A quick warning that I briefly mention suicidal thoughts and SH behaviour. I am not an immediate risk to myself.

Background: I’m 22, been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, autism and ADHD at 10. Attempted for the first time at age 13. Family history of any mental illness you can throw at the wall.

Waited since January this year to see a psychiatrist after a mental health crisis. GP has explicitly told me there’s nothing more they can do. I’m on the stronger dose of SNRI they make with the highest strength Mirtazapine available (which has made me very sick for months) and nothing has helped, I’ve deteriorated more and more as time has gone on. I’ve been on mental health meds over half my life now and have a laundry list of medications the GP threw at me to try to fix me. I was in the care of private psychiatrists since age 10-18 and I have written proof from child psychologists I am very chronically unwell.

I expressed to the psychiatrist I am actively experiencing daily SI, and SH on and off (I have visible scars as well). And overall am not safe. She told me since I am also AuDHD sometimes it just “presents as depression” and “it’s very common for autistic people to think they’re depressed”. And she thinks instead of depression my “personally is the problem” (I have never once been told this). Therefore she couldn’t help me. She said I was now formally discharged and to ask any medical questions to my GP.

I asked her what im meant to do because my GP can’t prescribe me anything stronger. She said I’d need to be re referred because I am now formally discharged and she’s very busy with other patients with “chronic conditions”. And to start paying for a private psychiatrist for my ADHD (which has NEVER been treated despite being diagnosed 12 years ago).

I’m at a loss of what to do. I’ve been screaming and begging for help for over half a year now. And now I need to start over. Genuinely what do I do anymore. I don’t have enough money for private care but I have no help. I only work part time and I’m a university student.

I need someone who’s been through this to tell me what I should do now. Should I just empty my wallet and pay the £300 to see someone sooner? Go to A&E? I don’t even know anymore.

2p isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.

First time they were too busy when I called and said someone would call me back later. I got a call at 2am asking to speak to someone else entirely, she must have read the wrong row of the spreadsheet and mixed up my number with the next person's name. When I said that wasn't me she asked if I was sure. Weird thing to say.

This time she just casually said "You see, David, that's the process we follow." Three times in the conversation she called me David before I corrected her. Then she did it once more. So I guess it's 5p not 2p.

And my name isn't Fontanelle or Tonngaviak. It's a common standard English name, the kind where there's always two or three with the same name in school or an office and you need to use initials.

I know NHS standards have been slipping for a long time but I expect a basic level of skill to at least get the patient's name right.

Recently I felt like I’ve started to struggle with my life, I’ve been becoming more isolated and depressed and I’m pretty sure I have ADHD alongside my diagnosed autism and I’ve been experiencing chronic derealisation that’s getting very bad. Today I went to a cognitive behavioural therapy session but I ended up being told i don’t need medication and that I’m managing very well, I really am not, everyday it’s becoming harder and harder to follow anything, I despise school and have constantly been mistreated and bullied by my teachers and thinking about going into a corporate job makes life seem not worth living in and I don’t mean that in a horrible way I just don’t see myself having a good future. I’ve been referred to CAMHS but previously I’ve been rejected blatantly without even being seen even tho I very obviously had autism and they actually told me I didn’t, until years later when I was diagnosed. I don’t expect them to do anything new now, I don’t know what to do and I’m slowly going into depression again so I decided I’m just gonna ask for advice on Reddit as I can’t think of any where else atp. How do I manage?

I was discharged 2 days after an urgent assessment lmao. I was offered regular antidepressants that I refused because they make me worse. Then I was signposted to a charity that doesn’t handle anything crisis related. After being told I’d end up on the same year long wait list I was on before I said I’d die before then and the clinician said “well, that’s your prerogative”.

Definitely not worth it at all in the end. Literally nothing changed. Now several people know a bunch of shit I’m deeply ashamed and disgusted by. I wish I never told anyone anything.

I have long ongoing mental health issues, and moved counties, so I had to get a new referral. It took me 2 years to be seen by the complex needs team. It was disaster. Part of the reason it was a disaster was in those 3 years I had a very traumatic incident. Like very unusual and very horrible. I have a good enough knowledgable of common mental health conditions due to the kind of work I have done in the past. I was sure I had PTSD. It's not a hard diagnosis to understand. I had flashbacks, I went non-verbal for a few weeks (normally I don't shut up) I replayed the incident from different points of view, I felt panicked, I started drinking a lot, I started feeling like I wasn't myself, like I was ten years younger than I was, I had fantasies about hurting the people who hurt me, I struggled to be around anything that reminded me of the incident. I still have issues with some of these even though the incident was 3 years ago.

