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Original poster

Losing It: Our Mental Health Emergency

66 replies

purpleme12 · 21/01/2020 22:27

Anyone watching?
Shocking the stories so far
This girl started saying she doesn't want to go on at 6 years old! How can someone so young think like that?

OP posts:

Strugglingmum73 · 21/01/2020 22:32

What channel is this on? I think we have a huge childhood mental health crisis in this country that isn’t being addressed at all.

Original poster

purpleme12 · 21/01/2020 22:35

Channel 4. Quite hard to watch in some places

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Original poster

purpleme12 · 21/01/2020 22:36

She's convinced this is reality

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Original poster

purpleme12 · 21/01/2020 22:57

I know she got a diagnosis but I'm not sure why she got help at school after the diagnosis and was more settled then at school. I mean that her symptoms were the same before and after her diagnosis so why wasn't all those support things put in place anyway at school?

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SweetPeaPods · 21/01/2020 23:00

What an emotional programme to watch. I felt that young girls mum handled everything amazingly. I really wanted to just give the mum a hug.
Purple unfortunately to get any support in schools requires funding and this won’t be given without a diagnosis or label.

Idontkowmyname · 21/01/2020 23:33

My heart goes out to the mum with post partum psychosis. She will carry that overwhelming guilt for the rest of her life. I’m watching on C4 +1 so only part way through the programme

SweetPeaPods · 22/01/2020 07:55

I know it wasn’t the aim of the episode but it’s a shame that it didn’t highlight the lack of funding we have for mental health- the lack of beds, the hours to wait for the crisis team etc. It just made out that they both went to a&e and treatment started.

Original poster

purpleme12 · 22/01/2020 08:57

Mmm I took away from it that the mental help provision wasn't there for the little girl before now and that's why she got so bad. And if she's had intervention before now she'd be a lot better. But I agree it wasn't really explored

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madamy · 22/01/2020 10:28

I hope there will be an emphasis on lack of adult beds in another episode as they've definitely filmed around this issue. A close relative was involved as a staff member.

LolaLollypop · 22/01/2020 13:29

I watched this last night. Very hard hitting but what a great program to highlight the issues people go through.

I actually said right at the start "I bet that little girl has autism". You could almost tell there was more to it than anxiety. The way she coped with stressful situations etc.

The poor mum suffering with post-partum psychosis. How scary for everyone involved. You really just do not know what is round the corner for your mental health. It must have ruined what should have been the most special time in their lives. Hopefully she can move on and start enjoying being a mummy.

bibliomania · 22/01/2020 15:54

I thought it did a good job in showing the impact on family members too. You could see how terrifyingly powerless they felt.

CAHMS came out of it well - I feel a bit torn, in that there clearly are some good, dedicated people working there, but I know not everyone has had such a positive experience.

Flonoat · 23/01/2020 22:40

My son was holding knives to his head at the age of 7, wanting to die. My son now is 20 nearly 21, nothing has changed. I can honestly say there is no help for mental health for children, young adults, ive had to fight tooth n nail to get a diognois through camhs, which took over 4 years. Even now I fighting to get some form of help, but finding a therapist who deals with just people on the autisic spectrum is near impossible, he also suffers with severe anxiety, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and depression. Weve even been to see a Crisis team in the mental health and came home with 2 leaflets with websites on. For my son to go to these places to see drs or nurses is a huge deal, as hes now at a stage hes lost all trust in the medical team. You get to the stage that I'm so mentally exhausted and its making me I'll now, unfortunately I'm not with my sons dad, and hes finally realising after 14 years that their is something wrong with his son, instead of giving me hell for those years saying I was making it up..I just wished there is something out there for people like my son, or young adults not just with mental health but autism n mental health. To watch your child self harm and want to die as he cant take much more of life, is the worst feeling ever, to watch him sob so hard it breaks my heart, but no one sees.

Original poster

purpleme12 · 23/01/2020 23:00

Oh my god that's shocking at 7

I can only imagine how hard and exhausting it is for you

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Flonoat · 24/01/2020 02:47

Totally exhausting, but I've got no choice to keep fighting for my son as hes unable to, I suppose any mother would do it for their child. But it's sad we have to say that we have to fight for mental health esp people who struggle with everyday life. It's a huge worry..

bibliomania · 24/01/2020 09:08

That's devastating, Flonoat.

