Has anyone paid for a psychiatric/ psychologist privately for their teen because you know Camhs won’t help with severe anxiety?

[ihatethecold]

My DD’s anxiety is getting progressively worse.
She is struggling at school and this has been going on for well over a year.
She starts her GCSE’s next school year but she is so stressed that she isn’t concentrating at school.
The Gp has diagnosed stress and anxiety and she has quite severe physical as well s mental symptoms.
We have been waiting months for her to have her assessment with Camhs.
I know they won’t help her because she isn’t suicidal/ self harming. If they do help her the waiting list is fine 18 months for Cbt.
An assessment will be expensive but I feel we need to do something because we are just living week to week and without proper help I can’t see how she will improve.

Maybe i should put this in mental health

If you can afford it then I would look into it. Mental health services are very underfunded these days, waiting lists are long and many people say they don't get the help they need from camhs. With anxiety (depending on the cause and so on) it may be that a shortish course of therapy teaching her how to cope better will be so helpful to her and the sooner she can start the better.

Thanks. She has had weekly counselling privately since July.
We know she has anxiety so it’s not about getting a diagnosis although it may help with School.
Her School are very good and try to support her but it’s just not improving and I can’t see how it will improve if we just keep on this road.

I haven’t, but I definitely would if necessary. Whereabouts do you live OP? I’ve heard good things about the Tavistock in north London.

Near Cambridge

Of course! Just get on with it. I'd take a second job if I couldn't afford it.

We can afford it so money isn’t the issue.

I would be interested to know other people’s view if they went down this road or if there is a forum I could join to find other parents in this situation and what they did.

We were in exactly the same position in Year 10. We went to the GP who asked us if we could afford private counselling, they recommended someone who was ex-Camhs (retired) who did the assessment and counselling. When things got worse, the counsellor was able to refer to Camhs directly, so we then had access to a psychiatrist and medication.....

So the right private psychologist, alongside a GP should be able to do an assessment.

I don't think we have ever had a formal assessment, but we have a diagnosis iykwim.

What I mean by 'not having an assessment' is that we don't have a formal letter or report that we could show anyone. Not sure why/if that's necessary....
Camhs were involved in exam condition letter with school though

How is your teen now Beachy?
Are they receiving any treatment or medication?

We did. We tried CAMHS a few years ago, as she was not self harming we only got 2 sessions so it was a total waste of time.
When the anxiety got really bad again we paid privately to see a clinical psychologist. She enjoyed going but in the end I wouldn't say it helped her anxiety at all as they only really did CBT which just didn't work on her.
Everywhere where I live just seems to only offer CBT and think it's fantastic and works on everyone, unfortunately as it doesn't work for my dd I now have to look into something else.

Is your dd on meds? Only I've lost half my body weight through anxiety and recently went on sertraline I feel like a new person after 3 weeks.

She isn’t on meds. The gp won’t prescribe. She has to be seen by camhs first.

We took Ds, Year 10, to a Psychiatrist for anxiety - he wasn't severe so i knew the NHS wouldn't be interested but I did not wish to leave it till his anxiety was limiting his life and it was starting to, I'm very much of the opinion that these things need to be nipped in the bud.
Psychiatrist offered him drugs and/or CBT. He chose drugs - he felt CBT would be too time consuming and interfere with his school work. She prescribed a very low dose of the drug and to be honest his anxiety lifted pretty quickly - through placebo effect, I think but that's all good as far as I'm concerned. Have you a name of a psychiatrist you'd like to use? I had a few names given to me for the Cambridge area - they weren't recognised by our private healthcare but they were recommended by another Consultant.

Ds is on sertraline too!

A low dose of propanolol can be helpful in managing the physical symptoms of anxiety, my GP prescribed it for DS before he was seen at CAMHS. Last year I was in the same situation as you and desperate for some help with DS who has been anxious for years and it got much worse when he started high school.
I paid privately for a psychologist who was recommended to me but for various reasons I didn't think it was worth the £100 a session. I am lucky as DS is now being seen by a psychologist at CAMHS who is excellent, I think what swung it for us was that it had become chronic for him and that is why we were eventually seen, I had to cry and beg for some help for us which is awful really to have to do that but it did get us in the system.

Sorry not to get back earlier. 16 now and on Fluroxetine. Tried Setraline but it really didn't agree with him, so Fluroxetine seems to have some effect (although it's hard to tell)

Thanks everyone for your responses.
Did you child get the medication from the psychiatrist or their GP?
My dd was given beta blockers but the dose is so low (10mg) it doesn’t help at all.

Can I please have the consultants names you were recommended Midnight?

Pm'd you ihatethecold

I've pm'd you too with a couple of recommendations.

Thank you.

I believe anti depressants for children can only be initially prescribed by a psychiatrist or Camhs, not the GP. I may be wrong, but there are strict controls on which drugs and who prescribes, for good reason....

It was ds's psychiatrist who prescribed meds for him.