Complex needs refused to consider that I had PTSD. They said I had avoidant personality disorder (I don't, I have agoraphobia and anxiety.) People who have avoidant personality disorder avoid situations that might be cause them to feel rejection or failure and I had just started a poetry night and my second undergraduate degree. I fear rejection and failure, then I do the thing anyway. It also needs to be a life long pattern, and until my mid twenties I was quite confident, I was in the performing arts, which they knew. They told me not to self diagnose, that I needed a proper assessment and I explained that I had worked in a job for about 8 years that required a basic knowledge of mental health conditions. They then also tried to tell me that I had been provisionally diagnosed with BPD over the phone (I told them I thought we were supposed to do proper assessments, which they didn't love ...). I said I wanted therapy that 'supports PTSD' because I was stressed and meant to say 'supports people with PTSD' they went silent, then tried to read into what I had done, like it had revealed something subconscious about my thinking.

I tried to leave the appointment and they kept trying to get me to stay. Ironically the experience has been added to my 'greatest hits replay of trauma around the incident'. I really want answers about why they were so reluctant to do this. It was a year ago, and as you can probably tell, I remember it very well and find it very upsetting. I don't understand what is so unbelievable about me having PTSD from something very traumatic and unusual to go through. I got concerned it's because I'm transgender and maybe they think I'm already having to much say in how my body should be, and I was getting to carried away with my own diagnosis.

The issue is, I have started with the adult mental health team. It's been ok, it's been about a month. And I'm just suddenly overwhelmed with feelings of mistrust. I also would like to be at least assessed for PTSD (I understand they can't just take my word for it). I have specific issues due to the incident, and at the moment if I needed adjustments in work or education due to them, there would be no legal obligation to do so.

Has anyone had an experience like this? Why would they prefer to ignore the possibility of PTSD?

Hello!

I could use some help trying to figure out what my options are when it comes to getting help for my panic disorder.

For context I am severely agoraphobic, housebound and have been for three years.

I have gone through CBT once but was kicked off due to missing an in-person appointment.

Would right to choose be applicable to help cut down wait times? If so would anyone mind explaining how to sort that out?

Is there any option besides CBT that the NHS can offer? I have only been offered CBT up till now and I think I did some self-guided thing before that but it was awful.

I don't think the severity of my condition has been fully understood by any MH professional I have spoken to yet but I do want to get better. Just really not sure how to go about it.

Thank you for any help in advance.

Hi! I am a clinical psychology trainee completing my doctoral research at the University of Glasgow and am currently seeking participants to share their experience of suicidal thoughts.

I am looking for people who have experienced suicidal thoughts in the last 12 months to take part in an interview (online, via MS Teams) to talk about your experiences.

You may be eligible if you: are 18 years or older, living in the UK, with experience of suicidal thoughts in the last 12 months.

To express an interest in participating, please click the below link:
https://uofg.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8BLDGUucguhh4MK

The link contains further information about the study. Participants who complete the research interview will receive a £20 gift card.

Thank you for considering participation!

Diagnosed with OCD and Bipolar six years ago, my experience has been a ride of ups and downs, with Bipolar being the main problem until recently. I'm now on Lithium and Quetiapine, which have made me feel stable with Bipolar.

My OCD has always been present, with sertraline being the medication for it.

For the last two months, my OCD intrusive thoughts have become overwhelming, with serious thoughts of ending my life in horrible ways. I fight back against these thoughts, but unfortunately, I hurt myself in my attempts to remove the anxiety.

My psychiatrist wants to add Risperidone but gradually remove Quetiapine through cross-tapering.

Now I'm in limbo, experiencing anxiety about the side effects of removing Quetiapine and adding Risperidone.

Are there any success stories or other medications that help against OCD?

Just like the title says. Had to wait a week for a phone call about my mental health (and wait another hour after the appointment time because she was late), told her all about my symptoms and mood swings, how antidepressants are just making me worse and how I wanted to maybe get referred to a psychiatrist or psychologist or someone who can actually help me. She said verbatim "I'm inclined to get you an Urgent referral to a psychiatrist because of what you've described to me" and I was thankful. She said she'll get that set up, but immediately after said "I'll get the receptionist to set up a follow up call in 3 weeks to see how you're getting on" and hung up on me. This is unusual for my GP since they'll put you on hold if you need to schedule a new appointment.

