32 Month Waiting List To See A Psychologist!

[EyeCeyE]

I don't know about the waiting list of others but I have had to wait a full 32 months which I am sure you agree is absolutely ridiculous. I am fed up with the NHS constantly under-funding mental health services.

Recently there has been a piece of legislation indicating that in the very near future nobody will have to wait more than 18 weeks from referral to treatment, the question is Psychological services are the only excluded area of the NHS not getting the same funding.

Why? Surely with research proving that statistically there is 10% chance of completed suicide attempts that would, to me, indicate it is a life threatening and very important area that needs addressing.

Since I was referred in late December 2004, I have only recently commenced my individual treatment with a psychologist. In that time, I have lost a further 4 family members due to my illness, and my wife has left with my daughter, due to being unable to cope with my emotional instablility. I cannot help but feel that at least in part, counselling would've helped me to help myself, and stabilise me to some degree.

All I have been offered is skills groups which is inappropriate considering I used to run numerous groups being a retired mental health professional myself, and there was a good chance that I would be in a group with someone I may have counselled which would jeopardise their treatment, and make me unable to disclose personal information about, for example, childhood sexual abuse.

I am interested to hear from anyone who has had a similar problem with waiting lists, and perhaps we could work together in forming a petition to parliament to rectify this problem.

EyeCeyE

[sticky1105]

You should have gone private ! :wacko:

[EyeCeyE]

You should have gone private !

If I was fortunate enough to win the lottery maybe, but you know a reasonable full course of Dialectical Therapy should last at least a year, so why do I pay National Insurance and tax, so I can get an ingrown toenail removed, or for something that would fundamentally help not only my mental health, but all the associated physical psychosomatic symptoms also, so nice idea in principal if you have enough for the Priory at Roehampton to mingle with Robbie William, Caroline Oherne and Britney! Do the poor not have the right to good healthcare, I thought this was Britain, not America!

[lucy]

you can if you gp will back you go for an assesment at somewhere that does do dbt and put it to the specalist funding board, i know someone who did that and she got it.

Your right it sucks i pay privatley ( no lotterey win and i dont see robbie ( i wish) just a therpaist near me) and it pisses me off that i need to pay buti need to get myself sorted out

[sticky1105]

I live overseas so have to pay for EVERYTHING medical - you have to rationalize as to what is important -and treatment takes priority no matter what the cost

[EyeCeyE]

you can if you gp will back you go for an assesment at somewhere that does do dbt and put it to the specalist funding board, i know someone who did that and she got it.

Your right it sucks i pay privatley ( no lotterey win and i dont see robbie ( i wish) just a therpaist near me) and it pisses me off that i need to pay buti need to get myself sorted out

I actually used to work at the only private mental health unit, but they closed it down, and I lost my job, they relied too much on NHS overflow, and when they stopped sending us patients, that was that, I could travel much further, but had I known it was going to be so long, I wouldve looked into other options. I am glad you are getting treatment though, hopefully in the future things will change, but until we are bombarded with mental health series on t.v like we have been with ER, Casualty and Holby City, things will probably never change. How often do you see the Health Secretary going to shake hands with Schizophrenics or even enter a mental health unit? But hey everyone knows about CPR now, and what to do when someones heart stops. Mental Health is as great a taboo as ever, and without proper public exposure that will never change. The NHS is messed up all the way through the heirarchy, even the mental health units dont accept you unless you have admitted you will kill yourself that day, and even then only the Crisis team pay you a visit, and take a risk that you will be ok tomorrow. Having worked in that public sector also I know first hand who gets priority treatment, and BPD is just a thorn in their side. Thanks for the reply and I really hope your treatment is helping, I am now seeing a psychologist, but I was originally told I would have to wait 15 months max. I am starting a group after plenty of persuasion too, so I am trying to get what I can. Good luck to you in the future, I will be about if you ever need a chat X

[EyeCeyE]

I live overseas so have to pay for EVERYTHING medical - you have to rationalize as to what is important -and treatment takes priority no matter what the cost

Sorry to hear about that mate, that is shit, but sitting on your hands and accepting the current system is why you still have to pay for everything, and because most mental health sufferers are on the whole unassertive, there are too few willing to SHOUT and BE HEARD, but look after yourself and try and get things changed where you live

[sticky1105]

It is unrealistic to change a sysem overseas - and I can assure u i am not unassertive - one of the syptoms if u knw ur stuff is being controlling and overly assertive - but changing foreign governments is a little out of even my scope !

