AIBU to be annoyed at the NHS and their referral process for mental health services.

[isthisevennormal]

Am I being unreasonable to be annoyed at the NHS and their referral process for mental health services.

I am currently struggling. I’ve been struggling for a really long time now and finally built up the courage and energy to actually go for help. I’ve tried before in the past and have been through numerous different anti depressants and counselling sessions but none of them have stuck.

I know that part of the reason why I couldn’t make them work was because of the relationship I was in, which was very emotionally and occasionally physically abusive (as I have very recently realised, another reason for me deciding to get help). In this relationship I lost myself and any self respect I may have previously had and I wasn’t given any support by my partner and he didn’t like me going to get help (typical controlling tactic). I left this relationship over a year ago now but I’m now only realising that I haven’t fully dealt with the consequences and that the after effects may actually be affecting me more than I want to admit to. I can’t go a day without thinking about what happened to me and I keep remembering things about the relationship that at the time I thought was normal but I now realise were so, so wrong. This is where the sudden realisation that he was physically abusive came from – it literally took me a year to realise that him pulling down my trousers and smacking me as hard as he could on my backside (not in a cute/sexy/funny way, I mean leave a red handprint behind kind of hard) is actually just physical abuse (trust me when I say that I know that is light, and nothing compared to what other people are struggling with every day). I’m also struggling with what I now know as emotional flashbacks which are interrupting my daily life and mean I struggle to form reasonable reactions to certain stimuli. There are so many other things that are currently effecting me that related back to the relationship.

To go along with everything related to this ex-relationship, I am struggling with high levels of anxiety. It’s so distracting, and it takes a lot of effort not to find myself tail spinning and ending up in a panic attack. Today, my anxiety has been monumental, I haven’t been able to focus for more than 10 minutes at a time before feeling like I need to vomit or need to go for a walk. And the depression, oh the depression! I have a history of self harm and I desperately don’t want end up there again but the thoughts are so over-whelming sometimes. I’m not suicidal, but there are caveats to that which I won’t go in to.

So, I went to get help. I want to start a course of anti-depressants but I can’t go on SSRIs. They do not work for me, I end up feeling numb and worse than before I went on them. I suggested the type I would like to go on to my GP and he said that he wouldn’t prescribe them to me because he’s never prescribed them to me before (???) so he’d refer me to the local mental health service – this was an urgent referral. It’s now been 5 weeks since this appointment. I’ve called a number of times to the urgent referral team and they keep telling me that I should be contacted within a week.I know that by no means am I unique and that there are thousands of other people that need way more help than I do but I’m just finding it all very difficult right now. Its so frustrating that its taking this long for an urgent referral (goodness knows how long it would take if it wasn’t urgent) So am I being unreasonable to be annoyed at the NHS for this referral process?

Hi OP,
I’m sorry you’re feeling this way.
Accessing mental health services is not easy due to cuts and lack of resources. The mental heath teams are fire fighting these days.
I’m surprised your GP would not prescribe an alternative antidepressant to an SSRI. Which one have you requested?
Until you’re under the support of the mental health team you remain under the care of your GP; I would suggest booking another appointment with your GP in the interim.
Have you been given the contact details for Talking Therapy?

You're not being unreasonable at all, but your frustration needs to be aimed at the government and the continued cuts to mental health funding.

Which medication are you wanting to try? Do you know if there are contraindications that mean it needs to be prescribed by a psychiatrist?

Have you looked at counselling from any other services, such as Mind or a women's centre? These services are overstretched too, because they're taking on patients who should be under NHS care, but there's no harm in being on as many waiting lists as possible.

The referral process for mental health is crap. I totally agree. I'm 44 now but since my early 20s I have been diagnosed with supposedly depression. Many years of different antidepressants and a few referrals to community mental health team. Each time the professional who assessed me decided I needed short term cbt and to keep seeing my gp. Years of self harm, eating disordered behaviour, very weird symptoms, overdoses and still no support. 2013 I had a major crisis episode and ended up in hospital for a week (I talked myself out of it). I had the crisis team involved then I was discharged. A few months later I went to the gp and said I think I have borderline personality disorder. He looked through my notes and said yes, you were diagnosed in hospital. I told him firmly that I needed a referral to a psychiatrist. He agreed and I have had support from a psychiatrist ever since. I have been on quite a lot of medication and still am on a lot. I had some therapy that made things worse and I am awaiting the start of a different type. I took a major overdose which resulted in preventative measures to make sure my liver and kidneys were not damaged although I have been warned I may have future problems. I guess I'm trying to say it's ridiculous, even though they have a distinct lack of funding people are not being properly assessed, and are having to wait for a long time. I waited 20 years to get the correct treatment. This is not good enough. Rant over.

Just to add, your experience of abuse is just as valid as anybody else's. You're just as worthy of support and help as every other victim is.

Hi OP,
I am sorry that your struggling. YANBU. Unfortunately like people say they are fire fighting these days as the resources are just not there.

