To think that people should consider paying for MH services?

[DoodlePug]

First of all, of course I think it is wrong that you can not access services on the NHS.

Secondly, yes I know there is a cost of living crisis and people have even less spare money than they used to.

However, we are where we are and I feel some people don't prioritise their mental health as much as their physical health. I know plenty of people who pay for private physio which they should be able to access on the NHS, and for hip/knee operations because the list is too long yet the same people are waiting months/years for assessment and treatment for MH conditions which invariably get worse.

Obviously if you can't pay you can't pay, but is 2 weeks in the sun really better for your health than 20 counselling sessions which could well help to alleviate your anxiety/depression?

If someone is choosing between treatment for their elbow and their anxiety why does the elbow always win?

Is it just a societal thing? Do we not value our MH as much as our physical health? Or is there still a stigma and you feel good for seeing a physio but bad for seeing a counsellor?

Genuinely perplexed why people who could afford it and have shown an inclination to spend on private physical care won't do the same when it's mental care. Would love to hear your thoughts.

And if anyone is looking for a counsellor the bacp register is a good place to start.

I can't even afford dentistry.
I'm lucky, I'm resilient, but I couldn't afford to pay for therapy.

Do they? Or is that all the nhs offers?

And you definitely wouldn't want to pay for my counselling at £90 a week if I was your friend.

My dd who has a MH condition would
Absolutely it be better after two week I. So. Ridiculous comments from soMe posters

What helped her was 6/12 months cbt and emdr which was funded by dh health care and our own pockets.

Bloody typos

My dd who has a MH condition would
Absolutely not be better after two week In Sun. if only!!! Ridiculous comments from soMe posters

Contains CSA and info regarding severe MH issues and behaviours.

I have had extensive treatment on the NHS but have also paid for treatment, it was £50 ph and a number of years ago.

MH conditions are just so varied from people who get situational depression, hopefully a one off and need short term assistance to people like me who need long term intervention. I feel talk of MH issues though very welcome doesn’t explore the severe cases enough.

I was in hospital for three months once, the bill pick up person should have been my dead stepfather who raped and sexually abused me for years and strangled me one time and I’m actually lucky I am alive.

In all this I managed to work for almost 30 years and pay tax. A lot of the other patients I have met who were obviously all on the severe end of illness had very patchy work histories due to their enduring serious MH issues. I remember a young woman saying how she wished she knew what it felt to have a weekend feeling as she had never worked but wanted to, she had set herself on fire. Or how about the woman who had been abused as part of a CSA ring, I remember being kept awake as she continuously smashed her head against a wall till the staff restrained her.

Whilst MN is a great place to couch opinion and provoke debate, I’m disappointed sometimes and this is one of those times.

Exercise is very good for a lot of less serious mh conditions.

Counselling isn't so much about going over the past as looking for patterns in thoughts and behaviours, looking beyond the obvious reasons to try to find resolutions and sometimes just processing the things which have happened to you by talking through them to someone who is empathic and non judgemental.

Loads of people do pay. My DP recently started seeing a therapist and it was difficult to find one that was taking on new patients. Was much easier to find him a physio!

I think it is very hard to know what sort of mental health service you need, and much easier to fall prey to someone selling snake oil if i am honest.

You're ignorant (in the true sense of the word)

The guy that does my decorating (we're disabled), ended up paying for mental health services for his 16 year old daughter. She was having terrible problems, and CAMHS were worse than useless, in his view.

He and his wife and daughter tried with the NHS for a while, but his DD was getting worse and ended up being hospitalised. Even then, things didn't improve.

He, and his wife, decided to pay for private services, and his DD is coming on in leaps and bounds.

She's returned to full time education and wants to try and go for getting the marks to get into a University.

No one should have to pay, especially when it's a child, but if you can, it's probably best to do that.🙁

@rageapplied could you explain please?

Am I ignorant for asking the question or for my belief that exercise can help or in what my thoughts 9n what counselling should be?

If two weeks in the sun is better for you than 20 counseling sessions, you probably need to see a better counsellor...

Counseling isn't recommended for anxiety, so yes, that's probably the case. Unfortunately, despite the NICE guidance, people are still signposted to the wrong interventions when it comes to mental health.

Health is health. Dental, mental, physical, all should be properly covered for all and YES it will cost money, but if we want a fairer society, we need this.

I would have loved to afford private therapy when my mental health was at its lowest. I struggled to afford the medication that was helping to keep me alive though. I don't know what the solution is. Encourage people who can afford it to pay to free up nhs spaces?

For clarity, YABU

Mental illness is just as much an illness as any other, so if people are wealthy enough, then I see no reason why they wouldn't go private. Apart, of course, from the very fact that mental illness can make any kind of decision difficult for people.

Actually, counselling/ CBT/ therapy is recommended for anxiety. Not doing anything is not.

I agree with you

@LiberteEgaliteBeyonce

Could you please explain?

Why is it unreasonable to think that people who CAN AFFORD to pay for mental services should CONSIDER whether to do so?

Do you think it's unreasinable because the NHS should cover it? Or because it would eventually lead to the downfall of the NHS? Or because everyone should have to wait? Or because it will encourage mh specialists to go private?

I was really hoping for some insight into why people who are able to pay would rather wait and suffer, particularly those who will pay for physical ailments.

The cheapest counselling near me is £65 a 50-min session. I did do it for a while until my NHS psychologist came through - which took about four weeks. I get 12 sessions. The NHS psychologist is a million times better than the private service. Whether that is the difference between a counsellor and a psychologist, I’m not sure. It also took me ages to find a private counsellor, on either the BACP or UKCP website. The vast majority didn’t even reply to my initial emails. I was grateful for the one that replied.

Agreed there. I think at the very least being a counsellor you should reply to people who reach out to you!

Very glad you were able to get help.

Most people I know that need therapy, get therapy, paying for it if they can.
The people I know that need therapy and don’t get it are also the sort to ignore physical issues too.

No I don't think this expectation is reasonable.

Speaking for Child mental health services, the NHS ones are a shambles and even paid ones barely exist.

Also what's the cut off then? Do you means test access to NHS services? Because if you don't you create a system where only the rich can afford good care.

I had to give up work when my 10 year old became suicidal very suddenly. You think it's reasonable to then have to pick up costs that ought to be met by the NHS?

As you said, you are basing this on anecdotal evidence, and I don't think your premise is generally true. In my experience, people I know value their mental health just as much as their physical health, and pay for mental healthcare if needed and if they can afford it.