Private psychiatrist

[LeslieKnopefan]

Has anyone gone down this route?

I’m on maximum citalopram, had councelling and cbt but over the past few months I have got a lot worse.

my GP is great and said he wanted me to see a psychiatrist now. I asked for a private referral as I am lucky to have the means to pay and thought it might be quicker but the GP said that the turnaround was fast and that he wanted me to have access to the crisis team if I needed it.

So I saw a mental health nurse and he then had a meeting with others to discuss my case and he came back and said they felt at the moment they wanted to just wait and see how I felt in a few weeks and booked me in to see him in mid March.

I also had a reason to call the crisis team. I hadn’t been able to sleep all night and had become very very anxious. I took more Valium than I am prescribed to take and my brain was rushing at 1000% miles an hour.

So I called them and to be honest as I wasn’t suicidal there was very little they could do and to be honest the person I spoke to wasn’t that nice and kept suggesting to try and get some sleep!!! Wow why hadn’t I thought of that.

So am back off to see GP to be referred privately and wondered if anyone else had gone down that road?

A psychiatrist will check your medication and it sounds like you need something else if you’re getting worse.

He will also assess you properly and hopefully recommend a type of therapy that’s helpful.

If you have the means to pay for private therapy I’d do it.

Good luck!

I did with my daughter when she was 15 and was the best thing I did, I was certain that my daughter had bipolar and CAHMS had prescribed her fluoxetine which set off rapid cycling. The private psychiatrist sorted out her meds and gave her a diagnosis which helped a lot. If you can afford it then I'd do it.