To be honest I left the NHS mental health to go private as I couldn't cope any longer.

Also I want to say trauma is trauma. If it's affecting you now it's affecting you.

Hi all,

For those of you asking, I want to go on bupropion. It’s an atypical antidepressant that apparently works well for women due to it not effecting your libido. This is an incredibly important factor for me as this was another thing that contributed to me not feeling able to continue with the SSRIs. I have a biosciences degree during which I studied, quite in depth, the pharmacokinetics of different antidepressants which is why I feel comfortable doing the research to find the right drug for me.
There are contraindications for people with seizures with this drug as it lowers your seizure threshold - I don’t have any seizure history so I don’t think this would be a concern for my GP.

I forgot to mention in my opening post that I have gone through the IAPT rescource to request therapy. They decided that I would suit best CBT therapy which will start in the middle of October, which is just so far away! I’m also not sure CBT is right for me but I just need to try something.

I didn’t think to go back to my GP. As these few weeks have gone by I’ve realised I wish my GP had prescribed something for me, just to ride me over until my referral came through but to be honest I don’t think I would have appreciated it at the time.

The women’s aid local to me have suggested the freedom programme to me but I’m not sure that I need to understand why my ex did what he did. I’ve spent so long thinking about him and his actions that I just want to focus on me and what I need to feel better. But maybe I’m getting the wrong end of the stick from this... does anyone have any experience with the freedom programme?

Thank you all for your support, it’s very much appreciated

I've been waiting 11 years on a non urgent referal... .

They took ages with me for urgent ones too OP. It's a piss take really, makes you feel so much worse. I hope it all comes through for you soon.

So sorry to hear of all you have been through and how it is still impacting you today.

Very frustrating to have to wait for help too. I hope you can get what you need.

Just thinking though, I believe that buproprion isn't licensed for use in depression in the UK. So not used by GPs usually, unless on advice of a specialist. That might be why GP was reluctant to prescribe it.

Hope things work out for you soon

Your GP may not have prescribed what you ask simply because he felt out of his depth prescribing this. He did the right thing to refer you. Contact the PALS team in relation to your referral.
Hopefully you will be feeling better soon. You may be experiencing post traumatic stress from the relationship. Keep plugging away and stay strong. You will overcome this. Remember these feelings won’t last forever

Thank you all.

I’ve seen that bupropion isn’t a a licensed antidepressant in the first line but it can be prescribed if other types haven’t worked. I mean, I’ll find out when I do hopefully get this referral through. I think I will try and contact my GP tomorrow and discuss starting something soon incase it takes a while to actually get an appointment once my referral goes through.

The NHS is not resourced enough to supply more. I think the anger is better directed at society as a whole as we are not looking after people enough in a variety of ways and then expecting swamped services to pick up the slack.

Aside from that, you have done so well to get out of that relationship and to start to reflect on what was going on. It sounds like you went through some hideous times and of course they are coming back into your mind now. You're right, this was abuse and it will take some time to recover from that. Please don't beat yourself up about what happened. It is actually very easy for many people to find themselves in such situations as the abuse is introduced bit by bit not all in one go. You are not to blame and you are not deficient for having ended up in that situation. Sometimes it really helps to connect with others who've been through such situations. Might there be any local support groups which you could connect with?

Well done for getting help OP, I know it's so hard that we wait until we REALLY need it and then when we finally ask for help we needed it like yesterday.

It's incredibly difficult to get an NHS gp to prescribe Buproprion for depression. It's off list & they often need to see you on other antidepressants before they do he's following protocol. Even once you see an urgent care specialist don't expect for them to give it to you without trying something else first.

I take Buproprion for depression but was under the care of a private psychiatrist for months before my NHS gp would pick it up. I'm not sure what you took last time but meds can be tweaked all so it might be worth taking something else in the meantime?

Hi all, I went back to the GP today and said that I’m struggling a lot. I had a different person to last time and he was very kind. It was a frustrating appointment since he didn’t really listen and just wanted to tell me not to dwell on things I change and that things don’t happen over night. Like, thanks buddy, never thought of that before oh well, he meant well and he was kind. He was sympathetic to my current situation in regards to waiting for this referral and I’ve been put on Citalopram. I really really wish I’d spoken up and reiterated how much I don’t want to be on SSRIs but at the end of the day I need to be on something right now. Who knows how long it’ll take to get the referral through and then how long it will take before I can actually see someone. Do any of you lovely people have any experience with Citalopram?

Bless him, the doctor also made sure that I wouldn’t have to pay for my prescription twice by giving me a full months worth. He just made me promise I wouldn’t overdose - I have an overdone warning on file. Just trying to keep finding the positives wherever I can

Bless him, the doctor also made sure that I wouldn’t have to pay for my prescription twice by giving me a full months worth. He just made me promise I wouldn’t overdose - I have an overdone warning on file. Just trying to keep finding the positives wherever I can

If you go on the MN Mental Health board there are plenty of posters there who take Citalopram.