Mental Health & The NHS

caela_2

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone can advise me about the help available on the NHS (or elsewhere) for those suffering with mental illness as it's severely affecting my life. I have seen my GP who admits the NHS is vastly under-staffed/ funded with regards to mental health treatments, with a long waiting list. She advised medication, but I vehemently object (for my own reasons). There seems to be few options.

I'm tired of living like this and feel although people are always saying you should 'get help' for depression, there are limited options. I really have to rally my strength just to make an appointment at the GP and I feel I'm let down just to suffer in silence again. I've tried many different doctors too. I honestly feel like I'm missing chunks of my life. People don't seem to care as long as your life isn't in danger but I'm wasting my time and want to make the most of it.

I'm not sure if I've tried everything (various therapies and hospitalisations) but maybe someone could recommend something which is helping them. I honestly believe I'm emotionally unstable and it's upsetting me, I'd like to just get things done and be happy again.

p999j

This probably is not the best place to discuss this issue, but I have no doubt that there are many people here who are, or have been, in your situation.

In my blackest times, I felt as you do. The first thing I would recommend is to take time out for yourself. From a job, from friends,whatever-just allow yourself space to breath.

If you find things are piling up on you, don't try to tackle them as yet. Make a conscious choice to put them to one side for a while, while you concentrate on YOU.

Slowly, after however long, keep a notepad beside you, and note down things as you think of them. Things you want to do. Little tasks around the house that have been bothering you. People you want to chat with. Anything you think of. You don't have to do anything yet, but once it is on paper, it does tend to relieve the mental problem of the accumulation of too many things being overwhelming. Be kind to yourself.

I can recommend a book by M Scott Peck called the road less travelled. It helped me tremendously by reassuring me that what we now call mental illness is the body's way of making us realise a situation is wrong for us. Maybe wrong job, wrong relationship, etc. If we have not made a conscious choice ourselves to lift us out of that difficulty then our body takes over and MAKES us shut down for a while.

We need that reflective time to heal and to work out another way forward. I now look back on my blackest time as a few months when I didn't get out of bed, was in the wrong job where I was made to compromise my ethics, and I was in a relationship where I was not fulfilled.

So while I am suggesting that you act on very little, I think the best solution for me was to firstly make the difficult decisions to know what was wrong, then to work out where I went from there (scary prospect leaving a well paying job) and how I took the first steps to get out of the situation I was in. Boy, it was frightening, but it'd have been more scary if I had stayed in that situation, eroding my self-esteem and principles, feeling useless and hopeless.

So many people suffer from these feelings. Hopelessness is a realistic proposition when you have lost hope and can't focus on what is in store for you. You will get hope back but I found that I was repeating a cycle where I ended up hopeless. I chose the wrong men. I worked in the wrong job. I lived in the wrong place. Everything I was was as a result of my own choices. I didn't beat myself up about that, but I did have to re-evaluate how I had to act is a different way, use different language and approach and deal with people differently.

As you are on a money saving website, I will assume you have some financial difficulties too. They are inevitable with long term mental illness as it becomes impossible to hold down a job with frequent absences, and the less money you have, the more you get into debt just by living. There are organisations who can help, including CAB, but I couldn't deal with mine for some time, as I had heaps of unopened mail, what mail I had was in numerous places and CAB wanted me to come in with all relevant documents. It all felt too much. Through CAB, I was put in contact with a local charity who were wonderful-they came out to my house, they worked through my piles of mail. Took me 6 years to get out of the situation with the debt.

Very long reply, I know. But there are people who are compassionate and kind and can help you when you are ready to be helped. The way to access them is through CAB or through any webpage covering your illness.

Take your time and hopefully one day you can look back and think it was a regenerative process.

I wish you well. x

caela_2

@p999j

Thank-you so much for your reply, I found it very helpful just reading through and hopefully I can start on that one-step-at-a-time thing. I just wish that when things get more extreme that there was some kind of help on the NHS but there doesn't seem to be. I can cope with most of the stuff and will try to get my life on track in the long run but until then, I have times when I really don't know what I'm doing and wish I had some help then. I might try Mind as they've been good in the past.

Thanks again for your advice though, I'm sure it'll not only help me but others reading this post.

Dunroamin

What medications have you tried and do you claim any benefits for your condition?

caela_2

Dunroamin wrote: »

What medications have you tried and do you claim any benefits for your condition?

Hey,

I haven't tried any medications, I completely don't trust pharmaceuticals and don't even take asprin. I did claim for DLA but they turned me down at the Tribunal which I still need to see what I can do about cos they were out of order. I wanted to claim again, if I could get that, I could get WTC for PT work and actually afford to go to work then which would get me out of the house!

