How helpful have you found mental health professionals, really? in helping you

[JesuslovesmethisIknow]

That's it essentially.

Curious to know what difference, good or bad services have made to your mental health journey. I know for me, meds helped but is the rest of the service too stretched.....

this is not an attempt to be critical, a genuine pondering I am having before I am misconstrued

Psychiatrist once told me a good holiday should sort me out. OCD, chronic panic attacks and depression, oh yes, sun sea and sand will sort it right out.

Oh dear!!!!

Mine once told me I was a nice girl and to TRY to be happy.

I was TRYING.

Saw a psychiatrist and psychologist but not sure how helpful they really well. For me it was the meds that did it.

My psychiatrist is brilliant, I also have a v clued up and understanding GP and a weekly psychotherapist. However only the GP is NHS - I am extremely fortunate that my insurance pays for the others. It's not fair and it shouldn't be like this..

yeah meds kicked started me again too.

Oh yes, I wouldn't be able to get any of the benefits of the therapy without the meds to help me be rational!!!!!!!

One of my psychiatrists told me to put on a pretty dress and go dancing. I was suicidal at the time. Another one quite literally could not speak English. The other just looked through a medical diary for twenty minutes without speaking to me, then left the office saying he'd be back in a minute and didn't return (after half an hour I showed myself out.)

After three months as an inpatient after a nervous breakdown in my twenties a consultant, who had never even met me before, said that she had no idea why my GP had suggested I be admitted in the first place (well gee I dunno, you mean I've been here for three months being pumped full of drugs for no reason?)

You might say that the NHS mental health service failed to live up to my expectations, yes. I'd go even further and say they were all beyond useless and right out the other side, to the point that at times I felt I was living in a black comedy.

Fortunately I have had two superb GPs to counterbalance those experiences.

Ten years later I worked out all by my own sweet self that I was autistic, hence my thirty-odd years of stress and misery and exhaustion were not "all in my head", and were of course not likely to be improved by a posh frock and a quick boogie down the local disco.

Suddenly, people of the medical variety are taking me VERY seriously.

I often wonder how many other people are like me, but just don't put two and two together.

I think it's an awful lot.

oh my

I had to beg my doctor for counselling/therapy because the first thing she said was "I'll just write you out a prescription" When I was referred I had to visit the CMHS prior to being given an appointment with my CBT therapist. Well, if I wasn't determined to better myself I wouldn't have even returned. I was in a room with 2 women, who they was I couldn't tell you but I was asked for my history, how I ended up where I was etc... These eeeeejats interrupted me at every possibility, began talking between themselves about MY issues infront of me, swapped their own personal stories between themselves, and laughed off some of my genuine issues - e.g my anxiety: "oh but that's not really a problem though is it?" I'm sorry, I forgot not being able to drive without fighting the urge to plow into a central res, lamp post and/or a brick wall wasn't a genuine problem, maybe if I start hacking at myself so you see physical damage it'll be worthy of your services. My CBT therapist was absolutely brilliant, everyone up until that point was absolutely awful.

I've been fortunate to have 80% amazing MH professionals, but I think I'm fortunate to be somewhere that MH services are not so stretched. I was ill over the summer when it seems the system was under more pressure than usual and I really noticed the impact. People who had been amazing before we're useless. I think unless you've been thereit's hard to estimate how much lack of funding can turn a devoted professional into someone who appears to not give a shit.

Right now I have a great consultant pdoc who actually listens to me. I have a CPN who is lovely, straight to the point, and very professional and on the ball. She arranged a visit to the local psych ward for me to look around as I am so anti-hospital it's become dangerous in the past. She hoped seeing it when I'm well would help. I must confess it seemed to have really improved since I was last there. Even the crsis team are generally helpful.

I think all this shows the difference between a service with no money and one with less pressure.

I don't think I've had dismissive MH professionals as some have here, I've been fortunate in accessing NHS treatments which seem to be quite difficult to get (regular psych appointments, twice-weekly psychotherapy for two years, various other kinds of talking therapies, OT support, care co-ordinator, formal diagnosis of ASD as an adult). NHS services are very stretched in my area (inner London) but I've had some very severe episodes in the past and I'm also very persistent in chasing up referrals, so I've managed to get services which other people tell me they've found impossible to access.

Unfortunately I have found that as they deal with very severe and desperate cases, they can be quite patronising and tend to have low expectations of patients. They've been very surprised when I've questioned procedures or information-sharing policies. They also tend to stereotype patients and I've had lots of assumptions about my behaviours based on my socio-economic status which have now been shown to be directly related to my ASD. The bottom line for me is that I don't always share information fully with the CMHT as it simply gets misinterpreted. On the flipside, all the negative written reports are handy to support things like applications for DLA, council housing and my Freedom Pass. If it weren't for those, I doubt I'd continue attending appointments.