It's just making me spiral into another depressive state like. Am I even getting referred? How will I know about the phone call? Was it an accidental hang up? Will I have to phone the receptionist myself and ask? I'm so sick of my GP and I don't know what to do.

Hi all!! Apologies if this isn’t the right sub, but I’m quite worried about wasting my GP or anybody else’s time when said appointment could be used for somebody who actually needs it and am looking for a second opinion on if I should bother or not 🙈

So essentially I’ve not been doing too well since mid-July - like I was from when I last felt like this in December to then and I’d had a brilliant start to July as I was on a placement for what is probably my dream job and having SO much fun, so I’m unsure what could’ve brought this on.
I just constantly feel like I’m not feeling things fully and I just feel so empty and horrible. And then that I’m a horrible person or like a freaking pedophile or something for looking at a completely normal photo of myself when I was 14 - 3 years ago - and wishing that i still weighed the same as I did back then, like I know that I’m not but it’s so disconcerting.

Like i literally haven’t talked to anybody but my parents & grandpa since the beginning of July aside from a house party where I got blackout drunk after random people kept handing me stuff and I ended up getting carried out by some random guy, like my friends keep saying in the group chat that they haven’t heard from me in months but i genuinely can’t bring myself to talk to because I’m scared that they’ll hate me or be annoyed at me.
I’ve been getting a little worse with the self harm stuff but that’s been ongoing for years even when I was doing well, so I’m classing that as not being AS big of an issue.

But I’m not 100% sure if I’m just being a drama queen over this or not or if it’s actually something which I should probably talk to somebody about.
Like I’m doing good in everything else, I’m starting year 13 this year and I’m a competitive triathlete and I’m not falling behind in school or anything so everything looks pretty okay, so it’s clearly not hindering me that much 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

I’m more on the fence because of the fact that I’m a huge liar to my entire family about all of this, nobody knows that I’m not doing well again - yes I’ve been asked about them being a little worried about me, but nothing more than that - and I don’t want them to worry or to pity me or anything. I don’t really like to talk about how I feel with people as I feel like I sound really silly, but I’m genuinely at the point where part of me feels like I need to try and get help for this because I’m just ridiculously sad.

My mum works at the GP surgery where I’m registered, so I don’t know how I’d even get an appointment without her finding out, which isn’t very fun. And I was also debating going to the councillor at sixth form when I get back, but given that I’m 17 so probably still classed as a minor(?) I don’t really want it to get back to my family and idk how I’d even start the conversation. Like I know that my family would just be concerned and everything, but it’s more my ego than anything else lols

If anybody has any suggestions as to whether I should bother or not it’d be greatly appreciated, thank you!!
(And sorry this is such a long post!!!!)

I have been calling at 8am on the dot for the past week and I’ve still managed to be number 30 in the queue. I know this isn’t the surgeries fault, but I’m worried that it will take me 2-3 weeks to book an appointment. 

At my last GP appointment, I got a referral to talking therapy and was sent home with a sleep routine. I was unable to further contact the talking therapy people because of social anxiety - I think I’d rather suffer than speak. 

I have a very bad phobia of being sick, and since my last GP appointment, it has gotten unbearable to live with. I’m in constant fear; I can barely eat, and when I do, I have intense anxiety/intrusive thoughts; I am terrified to sleep; I’m completely housebound; I spend 50-80% of the day worrying about being sick; I feel so unwell most days, I can barely get out of bed, thus i’m struggling to take care of myself, the list truly goes on. I am barely surviving day-day and the thought of having to wait another 2-3 weeks feels unbearable. 

I feel like most GP’s I have seen have been really dismissive to my anxiety and not done much except give me advice and set up an appointment 2 weeks later to see how I’m feeling. I am terrified of waiting another 6-8 weeks for therapy (+ waiting time for the appointment) which I’m not even sure I can engage with because of my anxiety. 

I’m at a point where I just can’t see through this, I have no idea what to do. I’m scared of waiting 2 weeks to be told again "here are some coping mechanisms, wait for therapy and we’ll reassess you on what to do next."

What do I do? Does anyone have any advice?

Hi all. I finish DBT in November, after just short of 14 months. I had a review with my therapist and my care coordinator last week to discuss my next steps, and I'm wondering about other people's experiences in a CMHT after such a long stretch of therapy.