HB58

If your DLA was refused at the Tribunal stage, you will not be able to appeal againstthis unless there was an error in law. However, there is nothing to stop you from making a new claim.

kurgon

What therapies ahve you accessed. Do your local; service have any democratic communities (psychological support groups for emotionally unstable presentations.).
Difficltu to know what to suggest without knowing what you have accessed.
As for mental health being poorly funded this is hogwash. The Govt is committed to a rolling out program of Improved Access to Psychological seervcices (IAPT), ensuring that people who need therapy can access it. This is, in fact, where a lot of the money is currently going. Therapies focus on CBT but can also include CAT (more analytical than CBT), DBT(NICE recommends for peronality disorders), IPT (for those with relationship issues) and a vaity of others.

Gingernutty

kurgon wrote: »

What therapies ahve you accessed. Do your local; service have any democratic communities (psychological support groups for emotionally unstable presentations.).
Difficltu to know what to suggest without knowing what you have accessed.
As for mental health being poorly funded this is hogwash. The Govt is committed to a rolling out program of Improved Access to Psychological seervcices (IAPT), ensuring that people who need therapy can access it. This is, in fact, where a lot of the money is currently going. Therapies focus on CBT but can also include CAT (more analytical than CBT), DBT(NICE recommends for peronality disorders), IPT (for those with relationship issues) and a vaity of others.

You clearly haven't been to my neck of the woods.

Although almost catatonic, close to losing my current job and almost obsessively thinking of how to commit suicide, I've been discharged from both Psychology and Psychiatric services as I'm doing so well.

I've got an individually numbered one use only card with a number on it which is my "Ticket to Wellness". Should I require help, I can call the telephone number on the card for help - it gives The Samaritans as a number to call in an emergency.

Apparently suicidal thoughts aren't an emergency.

NHS Mental Healthcare is pooey. How much money the NHS has committed to spend and how much they are spending are two different things

Two4Tuesday

I've discharged myself as I feel worse before, during and immediately after each CMHT appointment. My psychiatrist didn't want me to do it, but they were no help to me.

They had the Police come and visit me shortly afterwards as I still have constant murderous thoughts and think of ways of killing every person I come into contact with, not just just suicidal thoughts.

p999j

Addressing any difficult subject tends to be worse before it can ever be better. And the causes of mental illness have usually come about as the result of some sort of difficulty, be it a life event, a bereavement, abuse, etc.

Avoidance only delays the issue; it never resolves it. But that is of no help to anyone who is not ready to face their demons.

It is very easy to become disassociated with people, to feel you have nothing in common with anyone and to feel everyone is out for themselves.

I also think that accessing help is difficult no matter where you live and no matter how much the provision. Firstly, there is an issue which involves admitting to yourself that you need help, followed by knowing who to ask and weighing up what effect it may have on your life. I know for myself, I was very concerned with how it may impact on future employment and how I was perceived in a relatively small community where everyone knew everyones business. I became quite ill by not eating (and doing what you are doing by not varying meals or eating cooked/fresh food).

CBT wasn't offered to me. In fact nothing was offered to me. I had to explore my options and ask, as my doctor was fairly unsympathetic. I also made the mistake of not being consistent with one doctor in the practice, so no-one really had a good overview of my issues. I understand the worry about seeming to self-pity. Society generally (and UK particularly) seems to make mental health secondary to physical health in all realms. Education. Work life. Relationships.

As you are aware of the hurt you are feeling, and the thoughts you are having, and you are better at written communication than verbal, I would suggest you write these down. There is a degree of relief, to pass them from your thoughts onto paper. Even if you do nothing with the paper. But it may help to form the basis of some notes from when you next visit your doctor. I would suggest asking for a double appointment. Standard appointments are usually fairly succinct and difficult to cover the severity of your condition in that timeframe.

I would also try to remain open to options. I know if my decisions weren't so skewed at the time of my difficulty by having fixed mindsets (everything was black and white to me, and now I understand how many shades of grey there are) then I might have gotten better help sooner.

You will get out the other side of this. It never feels like it at the time. But by coming on here and sharing, you are taking a degree of control over your situation. And that is a step forward.

Be prepared for feeling hurt, confused and upset while you tackle your issues, once you are ready to tackle those issues. Don't let anyone else set those timescales.

((((((((((hugs)))))))))))

DomRavioli

Perhaps take the medication prescribed to you. The paranoia regarding the medication will disappear.