I've also come across the same low expectations of those with MH problems, but from a different perspective. I've lost count of the number of times I've been told I'm 'different' from most people with MH problems as I have a PhD and work full time as a lecturer. Someone at the crisis team told me they would work 'extra hard' to keep me out of hospital as 'people like you don't belong there' and I would be 'eaten alive by the other patients.' I was offended, both on account of the judgement of who is a 'typical' MH patient, but also that I was incapable of getting on with people from other backgrounds. (For the record, I'm a bog standard, working class, northern girl.)

I ended up in hospital, anyway, and got on perfectly well with others.

Well meaning, patient, mainly very nice. But not helpful, really.

I have a fantastic psychiatrist who has really been understanding, supportive and brilliant at trying out unusual combinations of meds for my medication resistant depression.

The first psychologist I saw turned my life around, I can never thank that man enough for what he did for me. However, and this is important, I WANTED to work on my issues and was willing to go through deeply uncomfortable times in his office. The second and third psychologists I've seen has also been helpful, although not as much as the first one.

My GP is brilliant, psychiatrist (private) is good with meds but a really pompous ass, psychotherapist (psychodynamic, private) is brilliant.

My first therapist (private) was totally crap - don't think just because someone is private they are better than NHS.

Really though, your choices (or lack there of) sadly all comes down to funding - a lack of it on the NHS, or getting your cheque book out to get seen by someone.

My GP gave me drugs, to which I had a horrific reaction. He refused to believe it was the meds causing it but changed them to a different one.
I had a similar awful 8 weeks on them before ending up in hospital, and had to be prescribed something else to negate the side effects of the first one.....

My psychiatrist was very good. Therapists fantastic, but it was all privately paid for.

I'm not in the UK now but I see the best psychiatrist that really cares about his patients. I have a really good Dr too. In the UK I was just put on the same dose of Sertraline for 12 years. I never felt well & suffered with severe PND 3 times as well as ongoing depression & anorexia. I am currently stable on a combination of meds & my anorexia is under control. I also see a psychologist funded by an eating disorders foundation.

I've been under psych services for 14 years and whilst I've had one excellent psychiatrist and one very good one I have also seen many appalling mental health workers.

My first psychiatrist told me there was nothing he could do for me, despite the fact that I'd recently been an inpatient following a suicide attempt.

This summer I phoned the duty worker as I was absolutely desperate to be told there was nothing they could do and to go to A&E. I have bipolar and been under the CMHT for years yet they didn't want to know.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. 18 months ago I put in a formal complaint through PALS and it sat on someone's desk for months and was only dealt with when I chased it up.

Oh and this summer my then psychiatrist who I phoned asking for meds advice shouted at me on the phone and said he wasn't a miracle worker who could solve all my problems. I don't have any problems, I have bipolar. He's no longer my psychiatrist.

And then there's all the times I've waiting in for my CPN who didn't turn up, or ring to cancel the appointments.

I could go on.

crumbs. learning a lot here. SOME good but a lot of shady treatment :(

I've been a mental health nurse for the last 5 years - I work in the community and have for most of this period. I think there are two main problems with NHS Mental Health services at the moment.

Firstly the kind of input people are going to receive is dependent on the background of your practitioner (e.g. some of us are mental health nurses, some are social workers, some are Occupational Therapists - we all have the same generic job title now - so you can't be sure you will get someone best suited for your needs). In the old days someone with, say depression, which is reactive to complex social situations may have been allocated a social worker or someone with a chemical depression may have been allocated a nurse with medication knowledge and experience. Unfortunately now you just get whoever might have a tiny amount of availability on their caseload. Not really matched according to need anymore.

Secondly and probably more importantly we have no resources. It's so heartbreaking as a practitioner to effectively hand over an 'empty plastic bag' of interventions to people and some soothing words. We can barely offer 1:1 therapy (tends to be group therapy which the majority of people hate), our medication management is done by proxy with the psychiatrist as he/she doesn't have time to actually offer reviews face to face and follow up is sporadic. I'm holding twice the caseload that I was this time last year due to catastrophic and devastating cuts to our service - I can't effectively manage this level of risk and as well as leading to a deterioration in my own mental health, more importantly, we can't offer our patients the help they need.

I love my job and I love the NHS but I have to say that I don't think mental health professionals can really offer people what they need. I wish I could say otherwise but that's the truth. Fundamentally it comes down to lack of staff and lack of resources. It's incredibly sad.