[EyeCeyE]

It is unrealistic to change a sysem overseas - and I can assure u i am not unassertive - one of the syptoms if u knw ur stuff is being controlling and overly assertive - but changing foreign governments is a little out of even my scope !

Please dont confuse overly assertive with indirect aggression mate, and things can change, never give up!

[Faerielight]

hi, i sympathise.. i have been told by my cpn that my wait is 5 to 7 years!!! shocking!!!!!!!!!!!.. and i'm high priority.. it sucks.

still i'm lucky i have a great cpn but i so need some cbt and it is sooo expensive privately.. i've had loads of low cost counsselling but none of my therapists could cope with the complexities of bpd.

I'm trying to figure ouyt how to step up my support in time for winter depression.. i've just found ther's a self help gropup for depression every week at the priory and it's free so i'm going to check it out next week.. maybe there are some support groups in your area to tide you over?? hugs, ivy xx

[sticky1105]

How much is private treatment in the UK ?

[EyeCeyE]

hi, i sympathise.. i have been told by my cpn that my wait is 5 to 7 years!!! shocking!!!!!!!!!!!.. and i'm high priority.. it sucks.

still i'm lucky i have a great cpn but i so need some cbt and it is sooo expensive privately.. i've had loads of low cost counsselling but none of my therapists could cope with the complexities of bpd.

I'm trying to figure ouyt how to step up my support in time for winter depression.. i've just found ther's a self help gropup for depression every week at the priory and it's free so i'm going to check it out next week.. maybe there are some support groups in your area to tide you over?? hugs, ivy xx

Thanks so much Ivy (hug)....I can't believe that! 5-7 years, its like the world itself has gone mad. It is more than shocking, we are all being severely let down, and some could argue we are being left for dead, in some cases. We all hear about the little old ladies who are left on trolley in A+E for 8 hours waiting to be treated but someone needs to shine a big light on the plight of mental health sufferers/victims/survivors (I would say service users, but what service?) I really hope you get some help at that FREE support group, it sounds too good to be true, there is probably only 16 places to cover 10,000 people who need the treatment, so good luck to you. I am starting a skills group next month that runs for 12 wks so heres hoping.

I totally agree with what you say about inexperienced poorly qualified, poorly skilled therapists, and I sympathise with them because they do burn out quickly exp. with BPD, but it also the NHS's fault for not providing them with good clinical supervision and dialectical therapy from their peers, thats what should, in theory happen, but it rarely does.

Take care X ;)

[EyeCeyE]

How much is private treatment in the UK ?

On average £50 for 3/4 hour, thats $100 ish. Depends on their degree of skill and qualifications, but decent ones cost, unless you want a relatively untrained psychiatric nurse, I myself being one, who deals with the majority of cases without specialist training, just generic training which results in 'burn out' leaving you feeling guilty, rejected or abandoned.

[lucy]

im glad youve got some suppoet now ec

lucy

Sticky i pay £45 pr hr

[EyeCeyE]

im glad youve got some suppoet now ec

lucy

Sticky i pay £45 pr hr

Cheerz Lucy, yeah £45 is about right probably a good average. Shame you cant book sessions like driving lessons, and opt for an hour and a half, or even two hours, because sometimes I have just warmed up, and started opening up, and then comes the ominous glance at the watch, and you know thats it! I know some research has been done on the length of a therapeutic session, but sometimes it just isnt long enough, it should depend on where you are in therapy, and what you are opening up about....guess there is little we can do about it. I bet you dont buy the sessions in blocks and get discount either do you? ;)

[lucy]

prehaps i should bring that up, pay for two get your third free etc, dont think he would buy into it, and i pay cash

I had group therpay recently NHS and that was 2hrs that was really good because you had time to settle in and time to finish with an hour in the middle.

