Why are mental health services in the UK so utterly shit?

[Whichwhatnow]

Trying to get mental health support this week after multiple suicides of friends and other issues. Nowt out there available. I'm lucky, I can pay. But how does someone on benefits or NMW pay for therapy?? Surely this should be a basic support element of the NHS?

@Sarahtm35 I am sorry to hear you have had such a tough time.
Psychiatrists though largely deal with people with serious mental health issues who spend or have spent time in hospital. Suicidal thoughts are very very common and by themselves would not be enough to see a psychiatrist and to be honest not much use. Psychiatry is largely about medication. You should have been offered talking therapy.

I also think that a lot of generational trauma could be prevented if knowledge about ADHD, ASD, bipolar, BPD, CPTSD, anxiety, depression, ocd, Attachment disorder was mainstream and completely understood and accepted as real by everyone.
(TV shows with a far reach could really help with this)

People would then have been looking at each other through this lens for years by the time they get into adulthood and would own their own behaviours, their own children would then not internalise the behaviours of their teachers and parents because they would have some understanding that it’s the mental struggles of their caregiver that led them to behave in particular ways.

@Whichwhatnow I agree with PP, it doesn't sound like an inpatient admission is the best route for you right now. I have similar diagnoses to you and recently had an admission of a couple of months, but entirely different set of circumstances. You are quite rightly and validly experiencing feelings that are proportional to the circumstances you're in. You need support in the interim crisis period but therapy might not be the wisest move until you've "stabilised" a bit. There would be no need for you to be sectioned, that's reserved for people who lack the insight to understand they are seriously unwell or who do not agree with admission yet pose a serious risk to themselves or others.
I hope you are able to access some support.

Absolutely this.

Lack of funding and lack of adequately trained staff. Perhaps Brexit accounts for this. In a talented first world country, we can’t even train the right practitioners needed. And we are ignoring the problem in children, which means we are going to have much more difficult issues when this generation reached adulthood.

I have a complaint against the MH service on our area. My child almost died as a result of their inaction and has lasting consequences of this impacting the whole family. I have gone to the health ombudsman and I have to wait 8 months just for a case worker to be allotted to the case. Even getting redress is difficult.

Simple answer is we voted for it, it was never great pre 2010 either but there was help within weeks, now that help could be years or non existent, NHS budgets in real terms have been slashed between 2010 and 2020.

We then voted to make sure EU HCP no longer come to the UK.

In my locality, MH services have been cut to the bone, with the emphasis on Care in the Community, trouble is, that care is no longer there, it is taking months to get a care package for physical illness, its just not available for MH issues.

Over the last BH weekend, there was not one single spare MH bed in the whole of England, so despite being sectioned, not help available for a close relative.

I always see posts on here saying things like "are you getting any help for your anxiety?" (Usually PA posts when someone has said they are worried about something) and I just think LOL like there's any help out there! My daughter is a school refuser and is a ball of anxiety all the time, school are useless, and she is on a waiting list for NHS therapy - in around 8 months time she will get 4-6 sessions with a therapist.

In the meantime, we just do what we can to help her (I've watched a lot of webinars!) And watch the letters from school about her attendance just pile up 🤷🏻‍♀️

Vote Tory, get shit public services.

Sorry you have been affected @Whichwhatnow but basically the way you were treated is a political choice made by the voters of the country and the government they elected.

This. In a nutshell.

Mental Health Services has been known as the "Cinderella service" since the 1980's.

Its nothing new, and started with Care in the Community, without proper funding - I think when Thatcher was PM.

Its deteriorated ever since.

I lost my husband in April, and contacted the GP for some temporary sleeping tablets. Lack of sleep was really screwing me up further.

My GP (useless like most now) replied with a counselling link.🙄

I didn't want counselling, still don't , but followed the link - it's an 8 month wait....so not a lot if use right now, even if I did want it.

I bought some sleeping tablets off of a trusted source on the net, so that's sorted. No counsellor is ever going to improve how I feel about losing my husband, so I'm ploughing on.

So, I think now, whatever the stress, it's a case of pay up or forget it.🙁

@Zebedee55 It's most certainly something new, the level of care and support is pretty much non existent now.

My sympathies are with you of course, so, about 20 years ago, i lost my partner in an accident, i was seen immediately, long appointment, got medication and the wait time for support was 3 weeks, not great, i went private but considerably quicker than 8 months.

My relative has had MH episodes before now, last one about 12 years ago, always got prompt in patient care, not now, no beds, no staff.

I think YANBU and YABU

Lots of people have mental health issues. We're all human and we all experience a range of trauma just through living life. This is not to belittle anyone's experience but it's my belief that we've gone from a world where no one talks about mental health to everyone claiming to have issues of one sort or another. Even if it were properly resourced the NHS couldn't cope with this.

In fact there are a lot of cases where psychological therapies don't work and, following initial drug treatments to deal with the problem, people just have to work on it themselves.

I have a life long mental health condition which is, at times, life threatening but mostly isn't. Over the years I have learned that exercise, sleep and avoiding too much stress is the best treatment. That's on me. I am also on drugs that I'll be on for the rest of my life. It's up to me to take them and make sure I am monitored.

