Mental health services are shambolic

Hope said:

Just a rant!

It seems that these days the only groups who might benefit from mental health services  are those who are severely ill (been sectioned and are in hospital), and those with stress related anxiety and depression, who have access to Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT): 6 weeks of CBT in a GP surgery or brief telephone contact. But if you have a chronic anxiety condition as a complication of having a developmental condition like autism, there is hardly any mental health provision!. I know this from first hand experience; you might get 6 weeks  of CBT, which barely scratches the surface of your problems, and are then expected to get on with it yourself, until the problems you face mean you need more CBT; and so it goes on  in swings and roundabouts with no real progress!.

Isn't it about time this diabolical state of affairs changes? And what precisely is the Autism Strategy doing to ensure that adults on the spectrum with chronic anxiety get the intensive (more thaan 6 weeks in many cases) therapy they need?

Can I add a quick rant on the same topic? :)

I think that you're being unduly optimistic in suggesting that IAPT are a good thing.  I waited about six months to start CBT and then it was with a rubbish therapist.  I never actually worked out what the specialist knowledge that she was supposed to have was, as she didn't seem to know much more than I'd learned from a few books.  She also admitted that she didn't really know much about Asperger's Syndrome, which was hardly a good start.  She did drop the name into several of the meetings saying that she needed to "take it into account", but didn't actually demonstrate any understanding of what it really meant.  She also complained that I was too clever hence difficult to treat, which was a little worrying.  That's before I even start on the utter organisational incompetence and the "link worker" who never actually linked to anything.  Overall, especially in the long run, they did more harm than good.

Yes, it is definitely time for mental health services to improve!  Apart from anything else, neglecting people with mental health difficulties is likely to make them worse and compromise their independence and ability to work further.  Especially for people at risk of mental health difficulties (e.g. people on the autism spectrum) there needs to be a focus on helping people to stay well and live healthy and productive lives rather than waiting for things to get unmanageable before doing something.  This is, after all, almost certainly a more cost effective way of doing things.

Hope said:

Just a rant!

It seems that these days the only groups who might benefit from mental health services  are those who are severely ill (been sectioned and are in hospital), and those with stress related anxiety and depression, who have access to Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT): 6 weeks of CBT in a GP surgery or brief telephone contact. But if you have a chronic anxiety condition as a complication of having a developmental condition like autism, there is hardly any mental health provision!. I know this from first hand experience; you might get 6 weeks  of CBT, which barely scratches the surface of your problems, and are then expected to get on with it yourself, until the problems you face mean you need more CBT; and so it goes on  in swings and roundabouts with no real progress!.

Isn't it about time this diabolical state of affairs changes? And what precisely is the Autism Strategy doing to ensure that adults on the spectrum with chronic anxiety get the intensive (more thaan 6 weeks in many cases) therapy they need?

Can I add a quick rant on the same topic? :)

I think that you're being unduly optimistic in suggesting that IAPT are a good thing.  I waited about six months to start CBT and then it was with a rubbish therapist.  I never actually worked out what the specialist knowledge that she was supposed to have was, as she didn't seem to know much more than I'd learned from a few books.  She also admitted that she didn't really know much about Asperger's Syndrome, which was hardly a good start.  She did drop the name into several of the meetings saying that she needed to "take it into account", but didn't actually demonstrate any understanding of what it really meant.  She also complained that I was too clever hence difficult to treat, which was a little worrying.  That's before I even start on the utter organisational incompetence and the "link worker" who never actually linked to anything.  Overall, especially in the long run, they did more harm than good.

Yes, it is definitely time for mental health services to improve!  Apart from anything else, neglecting people with mental health difficulties is likely to make them worse and compromise their independence and ability to work further.  Especially for people at risk of mental health difficulties (e.g. people on the autism spectrum) there needs to be a focus on helping people to stay well and live healthy and productive lives rather than waiting for things to get unmanageable before doing something.  This is, after all, almost certainly a more cost effective way of doing things.