Atm its abandoment becasue the aforementioned group finished which was great the woman who ran it was the best t i had met and i really connected with her and then it ended, boom - for a bit just finding it hard to deal with.

Hows your t?

[EyeCeyE]

prehaps i should bring that up, pay for two get your third free etc, dont think he would buy into it, and i pay cash

I had group therpay recently NHS and that was 2hrs that was really good because you had time to settle in and time to finish with an hour in the middle.

Atm its abandoment becasue the aforementioned group finished which was great the woman who ran it was the best t i had met and i really connected with her and then it ended, boom - for a bit just finding it hard to deal with.

Hows your t?

It is early days, but she seems highly competent, she has given me a structured plan which will be dealing mainly with mindfulness meditation, which coincides nicely with my Buddhist beliefs. She has also contributed to a famous book on Dialectical Behaviour Therapy so she knows what she is doing. I feel safe with her, if you know what I mean. I have my weekly session tomorrow morning and I have to deal with a few issues from the last session, been planning it for days.

X

[feistymiss]

i think its cos mental health problems are always seen, as "someone else's problem" plus with bpd, where does the therapist start, it would be interesting to know, in fact, where does any constructive therapy start

any support i have had, i have found myself so overwhelmed by emotion and distress that i couldnt get out everything, it all came out as if i was spewing it up, disconnected and the like, that i couldnt make sense of it myself and i "knew" HA what i was talking about

and there was no feedback, so i dont know what i did it all for, apart from opening it up again and again

and the other end of the spectrum, how can we not open it up, we cant deal with it, which brings it back to ... well who is going to, and yes, it seems, if you declare you are going to kill yourself, there and then, they will put you on hold for 24 hrs of so (dunno, never been in that situation) but does it deal with it, doesnt seem it does, one way or another, it just seems ONE HUGE problem, that EVERYONE WANTS TO GO AWAY, SUFFERERS INCLUDED

AND interestingly, where it was mentioned about burn out to the therapists, how DO they cope with BPD sufferers ? what is the NHS perspective on support for BPD sufferers ??? cos im driving myself crazier by NOT knowing WHATsupport is effective, WHERE it is and HOW to get it, let alone WHO to fight to bring it to the attention of WHO should actually be supporting BPD sufferers

its like most things in this country, we have to be a bloody specialist in virtually every field, not only the NHS .. that we want to sort out .....

(gaaaaah, dont get me started)

i mean, are we getting any sodding choice here ? as sufferers trying to get support, we dont know what support is on offer, whether it will work, how long the therapy will last for and then we are expected to fund it ourselves and yes, maybe health is a priority, over whether we have the income to provide for it, but try telling that to the bailiffs if you go without paying bills in order to prioritise over your care, that should be provided free !!!!!

and then if you have to clock watch and take into account whether you can open up to someone who may have the training but you just dont "trust" or gel with, or like, then what, you are absolutely wasting your time

bring on the pills, to put me out of my misery cos i sure as hell cant cope any other way ?!??!!??!

(i will support any action to get anywhere with this motion, cos im sick of going round and round trying to fight everyone when as ?? Sticky ?? i think, said on another posting about being confrontational, as opposed to accepting, what crap diagnosis when no one seems to know what the hell is going on anyway, either supposedly by way of support or even what diagnosis to place where and then trying to expect BPD sufferers to remain calm when everyone *****s all over you, well im at the end of my bloody tether again)

!?!?!??!???!!!!!!!!****U*********BLEEEP BLEEEEEEP BLEEEEEEEEP*********?!??!?!?!?!

