What thing would help people's mental health

[PassingStranger]

Just wondered, when people say, they didn't get the help they need, or needed for their mental health.
What does this actually mean?

Does it mean, there's a lack of affordable professional help available.
People have to wait too long for help, there's no help???
I'm interested in this, what would help people?
What missing?
What do people need.
I've heard the expression didn't get the help they needed, so what is that?

Conversely, the thing I have found best for my mental health is being alone, allllll alone…after a day of non stop demands from
kids, decisions, always having to be proactively doing something because I have a phone in my hand and therefore never stop low level working or thinking, I recharge by being SILENT.

when I push myself to go out in the evening once kids are in bed I am burnt out the next day. I enjoy myself but I need isolation in order to feel complete downtime. This in turn leads to more positive mental health this next day.

maybe this isn’t normal though

Oh and no, no amount of "making changes" or engaging with limp useless halfarsed "support" people who ask "what help do you want" (code for: We don't actually have any help so we'll turn it around and make you play a guessing game as to what we actually offer) will ever fix it when I'm in the depths of psychosis, but still some MH "professionals" believe it's my fault for not doing their shitty breathing exercises or whatever instead of just one of those things where I just need to wait for the meds to work and be looked after and stopped from offing myself in the meantime and once it's sorted I'll be back to business as usual and fully functional. No apparently I didn't do enough breathing or "help myself". 🤣

I think a huge amount of it comes down to the lack of early intervention. Very like what @Serencwtch said above.

If people were able to get proper help when they first needed, their mental health wouldn't spiral while waiting, resulting them needed much more additional help when they finally get it.

At it's most simplistic level, if a broken arm was treated with waiting lists in the same manner as mental health, instead of getting a cast, operation & pins immediately, the patient would have to wait 12-18 months, the bones could knit back together badly, person could damage nerves and tendons etc and it's a much larger operation required with potential physio by the time they are eventually sense.

Same principle, those that want or need help aren't getting it quick enough so thry need far more help by the time they actually get it.

Totally agree with this. People WFH and not seeing anyone, not having the hustle and bustle of being out and about and making small talk - even those of us with decent mental health (luckily) see the benefit in social connection and being part of something, the greater good, a collective whole etc.

For me it would be consistent care from my MH team. I’ve been under them for 5 years. I’ve had 6 psychiatrists in the community and 5 in hospitals, all have given me different diagnoses. 5 care coordinators. A support worker who left after 5 months. 3 psychologists. I’ve tried multiple medications. Everybody I see has a different opinion and changes my care plan accordingly.
Ive had diagnoses of schizo affective disorder, psychosis, OCD, EUPD, autism, anxiety, depression…
Im just left utterly confused. It would also be helpful if my team actually gave a fuck too. I had a psychotic episode last week. Duty team told DH to take me straight to A and E or they would send an ambulance. Was seen by MH practitioner in hospital. Medication changed and told I needed a follow up the next day with my team and an emergency psych appointment. Nobody from my team has contacted me since I went to hospital.

I agree that lack of resources is a huge issue.
i also imagine that the burnout rate of people working in these fields is fairly high -I don’t know this, I’m guessing-because surely it must be very stressful.

Plus, of course, the amount of training. A psychiatrist trains for about 12 years, I believe -medical degree then specializing in psychiatry. No wonder few people get to see one.

I was very lucky in that within a week of my massive breakdown I'd seen a psychiatrist, had a cpn and was being offered a variety of support.

Since then I've had 2 years of therapy (on the NHS) but I'm still traumatised, still struggling. I can't take SSRIs and my GP just wants to refer back to psychiatry if I ask to try anything but I don't particularly want to go back.

I don't have a proper job and right now I feel like I never will because putting myself back out there terrifies me. I've struggled with perfectionism every since childhood thanks to my less than stellar parents and I don't know how to break that particular cycle. My CV looks good, I've gained another degree since my breakdown, I volunteer a lot so have great and relevant references...I'm just stuck in my own stupid head and I don't know how to fix it.

Cash to do what though? As op said, what’s lacking?

what would a cash injection pay for?

@ninjahamster It sounds as if you’ve been significantly impacted by the professional burnout that I was describing, I think people find it very difficult to work in this field longterm. 💐

Often when I ask people what they want/need/expect, they really don't know. They just want "help". They are also unrealistic about what "help" will achieve.

Surely you recognise that as part of their overall mental health though? Feeling stuck, not knowing what will help you feel better while also desperately hoping something will make you feel better is very symptomatic of mental illness of all kinds.

Only in mental health is the patient expected to know what kind of treatment they need. We don’t ask someone with a broken leg how they want it fixed.

