To book mum private psychiatry appointment

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My mother (62) is in the middle of another panic attack/meltdown. She's suffered from depression and anxiety for 40+ years. She's anxious about trying anything that can help eg.

• she's anxious about taking medication/antidepressants, so she won't take any
• she's anxious about socialising, so she sits at home alone all day, she has no friends, just my dad
• she's anxious about exercising because it's uncomfortable and she's afraid she'll have a heart attack because she's overweight
• she's anxious about going anywhere and only goes to 2 supermarkets, the post office, pharmacy or doctors surgery (she's a hypochondriac). She used to drive but she's too scared now.

Ultimately she's terrified of dying, and she's completely fixated on it. It's got worse since she hit 60 and her mother died. But sitting at home thinking about it 24/7 obviously isn't helping. She's been to CBT many times over the years but it doesn't help.

Aibu for booking her in for a private psychiatric assessment? She will be willing to go, the wait on the NHS in her area is about a year. Is that a route that would be helpful or does she need something else? I'm not really sure what to do. She's not living at the moment and I'm terrified about her future, especially if anything happens to my dad.

I would do it definitely asap as it sounds like its realtor disabling her life . I would also look at therapy options asap . If anyone in my family has needed this type of support we've always paid initially ( rainy day ) and had superb support and time

She very clearly needs help. You'd be doing the right thing.

@cleo333 Thank you. Can I ask what the process was in your case? Do I just book an appointment with a consultant, and I guess they'll do an assessment? Or multiple assessments? And then advise on treatment options?

Do you have the money to spare? My worry is that psychiatry will probably offer medication and recommend therapy so options she's already had offered.

I’m a mental health professional. You can self refer for a psychiatrist assessment. They will probably offer anti anxiety medication as well as CBT / Talking therapy. She needs to be willing to try the meds….if she can do to stabilise mood/anxiety then it’s easier to work on the issues from a behavioural perspective.

Psychiatrist will be almost solely focused on medication. From what you have described, a good therapist she could talk through her worries with would be much more appropriate.

BACP

But will she actually engage with any effective treatment? What are you hoping for from the appointment?

I'm another mental health professional, and agree with others who have said that psychiatrists are likely to focus primarily on medication. Although this may help somewhat, anxiety disorders typically respond better to talking therapies such as CBT which will address her underlying fears. Most localities now have NHS funded Talking Therapies services, which offer brief courses of therapy and usually don't have hugely long waiting lists, so I would look into this first.