[EyeCeyE]

i think its cos mental health problems are always seen, as "someone else's problem" plus with bpd, where does the therapist start, it would be interesting to know, in fact, where does any constructive therapy start

any support i have had, i have found myself so overwhelmed by emotion and distress that i couldnt get out everything, it all came out as if i was spewing it up, disconnected and the like, that i couldnt make sense of it myself and i "knew" HA what i was talking about

and there was no feedback, so i dont know what i did it all for, apart from opening it up again and again

and the other end of the spectrum, how can we not open it up, we cant deal with it, which brings it back to ... well who is going to, and yes, it seems, if you declare you are going to kill yourself, there and then, they will put you on hold for 24 hrs of so (dunno, never been in that situation) but does it deal with it, doesnt seem it does, one way or another, it just seems ONE HUGE problem, that EVERYONE WANTS TO GO AWAY, SUFFERERS INCLUDED

AND interestingly, where it was mentioned about burn out to the therapists, how DO they cope with BPD sufferers ? what is the NHS perspective on support for BPD sufferers ??? cos im driving myself crazier by NOT knowing WHATsupport is effective, WHERE it is and HOW to get it, let alone WHO to fight to bring it to the attention of WHO should actually be supporting BPD sufferers

its like most things in this country, we have to be a bloody specialist in virtually every field, not only the NHS .. that we want to sort out .....

(gaaaaah, dont get me started)

i mean, are we getting any sodding choice here ? as sufferers trying to get support, we dont know what support is on offer, whether it will work, how long the therapy will last for and then we are expected to fund it ourselves and yes, maybe health is a priority, over whether we have the income to provide for it, but try telling that to the bailiffs if you go without paying bills in order to prioritise over your care, that should be provided free !!!!!

and then if you have to clock watch and take into account whether you can open up to someone who may have the training but you just dont "trust" or gel with, or like, then what, you are absolutely wasting your time

bring on the pills, to put me out of my misery cos i sure as hell cant cope any other way ?!??!!??!

(i will support any action to get anywhere with this motion, cos im sick of going round and round trying to fight everyone when as ?? Sticky ?? i think, said on another posting about being confrontational, as opposed to accepting, what crap diagnosis when no one seems to know what the hell is going on anyway, either supposedly by way of support or even what diagnosis to place where and then trying to expect BPD sufferers to remain calm when everyone *****s all over you, well im at the end of my bloody tether again)

!?!?!??!???!!!!!!!!****U*********BLEEEP BLEEEEEEP BLEEEEEEEEP*********?!??!?!?!?!

Hey, hang in there feisty! The system is a pile of shit and for the last 13 years I have been working with mental health patients in all fields. I frequently get completely frustrated with how it is. Despite my best efforts, going to the top, believe me when I say that, to get things changed, they are like politicians, they are concerned only with their salary and their pension plan, they do not want to rock the boat, or revolutionise the NHS.

God knows, Heart patients have got excellent priority care, as do cancer victims because of senior politicians, in the case of heart care, Tony Blairs heart scare got things changed pretty dramatically, and Mo Mowlam having Cancer also improved things, but not one of them would dare admit feeling depressed because it is seen as a weakness, not something successufl powerful men and women suffer from. That is the biggest bullshit ever, I have looked after MP's, Doctors, Psychiatrists, lottery winners, multi-millionaires right through to the most poverty stricken people imaginable. We have all got our breaking point, the difference is, those in power hide it better.

It does not have to be this way, people power does work, I have been an activist for many years, and that includes mental health funding, and all its many flaws.

I know that talking about these issues with resolve many of the issues that BPD's sufferers suffer from, a lack of understanding. Whether it is brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, best friends, everyone suffers because of ignorance to mental health problems. Everyone has heard that 1 in 4 people suffer mental illness at some point, but you are judged and predjudice is everywhere.

You want to get a driving license, you tell them you have mental health problems forget it. You want to fly Internationally and you are honest about your problems, you can forget it. You are treated as a leper.

The issue is split into the crazy, deranged psychopathic schizophrenics who are likely to stab you if you ask them the time, to the popular celebrities who have alcohol/substance abuse problems who just need a sympathetic ear. The media only exacerbate the problem.