My expectation is that a suitably qualified therapist/psychologist/psychiatrist has a “tool kit” of knowledge in a range of approaches that can draw on to support treatment. Not a check list of mindfulness, breathing exercises and fresh air - I mean understanding different therapies, knowing the theory behind why it works and drawing on a range of approaches.

Too many therapists have done a relatively short, shallow qualification and just don’t have the breadth of knowledge they need.

Fewer screens
More human interaction
Outside more in nature
Real food

More services that offer counselling and crisis teams who are actually available 24/7. More hospitals for those who are in need of being sectioned because they're a danger to themes/others.

My mental health difficulties were due to the constant battles for support for my severely disabled son and by the deliberately aggressive manner of some professionals.

We need more social housing so that people aren't having to move every 6 months. A stable home means you can put down roots and build a social network. MH support is also a postcode lottery and it should be universal.
People should be able to support themselves when they fall ill, instead of being immediately plunged into poverty, thanks Labour for the disability benefit cuts, talk about going backwards

More mental health in patient beds for a start. Psychotherapy on the NHS for severe and long lasting conditions, where there is evidence that it helps.

But the cynic in me thinks that policy makers view this mostly from an economic standpoint - it is cheaper to leave suicidal people to die than give them an expensive bed and then a recovery programme, which ultimately, may not see them back to work etc.

There is not enough MH support on the NHS. Lack of staff for starters. Lack of beds too. Too much in the way of online 6 week CBT that does not work for a lot of people. It is just a sticking plaster... a way to look like something is being done.
Money being put in will mean more beds and more staff. More people will be seen, more people will get the support they need.

Early interventions in schools. Better coping strategies more resiliance

Also, the NHS is totally focussed on offering EVERYBODY with mental health issues CBT. And calling it, misleadingly, "Talking Therapy."

The people who designed CBT never made the claim that this approach is suitable for everybody. And it is actually contra-indicated if the patient has experienced significant childhood trauma. (Which so many people have.)

Yet, if someone is depressed and/or anxious for any length of time, this is what is offered. And there's nothing else.

I've lost track of the number of times I have pointed out to a GP or nurse that CBT is not suitable for everybody. They really don't seem to know this. I've got used to vaguely sympathetic shrugs.

But yes, for those for whom it is suitable, I suspect 6 sessions isn't usually enough.

CBT has appealed to successive govts because it is cheap to deliver. Of course it is cheap, they only offer 6 sessions, and often the person "delivering" the therapy is someone not even trained in how to deliver CBT appropriately! It's actually a false economy, because many people who are offered the 6 sessions improve in the short term and then relapse.

More support for staff who are working in vastly unfunded services no beds and who are burnt out

Mother's of children with additional needs are often in permanent fight or flight/ PTSD sufferers literally in their physiology.

I'm sure there are people like you describe.

But you seem to have a low view of patients in general.

I have experienced severe depression and chronic anxiety since I was a child. And I don't give a s* about Instagram.
Being told "The NHS is under tremendous pressure" when oine is suicidal is. . . .not helpful.

Maybe look at people with good mental health and ask why.

Thought of another thing. When Ive been sectioned which has happened several times, you see a psychiatrist once a week about meds and there is no therapy. It’s just really a holding pen. There should be much more help when in there.

Agree with this

Some mental health illness requires access to specialist services, medication, hospital
such as schizophrenia, psychosis, Anorexia etc
some MH illness requires specialist therapies such as DBT for personality disorders
Psychodynamic for interpersonal / attachment / adjustment disorders
CBT for mood / anxiety disorders

some people require the basic needs to be addressed as opposed to psychotherapy ;
sleep, diet, exercise, emotion regulation skills

some need grief support

some need social support : housing / financial advise /

some need social connections / a social life / friendships

mental health is a vast ocean and it makes sense to ask the person

what are u struggling with ?

what do you need ??

for those who say I had no support, there is limited resources, but it helps to access the right something if you know what your problem / ask is

and the power of self efficacy-
addressing our own
sleep, diet, activities, exercise.
practising breathing properly when we are in overwhelm,
using emotion regulation skills
Problem solving life stressors
making changes where we can

there is sometimes a disconnect between people’s expectations of wanting to feel better but not doing the things that would facilitate feeling better,

extreme example : drink fizzy drinks / watch screens all day / eat rubbish, don’t exercise / don’t get into nature etc yet expect to be fixed …

people are frustrated with CBT -
but
it’s active, recovery focused and self-
directed or collaborative with a therapist

I’m not talking about serious mental health like schizophrenia,

but many mental health problems can be eased by taking responsibility / action