I truly thought that I'd be discharged before Christmas, but my CCO brought up trauma therapy / potentially EMDR, and treating my OCD - which is quite severe. He explained that some people choose not to do anything else after DBT, but that I had options available. My therapist also wants to keep in touch with me via spaced out sessions for a number of months, after I finish DBT.

I guess.. will this actually happen ? It feels too good to be true, haha. I've been so convinced I'd be discharged ASAP, and it feels crazy that that may not be the case. I'm diagnosed with Autism, BPD, and OCD right now, but I'm currently waiting to see a new psychiatrist to be assessed for C-PTSD, too. I'm not sure how that'll affect what I am offered, or if it will at all.

Anyway, I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences of continued CMHT support after therapy - or lack thereof. I'd also love to know how trauma therapy is approached in a CMHT. Thank you

The Guardian: Number of young people with no close friends has soared since 2014 in England

My ultimate goal is to see an actual psychiatrist but with waiting times and shit staff numbers, unless I have money, that'll be a long while.

But I can't go a week or 2 without thinking I need to tell my local support team a million things. However I stop myself because I get anxious that I'll come across as crazy, or too much, intense, complex, etc.

Vent incoming with very brief mention of self harm, not extensively.

So every couple of weeks - sometimes days - I feel like a new person and I can't keep up with it.

People have told me when they see me next, I talk differently, how I act is different, even what I'm interested in is different. I can't listen to certain music I used to love because I genuinely feel like a fraud, a fake, because that's just not me anymore. Same with hobbies and movies.

I spend quite a bit of money on clothes and hobbies then a few weeks later I'm done, I can't be interested in them anymore because I'm not the same person who did like them. I'm unemployed which makes it worse on the money side.

I look at myself in the mirror and it's so different to how I envision myself in my head, but even then I can't pinpoint my appearance or my own personality. I could tell you facts about me, but I don't actually really know who I am.

It's void. Nothing.

My memory is horrible, but it's not amnesia. I can tell you I \*know\* my memories were experienced by me, despite some weird episodes of not feeling real and as if on autopilot.

I have a history of adopting strange beliefs, then harming myself, then barely remembering what happened and feeling completely fine.

I don't know how to bring it up but I can't keep living like this, it's exhausting. There's something that I keep thinking about, and it's either detail this to them, they don't do anything, not take me seriously, or I end up in hospital. Not ideal both ways but I guess... Do I just have to grit my teeth and do it anyways?

Hi everyone hope you're doing well.

Question in title.

For context I've had depression since I was a child. It reached new extreme in December after panic attack. With NHS crisis team. Started sertraline January, CMHT Feb or March. I've "calmed down" for lack of a better phrase but I am still finding I am doing nothing all day. It's so hard to get out of bed. I don't work. No friends hard to socialise etc. Intrusive thoughts are lesser than before but still here etc.

The CBT at the CMHT isnt helping. Ive had more help from self-help books (Feeling Good, How to Overcome Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts). I'm wondering if there's a better medication for me than sertraline (150mg) but I'm terrified of reversing back to a worse state + onboarding effects again, which were particularly rough.

Wondering what peopls advice would be. CMHT+medication. I don't know what the CMHT could help with anymore. I'm doing much better than before in the sense I'm not in crisis anymore, but this daily weight of depression is getting to me again.

sorry if this is a big or inappropriate question but I’m just wondering what people would consider to be the difference between religious psychosis vs just being religious? I’m religious myself and it’s why I’m asking, I mean sure I can’t prove my God is real and neither can my church but when do beliefs cross the line into what can be considered by others to be ‘religious psychosis‘?

I won’t be offended by the answers I’m asking this cause at times I do look back on my beliefs and worry (for example I was very suicidal for a while because I believed God was sending me visions of my death and wanted me to die so I could fulfil His plan and that I was an angel who needed to get back to God)

thanks!

*thanks everyone for responding it’s been insightful sorry if I don’t reply I just don’t have much to add!!

Title. The main reason i have never been to therapy is due to the possibility of being sectioned. I am passively suicidal, i wont actually do it but i do think about it every day. If i get therapy and get sectioned it would fuck me up 10 times worse and i might actually do it after. What are the real risks of it happening ?

just found out my cmht closed my case without any letter or phone call. been under them for years. went to gp for a med review and they said cmht discharged me months ago. no one told me. now i have no one. typical.

I’m experiencing a long wait for cmht, over a year. I have already waited a big chunk of it, so I’m almost there, but I’m having a terrible time.

