to ask if anyone would consider signing a petition i am thinking of setting up?

[zoena]

hi i am zoe hicks and i was in help me love my baby on channel four monday night and i am seriously thinking about forming a petition to get the government to make all gp surgerys offer at least 20 therapy sessions of varying types for various forms of depression as standard at every practice in the uk would people be interested in signing it if i looked into setting it up online xx

I certainly would sign it!

fab i have only been a member on here for about three months so dont know too many people so need the word spread lol

id sign it

cx

me too.

Yes definitely

Yes!

I'd definitely sign it!

Sorry I wouldn't. I don't think you can be so prescriptive.

GPs need the funding and the ability to refer to specialists (whether counsellors or psychiatrists/psychiatric nurses). They shouldn't be forced into providing a "one size fits all" in-house therapy service.

Sidge - Yes I agree with you. Funding is finite and I would be concerned about what services would be cut to pay for this.
I think there should be a maximum time limit for a first consultation after GP referral in these cases, I believe there has been serious issues over the waiting times for referrals to counsellors, I myself had to wait 2 months to see anyone over my work related stress!
May be you could reword your petition to reflect that - after all it's not the number of sessions it's how quickly and frequently they occur. Some people might only need 5 or 10 sessions, but others may need more than 20.

your right really i would just like it more readily available as in some places its so hit and miss and i think there needs to be a level plain really . funding etc is obviously an issue but surely helping people through therapy may get them of a lifetime of anti ds etc so i think its all relative if that makes sense

Pass me a pen, id sign it straight away.

I do agree with this sidge "GPs need the funding and the ability to refer to specialists (whether counsellors or psychiatrists/psychiatric nurses). They shouldn't be forced into providing a "one size fits all" in-house therapy service. " BUT that is pretty much the state of affairs anyway. Or at least it is at my practice.

I have anxiety and depression. PND? Not sure. My HV was no help at all, despite me coming in as clinically depressed on her questionaire, i was just left with no help whatsoever. I had a melt down and finally (we are talking two years later) my doctor took notice, well to be fair, she has been brilliant and totally agrees that the lack of services stink. She basically told me that there would be no way i would get CBT on the NHS even though she thinks it would be worth it. I have my last counselling session in a weeks time and ive only had 5. Six is the maximum offered on NHS, its a joke, I was starting to make progress and recognise where some of my problems lie, but made NO headway into how to combat it. I can tell my counsellor feels this is too few sessions too. I had so much to unburden.

Waiting times a big issue too, 3 months wait for counselling, when i was/am in a BAD WAY. Basically living terrified each day.

Someone has said that they are worried that it might take funding from elsewhere. I am not niave, i know that funding is a huge problem but that almost implies that other illnesses are more valid and worthwhile. The thing with PND, and depression is that it is an illness, i am UNWELL and i need help. I am on ADs but they have a negative affect too, i dont want to be reliant on them forever but certainly do not feel ready to drop them without further counselling. Mental illness is as real and devestating as any other illness. It can be, and often is terminal as it can result in suicide. I know of more than one person to take their own life and wonder if they had gotten the help they needed if they would still be here today, looking back on a bad period in their life but glad to be alive having got through it.

Mental health is seriously underfunded and if you can scrape by from day to day, your pretty much given a packet of pills and left to get on with it. In the long run it would cost more to keep me on ADs long term or for the rest of my life (there is no way i would consider even lowering my dose at this moment in time) than to provide me with the counselling and psychiatric services that i need.

Zoena, i didnt see the program on C4, we have rather extened bedtimes in our house (part of the problem i daresay) but i think you are incredably brave and I think a petition is a great idea, sadly, im not sure how much it will change things, but then we cannot just lay down and die can we.

well said lucy i had 40 sessions in total and my therapist said because of my past even that is not enough al though if i have a bad day i can call her etc 6 is ridiculous! in my area there is no parent infant therapy until the child is 5 which is pathetic me and izzy would have been horrendous by then!! i think you are very right about the cost of a lifetimes worth of anti ds too my 40 sessions would of cost 4500 pounds but surely that is relative to now much it would of cost to have me on anti ds for ever ? i am 29 and i would never of been able to come of them as i had so many issues that had to be talked about x

Absolutely! There needs to be more therapy offered to people with mental health issues rather than just drugs alone.

Whilst I understand some people's concerns over funding, I think that long term there would be a massive saving. For example- a friend of mine had very severe depression and spent 2 years in a psychiatric hospital without any therapy being offered, just drugs. Eventually this friend got the help they needed (family had to kick up a fuss) and is no longer costing the NHS huge quantities by being an in-patient on lots of drugs, frequently needing A+E admissions for overdoses.

