We think my son has adhd/asd (traits of both), been through hell his whole life. Went though cahms age 7 at request of the school for an adhs referral. Cahms only gave 6 weeks of counselling with younger minds and discharged us.
We continued to plod on with great difficulty. He's 15 now and along side his difficulty to concentrate/focus etc he also now has sever anxiety, health anxiety, ocd.
We went to the GP 18 months ago to refer back in to cahms , finally saw them yesterday initial assessment appointment (2nd one he's had)
We were in there for 2 hours , gave huge amount of detail. They were very nice , nodded at the right place , were sympathetic and said he ticks all the boxes and definitely needs help.
Then tell me that other than counselling again that we don't want they won't offer anything else. Can put on adhd pathway which takes years to see anyone and nothing in the meantime. He desperately needs to see a psychiatrist and be put on medications.
I said to them anyone over the age of 18 can go to their GP, tell them they are anxious and be prescribed something there and then. They will also be referred to a mental health team to be assessed by a psychiatrist if needed. Why can my son not receive anything when he suffers from extremely debilitating physical symptoms from the anxiety. Every day he gets worse and there will be untold damage by the time he gets to 18.
It is so frustrating .