I myself have lost contact with all of my family apart from my father, who doesnt believe in mental health problems, denying he has suffered from depression most of his life, but channelled his problems into work, and is a workaholic. Is that courageous, does that mean he is stronger, no, it just means he lives a life of denial, and is constantly escaping from reality. The workaholic is no different from the drug user, or the person who sleeps all day because they cannot face the fact that with birth comes pain.

Dont give up hope, life is long, and in the end the only one you are in conflict with is yourself X EyeCeyE

[Vorpalblade]

just to defend the tc show Casualty, they *do* actually include a mental health story line in every single episode. This has been happening for over a year now.

[EyeCeyE]

just to defend the tc show Casualty, they *do* actually include a mental health story line in every single episode. This has been happening for over a year now.

Thats fair enough, I dont watch t.v much, but that is great to hear, lets hope that it starts a trend and the taboo about mental health because common place, but unfortunately when I ever read about mental health in the press, it either revolves around a schizophrenic stabbing or a suicidal depressive ending his life and his kids.......there is a long, long way to go

[Vorpalblade]

yep, there sure is..and i do feel the BBC is helping address that........slowly

[garbles]

You should have gone private !

If I was fortunate enough to win the lottery maybe, but you know a reasonable full course of Dialectical Therapy should last at least a year, so why do I pay National Insurance and tax, so I can get an ingrown toenail removed, or for something that would fundamentally help not only my mental health, but all the associated physical psychosomatic symptoms also, so nice idea in principal if you have enough for the Priory at Roehampton to mingle with Robbie William, Caroline Oherne and Britney! Do the poor not have the right to good healthcare, I thought this was Britain, not America!

YOU GO EYE, :blink:

[garbles]

hi, i sympathise.. i have been told by my cpn that my wait is 5 to 7 years!!! shocking!!!!!!!!!!!.. and i'm high priority.. it sucks.

still i'm lucky i have a great cpn but i so need some cbt and it is sooo expensive privately.. i've had loads of low cost counsselling but none of my therapists could cope with the complexities of bpd.

I'm trying to figure ouyt how to step up my support in time for winter depression.. i've just found ther's a self help gropup for depression every week at the priory and it's free so i'm going to check it out next week.. maybe there are some support groups in your area to tide you over?? hugs, ivy xx

Thanks so much Ivy (hug)....I can't believe that! 5-7 years, its like the world itself has gone mad. It is more than shocking, we are all being severely let down, and some could argue we are being left for dead, in some cases. We all hear about the little old ladies who are left on trolley in A+E for 8 hours waiting to be treated but someone needs to shine a big light on the plight of mental health sufferers/victims/survivors (I would say service users, but what service?) I really hope you get some help at that FREE support group, it sounds too good to be true, there is probably only 16 places to cover 10,000 people who need the treatment, so good luck to you. I am starting a skills group next month that runs for 12 wks so heres hoping.

I totally agree with what you say about inexperienced poorly qualified, poorly skilled therapists, and I sympathise with them because they do burn out quickly exp. with BPD, but it also the NHS's fault for not providing them with good clinical supervision and dialectical therapy from their peers, thats what should, in theory happen, but it rarely does.

Take care X

Hey, just wanted to let u know that i was referred to a 'Complex Cases' unit in Cambridgeshire by my CPN. Has only been going for approx 2-3 years and was set up by the wonderful Dr. Denman who i saw today. She is a specialist physcotherpist, and boy does she know her stuff. I have been luckily offered intense therapy for 3 days per week until I feel that i have had enough. They even pay for me to get a taxi as i find it near on impossible to drive thru my condition. Seems like a dream. There is a website, not sure of their address, www.complexcases.co.uk maybe. Maybe you could try and find out if such a unit is available in your area. Good luck.

[sundries]

I know someone who has successfully got her community team to fund private therapy through direct payments.

It was on the basis that she was assessed as needing it and they would not be able to provide it for over 18months.

With direct payments you are allowed to purchase in your own care