I think that if more people with mental health issues got offered proper therapy and assessments by mental health professionals when they first present with their problems we could save a great deal of heartache and expense. Instead someone with depression turns up at their GP's who bungs them a prescription for Prozac and tells them to get on their way. Lets treat the cause, not the symptom for once, eh?

Sidge, whilst I can see your point....as it is if anyone goes to a GP saying they feel down the AD's come out and that is that....hardly ever do GP's try to explore and address underlaying issues....and pills on their own often are NOT enough!

What I have found is a huge disparity in services from area to area. It is basically a postcode lottery.

I suffer from OCD, which got much worse when I first had DD. I was referred to the local mental heath trust who told me that there wasn't a single CBT practitioner on the whole mental health team and they couldn't offer me anything. (In fact, I had to argue with the mental health team social worker on the phone, who thought I was "borderline" and wanted my doctor to re-refer me before I could even have an initial appointment with the mental health team - luckily I had the emotional strength that day to argue the point with her because I had support from my DH and HV, but I suspect many vulnerable people are fobbed off like this)

I now live in a different area where I have had CBT without any problem.

BTW Zoena, I did see the documentary and I think you have helped so many people. It is testament to the love you have for your children that you wanted to make things better and I have huge admiration for you. It was clear from the documentary and threads on here that it inspired that PND can reach beyond the mother that is suffering at the time - it can cause issues for generations, which is why proper help is so vital.

Oh don't get mw wrong, I do think mental health services and access to them from primary care needs a big shake-up. But I don't think that saying "right GPs, now you must provide 20 sessions of counselling for Mrs Bloggs in your practice" is the way to go.

Different mental health problems need different approaches - some benefit from pharmacological intervention, some from CBT, some from CPN intervention. What we need is better training for primary care staff (I agree too many GPs just reach for the prescription pad) and more resources.

Zoena I didn't see the programme, so can't comment but I agree that mental health services need a level playing field. It shouldn't depend on where you live as to what you receive.

thanks sidge i know my wording was a bit off but i guess i sometimes sit and wonder what the hell might have happened to me if i hadnt come across the help i got! it is very much a postcode lottery and it should not be at all you cant say well we will give people in area a 20 sessions and area b can have nothing!

I am wondering zoena if, wording your petition along the 20 sessions line is not helpfull as there will be far too many politicians who will jump in with sigde's argument. Which, i have to say, is a valid one. But i understand where you are coming from and feel strongly that something needs to be done. I live in an affluent area and at the local community arts centre (notice art centre, otherwise it wouldnt get the right clientel) there are numerous adverts for CBT therapists. I simply cannot afford it, i need it, but it aint gonna happen.

I think someone made a good point also about certain mental illnesses responding well to ADs and i think that is very true, however going to the doctors and saying "doc i feel really shit" or whatever it takes to get your doctor to get the ADs out, is not enough for that doctor to make an assesment as to whether you have depression or another mental illness such as bipolar etc. I am pretty certain, lovely as my counseller is, that she wouldnt be able to diagnose it either. Perhaps even a psychologist would battle. That is why i think that every woman, or man who presents at their doctors surgery with depression type symptoms should be referred to psychiatric assesment.

I used to self harm as a teenager, funnily enough they did refer me, i dont honestly remember what the outcome was, i remember seeing a locum doctor, who at a later time was locuming as a GP at my doctors practice.

Im not about to start carving my arms up again to get the help i need. But is there any wonder that people are making such drastic cries for help.

lem, are you ok.?

hello TM, im doing OK, thanks for asking How are you, not seen you lurking around for a while?

trying to stay out of trouble lem.
tbh, never look on here much anymore.

seen one "im really miffed about this"
seen them all!

but i like to say hi to you and lorayn, where is she btw?

and have you still got that good looking plumber servicing you! lol

I'd sign it, I have been to my gp several times to ask for conselling to help me cope with my depression. I've been on ad's and don't like taking them. But everytime I ask for help, the ad's are all that are offered.

I have explained that I would prefer conselling, but its just not available.

Btw, I saw you on tv the other night, I just want to say how brave I think you are to admit that you needed help. The programme made me cry in places. Good luck to you and your lovely girls.

No counselling at all MO2TB? Good grief that is really crap! I thought that GP surgeries all had an option of counselling nowadays at least (even if the counsellor isn't very good - which has happened to me before!)