TheChosenTwo · 24/01/2020 21:31

I’ve seen this advertised but don’t want to watch it. My daughter has struggled with her mental health a lot over the last 12 months and we have had such little support. It’s been very tough. Have got it recorded but think I need to be in a stronger place myself mentally to watch it. In fact, I’m not sure I actually will - just reading this thread about very young children feeling in utter despair makes me despair

busyweeks78 · 25/01/2020 16:51

Very sad program glad both the people in the program got the right help and hopefully things are better for them now.

notaflyingmonkey · 28/01/2020 05:20

I'm part way through watching it, and am in similar situation to Flo with my DS now 18. Despite having a diagnosis of ASD at age four, the support he got through school etc lessened as he got older, and he was expected to cope more. I don't think anyone thought Autism was something you grow out of, I think it was about cuts to any of the provisions that are supposed to help, and an emphasis by the schools on their league tables.

This time last year he got an emergency CAMHS appointment when he was 17, after I intervened in his suicide attempt. At the meeting with them he spoke about suicide, and was clearly psychotic, talking about a spectre in the room telling him to kill himself. CAMHS discharged him. We had nothing, no help from anyone, despite me literally begging anyone and everyone for help in keeping him alive.

I went back again to my GP asking for an urgent CAMHS referral again. Six months later I got a letter through saying he could have an appointment, but as he had turned 18 he no longer qualified. It was almost funny in its absurdity.

In the end I paid for him to been seen privately and got him medicated. But even that wasn't enough and we are all still hanging on by a thread.

bibliomania · 28/01/2020 09:26

That's really shocking, notaflying. I'm glad you were able to get him seen privately, even if that isn't enough. The vulnerable deserve better than they are currently getting in this country.

notaflyingmonkey · 28/01/2020 18:25

Thanks Biblio, but I think we know it is only going to get worse. I was talking to a consultant psychology about this issue during the election campaign, and she said that of all of the areas of the NHS, mental health was in the greatest crisis of underfunding, under resourcing etc, with CAMHS being the worst sub set within that grouping.

yougotanology · 28/01/2020 22:42

I'm watching it tonight and I've never watched something so close to home. I'm living in this nightmare and I have got so much support from CAMHS and all relevant support groups.

We've been lucky, I guess? I feel so sad for those who haven't got the support.

Our Camhs psychiatrists (we've seen 5) have ALL taken DCs issues seriously and I cannot believe that I read upthread that a suicide attempt and seeing things and hearing things is not enough to keep a child or person under the service? It's shocking.

I'm so sorry people upthread are dealing with this and have no support.

My life is on hold - although our recent med increases seem to be helping but this is a life sentence and we all need support.

Strugglingmum73 · 28/01/2020 22:45

So hard to watch. And those families are the lucky ones really as they got help.

PatellarTendonitis · 28/01/2020 23:08

We have also had to seek private treatment for my child as CAMHS was no help.

danijeanne · 29/01/2020 02:37

My son is 10 and behaves in the exact same way as the girl in the programme. He has suffered with anxiety since he was 5/6, camhs also discharged us as at points he was improving. We spoke to canhs when referred by gp over the summer saying He wanted to die and cannot cope with his emotions. Canhs called and said it seemed like behaviour issues and wouldn’t see us. he was admitted for night on Boxing Day and passed to crisis team when he was attempting to jump out car on motorway. He was referred to crisis team then discharged the following week as mood had stabilised. We have meltdowns three or four times a week like this. We are lucky in that we can see private psychologist but apart from that feel helpless and have no extra support. I have had to reduce working hours as the stress is too much. It is so tough on the kids and everyone involved

Kuponut · 30/01/2020 10:06

Catching up with this now - I'd heard it was on because it was covering my local area and I was very involved with a fantastic post-natal mental health group when I was suffering after my kids were born... so I know lots of people who ended up on the mother and baby unit featured in the past (well the current unit's fairly new so their predecessor unit really).

I worry as I've got DD1 who is very highly strung and had some preliminary support for anxiety last year (I suspect ASD diagnosis in the future to be honest), and DD2 who goes through periods of it as well.

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