I've asked for a mental health diagnosis, I've been asking for years and always been fobbed off. I've had some really bad experiences with mental health nurses and doctors, including one male nurse who refused to answer the door to me at one appointment and told me he was hoping I wouldn't come?! I remember sitting on a bus stop outside the clinic and crying my eyes out.
I was referred to my secondary care last year but it has been so bad so far, the first nurse I saw was very hostile and abrupt and demanded to know why I was there. (A lovely kind woman from IAPT did my referral and said she would advocate for me) The nurse said she knew nothing about the referral and was nasty. They put me on a useless course where the nurse told me to try smiling when I was angry and every time I tried to talk in depth about anything, she would say 'that must have been difficult for you'.
Now have finally been referred for assessment but the nurse I saw was abrupt with me and rushed me through the first appointment in twenty minutes.
I struggle with face to face and can be slow to understand stuff. I told the nurse I was waiting for the results of the autism assessment and she asked me nothing about how it affects me. The clinic environment was really noisy and I had to get the bus there, which was slow and always makes me feel so tired and drained.
I was so upset after that appointment I went home and cried. The final straw was when I tried to ask for virtual appointment and spoke to same nurse on the phone. She knew I was feeling vulnerable and upset. I did not mention anything she had done, just said I couldn't cope with travelling there.
She rung me back an hour later, asking for another patient by name. I knew it was her straightaway, and thought she would acknowledge me, but she hung up on me without speaking.
This upset me so much that I rung the hospital and said I could never see that nurse again. Now I have to wait again to see someone else.
I'm worried they will just be the same, abrupt and rude and just not bothered.
Makes it worse because I saw a psychologist or psychiatrist, as part of my autism assessment, and she was so lovely and kind and took time to really listen.
I just can't bear rude and abrupt people, why am I like this.