Psychiatry U.K. - is it worth it, and what does it involve?

 read your diagnoses, and I notice three things:

1) The UK system works better than ours
2) Diagnoses are fast, for us it's science fiction if you're an adult
3) A state is civil and valid if it really gives many opportunities to its citizens.

Yours is better.



In many things the Italian State has beautiful laws.

In others we are not protected at all.

I struggled for a very long time to get a diagnosis and mine was so obvious.

Basic ordinary medical preparation is lacking.
While on the scientific research side we are among the first in the world.


These two things are really discordant with each other.

It means that something doesn't work as well as it could.

Be careful because many diagnoses are wrong and some have other orientations.

It means that there are other syndromes but in the diagnosis only one converges, I am writing this to you because there are so many syndromes and it is not likely that they have the same component.

* Some are not easy to resolve at all and are very similar to each other.

Always pay attention to the diagnosis, as in any diagnosis you can make an error of evaluation.


The speech is very complex.

1 hour 20 mins

Wow, only 20 minutes? What did they do in that time?

What do you mean by clinical Dr?

Hello BlueDalmatian (very cool name!) 

I have just completed the process myself with Psychiatry UK and I think Andy has done a pretty excellent job of detailing how it all went. 

For me the time scales were different. I went to my GP in July 2022 (1 year ago) and the GP provided me with a 1 page questionnaire to fill in. Which I did. He agreed to refer me and sent it off. I got a letter saying the waiting list was about 3-4 years so I didn't really pursue it until another GP told me to tell my doctors I want "right to choose". 

This triggered my referral to be sent to PUK. I didn't hear back until March 2023 when they sent over those REALLY major forms Andy mentioned. I didn't look at them until about late May/early June. Finally returned them and then waited 6 weeks until they called to book my assessment. 

The assessment slot they gave me was 2 weeks later. My video call was 1hr 20mins and I was given my diagnosis on the call. I also had sent a letter from my private psychiatrist giving an outline of his treatment, since I have a lot of mental health issues too. 

I could have made the process a lot quicker but I am not that organised (also have ADHD) but getting everything dusted in a year I thought wasn't too bad, compared to the main waiting list.

I think it's worth doing it - so good luck! Keep us posted.

Same for me. NHS offers nothing. The only useful thing of that letter is that you can use it if you have problems at work, or to qualify for Workplace Adjustments. You can also give it to a private practitioner if you want to set thing straight with him before starting. For all the rest, it is wholly useless. 

Interesting to read what happens in the UK about it.

I am Italian.
I have diagnosis.

I'm HFA.

And we do not exist as autistic after 18 years of age.


The aftermath is disheartening.

So: psychiatrist.

I was told not to take any medications.

I am not responsive to anything.

Regarding all therapies but you write about CBT

My advice is to ask for CBT adapted to the autism spectrum.


I don't understand them: I don't even know what to answer from a written list of questions.

The thread interests me.
Sorry if I wrote at length and in a perhaps inappropriate format.

Hello

I have just gone through the process of getting diagnosed through Psychiatry UK, so hopefully my experience could be of some value to you.   

First of all, yes, you will need to get a referral via a GP. I firstly spoke to a GP about this over a telephone consultation and they invited me to a face to face appointment to discuss it further. It's at this point that they spoke to me about the 'right to choose' and that going through Psychiatry UK would be much quicker that the traditional referral method through the local authority. 

Part of me feels quite lucky that I had a relatively new GP who clearly listened to my needs and wasn't dismissive. I'd try and get an appointment with a GP who you either already know or has a good background around mental health and neurodiversity. 

The GP submitted the referral and I also submitted a supporting letter of why I thought I had autism and why I was seeking a diagnosis. 

About 6 weeks after that, I received and email inviting me to join their online portal. At this point I had to submit various documents before they could progress the referral any further. This was: 

- An online test which I had to answer several questions. This gave a 'likelihood' that I experienced many autism symptoms. 

- A large document of questions where I had to answer very personal questions about my whole life, from my mothers pregnancy right through to the present day. They ask for as much information as possible (e.g. school records if you have them).

- A similar large document of similar questions, but completed by a close family member or spouse. 

I then waited about another 6 weeks at which point I got a call inviting me to have an assessment via zoom. I think I was quite lucky and there was an opening due to a cancellation and got an assessment booked in for 3 weeks time. 

The assessment was completed by a clinical doctor and a specialist practitioner nurse who specialized in autism. There were around 15 minutes of questions based around my general health, upbringing and mental health history before the nurse practitioner spent 45 minutes asking me all kinds of questions around my childhood through to adult life. 

They did say that the assessments can take up to 2 hours but because I provided some much supporting documentation, they only needed one hour. 

By the end of the one hour they were in a position to diagnose me with Autism. At this point they sent a letter to myself and the GP (took about 3 weeks) confirming my diagnosis with an very detailed overview of the assessment. Within the letter they recommend what treatments or therapies should be provided. 

I am now at the point where my GP has spoken to me about the diagnosis and I am waiting for the mental health team to get back to me on my options as it's been recommended that I have talking therapy with a specialized therapist in autism, as well as CBT. It's at this point though where I have no idea on the NHS waiting times for these services or if the only quick way to access these would be to go private. 

For me though, just having the diagnosis is a huge step forwards for me :) 

Hope this helps,

Andy