To think its unsurprising mental health services are so under funded..

abacucat · 2018-08-27T10:30:57+00:00

when so many people have such awful attitudes to the mentally ill.

PeterPiperPickedSeaShells · 27/08/2018 11:40

I absolutely agree. While there has been a great push towards normalising conditions such as anxiety & PTSD, conditions such as schizophrenia are still stigmatised.
This still exists with physical health too. The breast cancer campaigns have done wonders for awareness & screening but conditions such as dementia are sadly underfunded

Nikephorus · 27/08/2018 11:45

While there has been a great push towards normalising conditions such as anxiety & PTSD
But just because people know more about them it doesn't mean that they'll actually want to help when you're struggling with them. If anything it's worse because now everyone seems to have 'anxiety' when really they're just fine and a bit pissed off about something. People who have genuinely got anxiety still get sidelined, only this time they're thought of as wimps because 'so and so has anxiety and just gets on with it'.

NotUmbongoUnchained · 27/08/2018 11:47

And most of the people who do work for the mental health service are fucking useless too.

AngelsAckiz · 27/08/2018 12:33

I have complex PTSD and anxiety and the stigma is frankly horrendous. My fears and triggers leave me incapable of leaving the house alone. I have to worry about panic attacks all the time.

I've been disowned by so called friends. And trying to access help has been a joke.

My GP has given me pill after pill which just makes me feel numb and dead inside. Mental health team waiting list is years long. They're just not interested.

I'm battling through a terrible relapse and I find I have to pretend I'm fine to certain people because they just think I need to have a better attitude.

Others are fantastic and they are usually souls who are going through the same thing who can empathise.

I'm doing my best and try to act normal but it's a very difficult struggle.

Wheretheresawill1 · 27/08/2018 12:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Neshoma · 27/08/2018 12:45

It's difficult to tell who really IS suffering and those who just diagnose themselves.

Some people could to be more resilient. Everyone has levels of stress in their lives, or sometimes don't get enough sleep and feel tired. Or even be anxious about an interview or appointment. It's life - deal with it. Maybe feeling a bit down doesn't mean you need a course of tablets but some like to label themselves.

So true number of those who really are suffering from mental health problems, PTSD etc are lost (and it affects the treatment as there are so many more people to see).

ImCatbug · 27/08/2018 12:45

Even when you can get referred for treatment, they don’t seem to listen at all.
I’ve been having treatment and therapy for MH problems for 10 years now, and I’ve tried various types of therapies and counselling, and I know there are some types that do not work for me at all (and often make me feel worse). But when I go to get a referral and say that I don’t want a specific type of therapy as I’ve tried it already multiple times, they’ll still refer me to someone who used that exact treatment. Which means I feel like I’ve not only wasted my time and theirs, but also taken up a session that someone else could have benefitted from.
When I seek treatment for physical health conditions however, if I say I’ve already tried a treatment or medication, they listen and will try something else.
It’s like they don’t trust you at all if you mention MH issues and they won’t listen to you.

HopeClearwater · 27/08/2018 12:49

And most of the people who do work for the mental health service are fucking useless too

Not in my experience (as a patient)
Why don’t you try working in such an underfunded system before generalising in such an unpleasant way?

NotUmbongoUnchained · 27/08/2018 12:55

In 15 years as a patient I have never met a professional who actually have a shit. So no, I won’t apologise for feeling that way.

Leesa65 · 27/08/2018 12:55

MOST of NotUnbongo blah blah's posts are unpleasant.

NotUmbongoUnchained · 27/08/2018 12:57

Yeah yeah

MissusGeneHunt · 27/08/2018 12:59

I'm so lucky to have at last found a psychiatric team who are fabulous. I'm not out of the woods by any stretch but I have hope. My son is also being supported by the young people's team, equally impressive.

There's crap services in EVERY industry, and there's fantastic ones too. Please don't do a cover all 'they're shit' because they're not. They've saved me on numerous occasions.

Problem these days is under funding, blame this and every other government ever. What's the answer? God knows.

Yes, I agree with some other posters. There is far too much self diagnosis clogging up the secondary services, and it also stigmatises those with conditions that have been diagnosed. Waiting lists for therapies get longer, and the NHS bills for low level meds get higher, thus impacting on the necessary prescriptions for higher grade needs.

Warm wishes to those of us all who struggle.

mydogishot · 27/08/2018 13:28

Mh services are shit.

A teenager I know went to the GP, got referred to cahms. Eight weeks later they phoned to make an appointment for a telephone consultation. That happened within a week. Was advised patient had to see someone and they would be in touch.

1 week passed. At ten days patient phoned them, was told all in hand and you'll hear tomorrow.

Two days later patient phoned them. Gets told it's being dealt with.

Two days pass, letter drops through door advising patient has been discharged from cahms due to lack of contact. Copy has also been sent to GP.

