Fobbed off by GP.

[shumway]

Expecting nobody to answer this thread. Feeling so low. Went to see the duty doctor today as was running out of sertraline which I take for anxiety and due a six month review. Took a deep breath and admitted the problems I've been having at work and with binge eating. Started blubbing because felt ashamed. Wanted to talk about how lonely I am and that I'm having trouble sleeping and compulsive shopping and self-harming but she didn't really give me a chance. She said I should self-refer to the psychological wellbeing service for CBT. I said I already did that last year and it didn't help much and I'm feeling worse than ever. She said here's your prescription, see the doctor you usually see in a month's time. Usual doctor has never been much help and just asks after my mum and sister who also see her and says that as I work full-time I am too high-functioning for help.

That doctor really doesn't sound great, but her advice to see your regular GP is good, I think. Especially for mental health conditions, it can be helpful to keep seeing the same person.

WRT treatment, unfortunately there's not much they can do beyond IAPT (which I think it's what the well-being service you're referring to is) and medication. There's secondary mental health services, but they really only treat people with problems that are likely to cause severe harm to the patient or other people in the immediate- to short-term, e.g. psychosis or social behaviour. It's shit.

It's awful feeling fobbed off though. Could you make an appointment with your regular GP and ask about adjusting it changing your meds? Also, it might be worth giving IAPT another chance. Not every patient clicks with every therapist, and it could be that if you pick a particular problem to work on, a different one to last time, it might make some noticeable improvement to your life.

All the best

Thanks for replying to me. Yes I will go back to my regular GP and give IAPT another go.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to suggest anything more helpful It's awful to realise that there really isn't anything "more" out there to help us, and it really doesn't help when the GP doesn't seem to take you seriously at all when you tell them that it's not working.

Good luck with the IAPT - you might find you get someone who can really help with your problems - might it be worth looking at the protege you're having and having a think beforehand about which ones might make the most difference if you were to work on those first, e.g. focusing on compulsive behaviours?

Protege? Problems

I didn't want to read & run, could it be that the setraline just isn't working for you? Could you suggest you try something different? Also when I was depressed and felt very low one of the things my counsellor got me to do (eventually) was to find something that relaxed me, something which took my mind to a different place, mine turned out to be playing 2 games on my tablet - Hay Day & Township - I still play them now - they engross me, when I play them the world seems to switch off around me. I do also enjoy doing the adult colouring but it doesn't relax me as much. Good luck - I hope you get the right answers soon

Hi, sorry you had a bad experience. My GP is a bit rubbish with MH too. I think there are different tiers of iapt, so letting them know what you have tried and not found helpful may help them direct you to something more helpful.

that is just so rubbish. I think it when I opened up about how much I didn't want to carry on living because I just wasn't improving that I finally got some help...

There is so little help on the NHS it's just woefully underfunded. Can you afford to see anyone privately? Look for local charities that co-ordinate therapists etc.