It would be lovely to have access to some talking therapies to get over the trauma that has resulted from some of my unwell periods (abduction, rape, suicide attempts) but, given everything else that is wrong with the system, I just don't see it happening and believe it would be unreasonable of me to expect it. I do think need to take some responsibility for ourselves, even if it is hard sometimes.

Hi OP. I realise there are no simple answers to your situation. But if you’re still living with you Husband who has abused you then getting free from him will be the first step before mental health support could possibly make any difference. Good luck

There's been plenty of money thrown at it recently but it's pointless as there isn't enough staff; that's the biggest issue by far.

Lack of staff not only leads to it being very challenging to access support, but also limits the extent of that support. I can't say I blame people for not seeing it as an appealing career though, I am a qualified MH nurse but I left for pastures new. The pay sucks, the job itself is mentally and physically challenging, and it's just not worth the toll it takes to many people. Its a shame as everyone I trained with and the vast majority of people I have worked with have been committed, passionate, no one is looking to get rich but the drop in working conditions as well as salary and the relentless demands of the job have broken even the most dedicated.

The fact so many people are struggling with their mental health is desperately sad, and a sign that the way society is at the moment is putting a lot of people under a lot of stress. The answer’s got to be in tackling the root causes (starting with the huge inequality in society?) as well as improving early support. Things seem so broken for lots of people to seemingly have tons of money and be driving round in expensive cars, but at the same time it’s impossible to get an NHS dentist appointment for kids (never mind adults) and to only be able to get a phone appointment with a GP if you’re lucky and queue on hold for hours.

I do agree that the system wouldn't cope regardless, but there are lots of very unwell patients that we had to discharge before it was safe or sadly couldn't offer support to. This includes those with diagnosed conditions such as schizophrenia etc.

For us, it was actually marginally worse under Labour, although this was probably more to do individuals working in the mental health team more than anything else. I don’t think either party will solve it. I don’t think there is good mental health provision in many other countries either. I would love to hear about places with a good system.

I used to get angry about this.

Then I had counselling. Multiple practitioners. It was crap. Useless.

So now I think the best way for the state to deal with MH is to stop making our lives so shit we want to hurt/kill ourselves.

I'm so sorry, it's really bad. 2 years ago my then 12 year old attempted suicide. I can't fault how well he was physically treated and without a doubt his life was saved. However he was then assessed by camhs and promptly discharged. It's not good enough.

BreathesOutSlowly

Good for you however to get to that point many with need therapy and psychiatry for several years.

I have a son with similar experiences as yourself. The level of provision has been appalling so like many he is spiralling not learning how to support himself which will end up costing the NHS more.

I have two children severely mentally unwell and I keep hearing from professionals that lack of money is a big issue.

I think lack of early neurodiversity diagnosis and support is a massive issue. So many young people in crisis seem to have late diagnosed neurodiversities of some kind.

Neurodiversity awareness within services needs to improve massively.

Also the fact Cahms is a shitshow doesn’t help. The boards are littered with parents up and down the country whose children are being massively let down. There are some gems within the system but the system itself is broken.It needs a massive overhaul and better investment. Then perhaps we wouldn’t see so many needing adult services.

Transition to adult services with better 18-25 provision is urgently needed. It’s shocking in our area.

Money and more staff.

Finally and most importantly we need a government that gives a shit. The Tories don’t.

@Whichwhatnow Who made those diagnoses? Would it be possible to be referred back to that team (I imagine the CMHT)? Have you had DBT/emotional coping skills support? It sounds like you could do with that input or at least a “top up” (as well as support for your current situation too). The concern is that, in many areas, IAPT (local CBT/counselling) won’t accept referrals with a BPD diagnosis but your GP/IAPT should be aware of this and refer you back to the CMHT.

It's always been crap.,it was still crap.under Labour ,I w was redeployed twice in 12 months due to cuts in 2005 in the mental.health trust I worked for
perhaps ,if the trust's didn't do ridiculous things like refurbishing a ward at the cost of £1000,000 only to close it down less than a year later they would have more money ,this happened several times in the trust I was employed in.

I understand. My point was not that it is perfect. It isn't and in many cases it is totally unfit for purpose. I have a DC who was ideating suicide who was seen by CAHMS once, and after a long wait, and then discharged. His diagnosis of ASD took more than two, very difficult, years. I get it.

However I also see a lot of people on Mumsnet who have 'mental health' who are bemoaning the state of the service. For many of these it is likely that a bit more self care would improve the situation but there is an assumption that therapy should be available on demand for everything. The NHS can't deal with this and shouldn't be expected to. We humans have a duty to take a bit more control where it is relevant.

Not my personal experience or that backed up by the stats.. but Tory supporters will always say "oh worse under Labour" just to defend their appalling record.

I guess next you'll be telling us under Labour there were 8m people on waiting lists? or denying that the Tories doubled the waiting list between 2010 and 2020?

https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/resource/chart-of-the-week-how-has-the-waiting-list-changed-over-the-years

Did you work in mental.health under Labour ?
Because I did and it was crap then too in fact it was under the Labour government that the cuts in the mental health trust I worked in at least started ,there is a lot wrong with mental health services,but it's always been known as the Cinderella service of the NHS.