When phoned (again) calms say as discharge has happened patient has to go back to GP for referral.

WarmingUpWithHotCoffee · 27/08/2018 13:39

Hi OP, I kind of agree wth you, but this sentence is horrible -

attitudes to the mentally ill.

If you want to change attitudes, you need to start with your own attitudes and language - 'the mentally ill is a horrible phrase. I've worked in mental health for years and would never say this.

Nikephorus · 27/08/2018 13:50

And most of the people who do work for the mental health service are fucking useless too.
Well while the GP who accepted my request to be referred for an autism diagnosis was definitely fucking useless (and a fucking bitch too who shouldn't be allowed near anyone with mental health issues) the psychologist who diagnosed me was fabulous.
There are crap people in every job type. But I don't think that anyone should generalise based just on their own experience.

Bambamber · 27/08/2018 14:01

People working in mental health services literally saved my sister's life. The people working with her everyday at the moment continue to help keep her safe. Yes improvements could be made, but without them my sister would not be here anymore. I couldn't thank them enough. As has been said, you will always get people that are shit at their job, but some of the team we have worked with have bent over backwards for us, some after even being physically assaulted.

And yes people's attitudes are awful. It also doesn't help when people say 'couldn't you just try....' or 'have you thought about....' and it's usually something shitty like getting more sunlight or eating more vegetables. I wish it was that simple

Bineverywhere · 27/08/2018 14:06

Try having borderline personality disorder if you want to see stigma. Ask for help and you're written off as attention-seeking. Go quietly insane in your own until something happens is also attention seeking. FML.

NotUmbongoUnchained · 27/08/2018 14:08

@bineverywhere

Yes!!

TheMatteEffect · 27/08/2018 14:09

I think the entire health care system is not designed, or prepared to be designed, for people with a mental health diagnosis (or illness). Whether it is the GP surgery, Accident or Emergency, or services which supposedly provide help to those of us who are struggling with a mental health difficulty.

I am currently lucky that I have exceptional MH Support, on the NHS, through a specialised service, however, my GP practice is abhorrent and has no idea how to support me (very easy, I need to see the same GP and not be passed from doctor to doctor, one person needs to oversee my complex needs because the service I receive now is extremely fragmented). This is a basic health care need, which everyone who is accessing health care would find easier - for me it's made me both extremely physically unwell (letters were missed as he thought she was doing it and she thought he was doing it several times) and the emotional toll has been gigantic.

I can cope (just about) with the everyday stigma, but what I cannot cope with and find extremely difficult is it is people working within the very health system that is meant to support me, that are the most vile. How am I meant to ask for support when I past experience tells me I may be about to get threatened, sworn at, name called, or gaslighted?

Original poster

abacucat · 27/08/2018 14:10

I guess I think mentally ill is fine, just like physically ill is fine.

OP posts:

TheMatteEffect · 27/08/2018 14:12

abacucat

The current advice is never to make the illness own the person - a person with mental illness is fine, to say a person is "mentally ill", or "physically ill" actually comes across as there being nothing else to that person.

Original poster

abacucat · 27/08/2018 14:23

I know that a person is far more than their illness and that it is better for people to see themselves still as abacucat with an illness.

OP posts:

mydogmymate · 27/08/2018 14:26

What really annoys me is that the media are suddenly interested in mental health awareness, but there are not the services to deal with it. I've been in and out of the service for about 40 years and I'm no better, the psychiatrist has said there's nothing more that they can do for me. I'm feeling suicidal at the moment and phoned the Samaritans last night who told me to contact the mental health team ASAP. But today is a bank holiday and the person I spoke to out of hours told me to phone back tomorrow! He also said that he would tell the consultant I see, but she's on leave for 6 weeks and I can't request an urgent appointment and have to wait till I'm sent one.

I don't know what I'm expecting them to do, I don't see what I can do honestly to help myself. I'm sick of hearing that they are underfunded, that doesn't help me at the moment. There are so many hoops to jump through just to get help that I'm not surprised that some people just give up.

MaMaMaBelle · 27/08/2018 14:26

Some people could to be more resilient. Everyone has levels of stress in their lives, or sometimes don't get enough sleep and feel tired. Or even be anxious about an interview or appointment. It's life - deal with it. Maybe feeling a bit down doesn't mean you need a course of tablets but some like to label themselves

Now I'm wondering if I really do have problems or if I should just 'deal with it'...

TTAoD · 27/08/2018 14:33

I have CPTSD, just left to get on with it. Sometimes my anxiety can be crippling, I have many nights I don't sleep because I'm on hyper alert or have terrible fear. I can often react very emotional in situations and usually go into fight mode.Throughout my life I have just been seen as psycho or attentionseeker and it took till I was 28 before my trauma was recognised by psychologist and I have been seen by several mental health professionals since I was a child.