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?

It took years of struggling and several referrals to mh services before I got a psychiatrist. They kept saying see your gp, take anti depressants and get an 8 session CBt course. I did these and kept getting worse. I have taken several overdoses etc etc. I have had a psychiatrist for a few years now and have what is deemed a complex and serious mental illness. I take psychiatric medications and had some therapy and now awaiting intensive up to two year therapy. All well and good now but if they had recognised my illness years ago I might be a lot better off now.

I have had a mixed experience. I found they saw me quickly when I became psychotic after horrible stressful time, think they seem to prioritise psychotic over neurotic? Not sure. Anyway had a care co-ordinator and crisis team daily for a while. then a care co-ordinator visiting weekly at home for quite a while...also found the psychiatrist warm and friendly, always shook hands with me and DH for example.

But I found the psych nurses who came out seemed to change around a lot which was a bit tricky when you don't trust people anyway and could be quite mixed, one was awful really doing on to motivate me and it made me feel worse. She didn't really get it. I had some CBT with the psychologists team as I started recovery and it was OK, but the thing which was best was a psych nurse who did 1:1 mindfulness sessions with me at home. I'm discharged now but overall I know my husband was impressed with the speed of assessment etc when I really did need it.

Sorry to hear that but my GP and chams have been really good with my18 year old

Awful in Hertfordshire when I lived there, I took an overdose and was told in the hospital that people who were really ill could be using my bed. Then in the mental unit I was on I was told suicide attempts are mostly for attention and my official diagnosis was adjustment disorder, despite my overdose having come from being kept locked up by a man and made to work as a prostitute, and they wouldn't discharge me until I signed the form.
In the North I was taken to hospital feeling suicidal and left in a side room all night and told to go home in the morning because they didn't have anyone to talk to me.

I'm not in the mood to rant about my own experiences, but yes, they're shit these days.

I had some good experiences ages ago (before cuts happened, and while I was young and worth investing into), but these days you're fucked if a) your issues aren't solved with six sessions of CBT or b) you're not in dire need of immediate sectioning (and I'm not even that sure of part b).

Thank goodness for private therapists with sliding scale fees.

This thread (albeit quite old!) made me think of Cecil Parkinson's daughter, it was so sad and has been covered in the press recently

You say it's based on being high risk but at this point I'm not sure what that means. I've been to A&E countless times with overdoses, self imposed gashes to the neck and arms etc and I know someone who's gone in after hurting someone else and in an extremely suicidal place. No matter what in my experience in 3 parts of the country across 10 years; A&E will have you wait hours maybe on an IV drip. CMHT will see you and try as hard as possible to ignore everything you say so they can check that you're fine, and send you off with leaflets.

At this point the only type of high risk I can imagine them caring about is a bomb threat but then you'd go to prison and not hospital? Genuinely lost on who is getting help and how. Even if you manage to get some help after months and months of navigating endless GP appointments, referral waits, appointment cancellations etc: the pot at the end of the rainbow is a short megar course of CBT.

Can anyone actually confirm that the NHS does DBT from experience and not just alleged? Or inpatient? Some people say it's a postcode lottery but never mention specific addresses. Please if you know a lucky postcode mention it! I am young enough to move to somewhere just to get help and it may be worth it. I'm already on track to leave the country for a better chance at survival.

MH services are very variable imo.

I'm not an MH professional, but I work exclusively with clients with MH issues. There is a huge variation in provision and service within the large trust I work with (it covers 2 counties and a city). In some areas, the staff carry much smaller caseloads than in others and clients get far more input, better access to therapies like EMDR, far more contact with their MH professionals, and they are more willing to refer for assessment for neurodivergence etc.

In other areas, people are lucky to get more than a phone call every now and then unless they're in crisis.

I simply cannot understand why there is such a disparity in the service offered within one trust. If it's a question of the resources not being targetted at where there's the greatest need, they should do some sort of evaluation of where the greatest need lies and reallocate accordingly.

Sorry, just realised this is a zombie thread.

Still, I guess that shows that things still aren't getting an better 5 years on...

@NhSSkeptic You can get DBT from the NHS in Poole & Bournemouth area in Dorset... for EUPD. A colleague's daughter has had DBT locally and although she recently self harmed.. my colleague thinks since she completed the DBT there is an improvement.