunate that I am yet to come across any.

Fluffy nice to see you!

Definitely a postcode lottery. My NHS care was good for me, exactly what I needed at the time, (crisis team, 8 weeks in hospital, 2 or 3 years follow up with the CMHT, finally discharged over a year ago, I go to my GP for my meds which get reviewed once a year now) supplemented before and after by a private counsellor who also helped me immensely. CBT worked for me for my anxiety disorder, but it was a looooong process, certainly not the 6 sessions offered by the NHS. More like 100 sessions at a guess.

However since I was in hospital, they have closed both units where I was. No idea what the poor souls are supposed to do now.

Doyouthinktheysaurus it really is a thankless job and some of the things you have to put up with... I was extremely manic when I was admitted, for some reason took against my nurse, and the verbal abuse I hurled at her was awful. I hate remembering that, that I did that, treated another human being that way. I apologised when I was more myself again (took a few weeks) but I still feel bad about it. It's pretty relentless for you. Hats off.

Because it didn't work for you doesn't mean it wouldn't for others, you can't generalise like that.
A thread like this may put people who are reading this off, who really need the help of MHS.
I've been on Ads for a long time, and also had psychiatric help many years ago. It helped me.

I've had some poor service, but in the last year the mental health service, specifically the perinatal team saved my life. I was an inpatient at a Mother and Baby unit. They were wonderful. And my CPN is wonderful.

I've had a very positive experience, but I think it depends on where you live and who you deal with. It shouldn't be that way though. Sorry to hear that so many people have had a rough time, some of the CPN's and psychiatrists sound very unprofessional.

Doyouthink can I just say a big thank you? I wouldn't be alive today if it hadn't been for the wonderful work of some amazing people within the mental health team.

So for all you do, and for all you will continue to do. Thank you. x

YABU.

Yes the NHS MH services are indeed underfunded and therefore useless. No support at all from MHS you just have to cope somehow, alone.

I'm lucky to have a really good GP who I check in whith once a month, but the mental health services do try to get you off their books asap. I was diagnosed with bipolar, so it's not as though I'm cured.

CBT was useless for me. They should give people NLP instead. I've paid to have it privately and will do again. It's 100x more effective imo.

I think that NHS mental health teams must work with huge challenges.

But in my experience (34 years worth), the service now offered doesn't just border on, but crosses the line into negligence... It genuinely frightens me how little support we receive and I have feared for my Mum's life on more than one occasion.

What do you mean by negligence MrsBW? Is it really that bad?

My GP is stuck because he is only allowed to refer to crisis or CMHT, who then gatekeep all other services. Crisis team stop working at 9pm, so heaven forbid you have a crisis after then. I have also found that in my area I am treated like an idiot because I have mental health issues - as if I can't understand what they are saying to me. CBT is thrown at me even though I have failed at it in the past.

MHS have always been the Cinderella service of the NHS and unfortunately it is only getting worse, ime.

YANBU. been there, done that, useless useless useless. for me AND DC.

We have a 24 hour number for the crisis team here, there is always someone on call.

I'm about to start group art therapy. I'm clearly very lucky to live where I do, considering my mental health issues.

YANBU. I work for a MH charity and often GPs will refer clients to us rather than put them through the underfunded and often ineffectual services offered by the NHS.

Well, crisis team's response to a crisis was 'flush you pills down the toilet' so to be honest I doubt that them working 24 hours would make a difference. As you can see I'm very bitter about the lack of support from the CMHT. They want you off their books one way or another.

Depends.

My GP gave me a repeat prescription for ADs about a year ago. I havent seen anyone since. This suits me fine but i do wonder about others who might need support.

Mental illness contributes to 23% of overall disease burden in the uk, compared to 16% of both cancer and cardiovascular disease. Yet only receives about 12% funding.

This explains why services are woefully inadequate in parts.

I work in mental health. I know that the team I work with deliver the best possible care with the resources we have.

Unfortunately and mystifyingly (given that it costs them so much money) mental health is often not seen as a priority, particularly amongst the over 65s. My dad has been ill lately and when he was discharged, we had to fight for every tiny little thing we were promised when he was in hospital, in terms of home support. Nothing has materialised that the psychiatrist promised.

When he was in hospital however, they were very good - kind, and thorough.

I think it very much depends where you are.

In our local area, they have always been superb. However half their buildings are being closed this year :( We are also lucky to have a 24hr mental health line, so when the team are closed, there is at least an option. You can only speak to them for a maximum of 20 minutes though!

BunFagFreddie

Only in my experience which is limited to just me

Examples;

Total misinformation given on drugs prescribed and correct drugs not prescribed resulting in unnecessary deterioration of condition.

Nurses physically obstructing a patient from receiving treatment which has been prescribed by a Doctor (yes, really)

No care coordinator being allocated despite this being in that team's charter (this is important as when my mum relapses there is a 24 hr window to start treatment. After her initial relapse a plan was put in place which we were assured would be accessible by everyone concerned ... Which was totally ignored the second time, resulting in a full on flip and her being sectioned. This could have been prevented had someone acted quickly and got her admitted and treated).

I am her next of kin and live 3 hrs away and I can therefore only get updates from the hospital over the phone mon-thurs. On getting frustrated at never being able to speak to the same person twice, i asked for a single point of contact to speak to in order to get updates on my Mum's progress and was told ...My mum (who was in the middle of an episode)

I could go on.

I work in mental health services. I have some amazing, dedicated colleagues in all disciplines who really care and go the extra mile for their clients day in day out. There are some not so good ones too. And the system sometimes utterly sucks. No beds, no access to therapies, high caseloads, no budget to get B&B for people while they wait for housing, etc etc. The threshold for accessing services is enormously high and people who only just squeak in can often access little more than risk-screening followed by discharge to "big society" type services, leaving them feeling utterly short-changed. Ime people with personality disorders and anxiety disorders tend to get a poorer service than those with a psychotic illness in my area. Personality disorder in particular is still a diagnosis of exclusion.:(

I saw a psychologist for a physical health condition the other week - not my normal team - who said to me, "You do realise that there is nothing that can be done for BPD, don't you? You will have this for the rest of your life?".

Thanks. Thanks for that.

And any 'physical' health doctor who sees the words ''Borderline Personality Disorder'' instantly judges you. The opening lines of one doctor I saw were, "So I gather you have a mental health condition." Well yes, arsehole, I do. Strangely enough, however, I am unfortunately perfectly capable of suffering from more than one illness at a time.

I'm lucky my local mental health team offer STEPPS, which I am finding fantastic. Friends with personality disorders in other parts of the country, however, are basically told they are too ill for casual teams, but not ill enough for the severe teams, so are left in limbo.