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?

Well it was my experience 🙄

The country is practically bankrupt.

My experience of mental health services under Labour was so much better to what my children under the Tories are experiencing.

I had PND. Under Labour within days of it being picked up at under post natal services I had a health visitor visiting regularly and very swiftly had access to a support group( with a crèche), individual therapy and medication alongside a referrral for a volunteer who used to drop in and also accompany me to the local children’s centre.

But not backed up by the facts, there will always be shite people who then deliver poor services, that happens under all Govts, they cannot change human nature.
But generally speaking, nhs services were better.

Because its chronically under funded by the government. I worked on a psych ward for a decade and I was completely burnt out at the end. Lots of staff going on long term sick because of budget cuts, lack of staff and lack of staff support. Crisis management is a very stressful role and in my opinion, there are limits to how long staff can work in such an area due to their own mental health limits. I dont think I could go back to it even if I wanted to for the above reasons. It really took a toll on me.

Funding.

If you're lucky enough to speak to a crisis team that don't think your problems can be solved by having a hot bath, then there won't be any beds for you anyway.

If you get a bed, you'll be turfed out in days as some research once said that it can increase risky behaviour by staying in long term, so they can get away with kicking you out without doing any therapy.

If you're super lucky and get referred to the community team, you'll see someone fortnightly, who has a caseload of about 50 people, that they are forced to discharge in certain timeframes or the trust doesn't get paid.

Add to that staff burnout and attitudes...

(Ex RMN)

I'm a lifelong Labour Party member so not sure this is my fault!

I dont think there is any good country to be mentally unwell.

Noone seems to have cracked how to treat it properly.

I wish other people weren't quite so ignorant/dismissive of other's problems. Like I say, I can pay for therapy but what about those who can't?

Anyway the paramedics came round yesterday to assess me as I was trying to commit suicide - I will be honest, I was hoping to be sectioned. But no, there's no support. At least my husband has gone to his dad's for a couple of days so I have some breathing space

We need life to be better. Life is too difficult for too many people.

This. Quality of life is decreasing for many. Our environments make us sick.

I also read that as more people have become mentally unwell, the funding has been stretched more thinly. So those with very serious mental illness are also getting less support.

Mental health care is even more woeful for teens & children. Camhs are not worth bothering with. In fact they're more about covering their backs rather than providing any useful help. Basically going private is the only option. But in many areas even the private option is now overwhelmed.

Came here to say this. The expectations placed on mental health services are part of the reason they are massively over subscribed.
I am sorry to hear of your losses OP, however grief isn't a mental illness which requires treatment. We have become a society that are unable to deal with intense emotions and want quick fixes, sadly these just don't exist.
SOBS are a great organisation that support individuals bereaved by suicide.

I have BPD, C-PSTD, OCD plus stage 4 cirrhosis with symptoms including hepatic encephalopathy. I've been sectioned three times for suicide attempts. This is far from just 'grief'.

C-PTSD obviously

Are all the anti Tories here volunteering to pay more tax themselves, or is it just "rich people"?

Can't talk for anyone else but I earn a bit over 100k. I don't think there's an option to pay more tax? I've always been entirely happy to pay the tax I do and also support several local charities involved with homelessness, DV support and a local food bank

I agree it's shit. I think so much needs to come before people reach crisis.

I have a relative with chronic depression (several attempts to take their own life). A few years ago the service seemed to be working quite well - there was a Crisis team they could call if needed and I think they were permanently on the list of the service.

Of course, that was all disbanded and reorganised and now whenever they have a crisis they have to contact a central hub and there seems to be a constant drive to get them ‘signed off’ the service. Whereas really they would benefit from ongoing preventative monitoring. Not to mention the farcical business of having to beg their GP for an appointment in order to get their psychiatric medication (consultant does not prescribe it) - just what a person with depression is so confident and able to do…🤔

It’s pretty poor.

Being sectioned is not the answer here - you are still living with your abusive husband. Using an scute MH bed so you can have a break from your abusive husband is not what they are there for. You were offered a place in a refuge and you refused it. What is it you want sévices to actually do for you?

The emotions you are experiencing are trying to tell you that you are in a shit situation and need to do something about it. That’s literally what emotions are for. It’s up to you if you decide to listen to them and make a change or not. Until you are no longer in an abusive environment your MH is not going to change for the better. And there won’t be anything anyone else can do for you until you are willing to make that change.

Often the changes we wish to see in our lives have to come from within us. No one else can do it for you.

I say this as someone with BPD.

It’s not adequately funded. The irony is that we churn out thousands of psychology graduates a year, many of whom would love to work as professional clinical or educational psychologists but there are so few places available on the professional training routes that the competition is brutal.

@Cantonet teenagers that meet the criteria for CAMHS support often do not meet the adult criteria for support when becoming an adult.

@Whichwhatnow I hope this doesn't come across as patronising as it certainly isn't intended that way. But I am really admiring of you. To have all of those conditions and to be in a role that must be challenging to be commanding that pay is pretty impressive. That isn't to say that I don't believe people with these conditions can't achieve (of course they can). But I have just one of those conditions and know how much harder life is to cope with it. You must have so much grit.

Sending you a lot of compassion for what you are going through right now

Yep! I know of at least three of my peers who tried to get on clinical psychology training and competition was so ridiculous and spaces so limited that in the end they gave up and started working in other areas. They would have made amazing psychologists too.