Mental health care in this country has become — I was going to say “a joke”, but there’s nothing funny about it.
I recently managed to self-refer to my local mental health service (after navigating the byzantine website for my GP surgery that desperately tries to deter you from making an appointment to see anyone). To be fair, got a phone call from a very lovely trainee a few days later and had a good honest productive conversation where I laid out my concerns, especially my biggest worry which was that I had begun self harming after no prior history if it and was experiencing intense and rapid mood swings that were debilitating me.
Got told that I was “too severe” for that service to help and was getting referred elsewhere. Okay, fair enough. Except this other service has a 5 month waiting list for an appointment. So I’m classed as severe, acknowledged to be at risk, and then just… left to fend for myself?
The advice given was to call suicide hotlines.
I did manage to eventually get a call from the mental health nurse at my GP office who signed me off work for a couple of weeks and put me on some medication but even that process was a bit like pulling teeth. It’s all additional stress and difficulty at a time when I was barely functioning as it was — it’s easy to imagine someone in the same position not having the wherewithal to chase down appointments etc. and going further into a downward spiral.
Frankly, this was completely predictable. Psychiatry insists on medicalising the whole gamut of psychological distress and unrest, so it is unsurprising that they then become overwhelmed when all of these people who are now told that their unhappiness is a medical condition then descend upon NHS psychiatric units to ask for their medical treatment. This coupled with the fact that they don’t have any cures for these “diseases”, and treatment, if it helps at all tends to be a long term process.
Coupled with the obsession that our society has with interfering with people’s bodily autonomy when they’ve decided that they no longer wish to continue living, and a funding crisis, this is all a recipe for disaster.
Me waiting 2 months and still haven’t heard anything..
Pretty sure they said an average wait of 3 months.. But like seriously? Things could’ve gotten much worse in 3 months, thankfully they haven’t, and I’m probably going to have to tell them “I’m fine now, I don’t need any help”
Noone gives a shit until you’re suicidal. Even then the help available isn’t much cop.
I had this in another comment, but I think it deserves to be pointed out.
Before people believe the headline and begin the daily bemoaning of mental health services… Just thought I would point out that The Guardian is interpreting this completely the opposite of how the NHS is: until recently, the deadline was 1 week. It was halved. And so 3/4 POST-DISCHARGE (ie. a debriefing, not people needing to be seen for a new mental health issue) appointments are now being seen in half the time.
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Mental health care in this country has become — I was going to say “a joke”, but there’s nothing funny about it.
I recently managed to self-refer to my local mental health service (after navigating the byzantine website for my GP surgery that desperately tries to deter you from making an appointment to see anyone). To be fair, got a phone call from a very lovely trainee a few days later and had a good honest productive conversation where I laid out my concerns, especially my biggest worry which was that I had begun self harming after no prior history if it and was experiencing intense and rapid mood swings that were debilitating me.
Got told that I was “too severe” for that service to help and was getting referred elsewhere. Okay, fair enough. Except this other service has a 5 month waiting list for an appointment. So I’m classed as severe, acknowledged to be at risk, and then just… left to fend for myself?
The advice given was to call suicide hotlines.
I did manage to eventually get a call from the mental health nurse at my GP office who signed me off work for a couple of weeks and put me on some medication but even that process was a bit like pulling teeth. It’s all additional stress and difficulty at a time when I was barely functioning as it was — it’s easy to imagine someone in the same position not having the wherewithal to chase down appointments etc. and going further into a downward spiral.
Frankly, this was completely predictable. Psychiatry insists on medicalising the whole gamut of psychological distress and unrest, so it is unsurprising that they then become overwhelmed when all of these people who are now told that their unhappiness is a medical condition then descend upon NHS psychiatric units to ask for their medical treatment. This coupled with the fact that they don’t have any cures for these “diseases”, and treatment, if it helps at all tends to be a long term process.
Coupled with the obsession that our society has with interfering with people’s bodily autonomy when they’ve decided that they no longer wish to continue living, and a funding crisis, this is all a recipe for disaster.
Me waiting 2 months and still haven’t heard anything..
Pretty sure they said an average wait of 3 months.. But like seriously? Things could’ve gotten much worse in 3 months, thankfully they haven’t, and I’m probably going to have to tell them “I’m fine now, I don’t need any help”
Noone gives a shit until you’re suicidal. Even then the help available isn’t much cop.
I had this in another comment, but I think it deserves to be pointed out.
Before people believe the headline and begin the daily bemoaning of mental health services… Just thought I would point out that The Guardian is interpreting this completely the opposite of how the NHS is: until recently, the deadline was 1 week. It was halved. And so 3/4 POST-DISCHARGE (ie. a debriefing, not people needing to be seen for a new mental health issue) appointments are now being seen in half the time.
It’s actually an achievement for the NHS.