I experience moods that appear to cycle, and possibly a mixture of both moods at the same time. I’ve just been in what may be mixed episode, and now I think may be heading into a depressive one.

I have phoned 111/2 once before, I had an assessment and a referral to therapy which I haven’t heard from. Maybe I didn’t get anything else because I wasn’t actively in a crisis? It had passed by the time the assessment came. Can crisis team prescribe meds? I don’t really want full on involvement with them.

I don’t know what else to do, that’s all I want is some meds that will help me feel better. Antidepressants make things worse so I’ve come off them and I’ve already tried multiple ones. Has anyone got some tips? Anyone been in a similar situation?

Today is my niece's 31st bday. My sister died suddenly & unexpectedly in August 2023, 6 weeks after our mother died too from cancer / dementia. My sister's family no longer have anything to do with me & I don't even know why. My sister & I weren't close but we put up with each other & hung out at least once a month, sometimes we had a lot of laughs. Other times?...we vociferously disagreed...

I was very close to my niece & nephew from birth. Then the funeral happened & then?...The End. My Xmas presents I sent to my niece & nephew, birthday cards, "thinking of you" texts on special days with kisses, all arrived & ignored. So I stopped sending last year. My 25yr old nephew blocked me on FB.

But no one knows why, which is some comfort at least. And everyone says "you've done nothing to deserve this".

My direct family are all gone now. My father went in 2007. But I'm lucky. I still have my father's brother & sister & cousins, who all live hundreds of miles away. And I have my beautiful teenager.

Today is full of memories, of lives we used to live, of people we used to & thought, we knew. We really didn't know them after all, did we?

My sister's house has been sold now. I found out accidentally on Rightmove.com as I had to do some research for something in our county. No one told me. I think I stopped breathing as it stared back at me online.

It is full of my father's belongings too. His paintings, his old letters to our mother, old photos, old furniture. And I have no idea where my sister's family are going. They're just people I used to know, now.

All I have is my sister's funeral service booklet. And my memories. But I hope they're all ok & living life & succeeding. I don't wish them any ills.

It's interesting, this life, isn't it? 😏

I've been suffering really badly with my mental health for about 1.5 years and during that time i have basically never left intensive support in the community. everytime I've had a break (biggest being 3 weeks) I've had to be referred back urgently. do despite whatever team I have been with I have 2 appointments a week, i don't know the name of the team because my area calls it something a bit obscure but it's the team we use to prevent hospital admission and they do home visits multiple times a week. I was with them for a while and they referred me for dbt where I have 2 appointments, one group and one 1-1.

I'm only 3 months from graduating dbt and I'm so scared. all my behaviours are still the same, I've just learned to understand them more and why I behave the way I do but it's not enough. I was told I would definitely have follow up therapy but I know it won't be as intensive

I'm 16 btw and have autism and currently going through an ADHD assessment if this makes any difference

Hi everyone.

I am 18, I am starting my 1st year of university in around 2 weeks. University itself actually excites me a lot. I'm quite excited to meet new people, I am doing a course I am quite interested in, etc.

But, I am also quite worried, and I think I am more worried than I should be. I won't name drop the university, but it is good - (top 10 in the uk for my course) and outcomes from the exact same course, in terms of salary is actually higher than i expected. Where my anxiety/worrieness comes in is because the future seems so uncertain. The industry I want to work towards seems really competitive. Internships are quite important, if I want to get a grad job, which is my no.1 goal. I just want to get into work related to my degree. But internships and just work experience in general seems really really difficult to get. And because of this, I am worried about my career as a whole.

Now, I don't want to get too into detail as this isn't the right sub for it, but the evidence is there, the uni has good outcomes. But i find reasons why I myself may not have a good outcome, (I don't wanna get too into detail for this, but u can ask questions abt this part if u want to)

This is the key part. This situation feels very very similar to one i was experiencing for pretty much the past 3-3.5 months. I was panicking, worrying and stressing over A level results day. I couldn't even sleep on many nights. This was literally the worst I have ever felt mentally, and I don't rlly recall facing a mental health problem as bad as this, this was very 'new' to me. Come results day, everything went fine, and I even did better than I thought on the subject I worried abt the most. But, then I was worried abt uncertainty, and now It feels the same way, I am again worried about uncertainty.

I am wondering if the anxiety/stress from the results day is somehow 'causing' my current anxiety? Is it making me worry more than i should be???

I'd appreciate any response, feel free to ask me for any more info if you want.