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Mental health services are shambolic

Hope

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?

Parents

  • Recently I was involved in mental health quality check work, to find out what needs to change  in mental health provision for adults on the spectrum. The findings were grim, revealing widespread autism ignorance amongst mental health staff and lack of autism training, all things that the Autism Act is supposed to rectify.

    I have seen three different CBT therapists in the last 6 years. The first therapist stopped seeing me when I was on the waiting list to be assessed for Asperger's. Once I was diagnosed she started seeing me again, and was prepared to work with me for a longer period of time, but then she moved to IAPT in a GP surgery.

    I was left at square one until a year later when I saw another therapist, but she only worked with me for 6 weeks and knew next to nothing abput autism. Neither did the first one, but at least she was nice and understanding - she was willing to learn. The second therapist told me I was unlikely to receive any more therapy on the NHS because I am not really  'ill', and can get out of bed in the morning!. This seemed to me as though she was clueless as to how severe my anxiety actually is. Yes, I can get out of bed in the morning, but the chronic anxiety and tension causes extreme discomfort and stops me from living a productive life.

    The third therapist told me she had worked with someone on the spectrum before, but did not help me overcome my anxiety, and I only saw her for 6 weeks.

    My support worker has done far more to help me than any of these so called experts, but I still experience mental health problems. I am now waiting for another referral from my CPN for more therapy, clinging to the perhaps foolish belief that next time will be different.

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  • Recently I was involved in mental health quality check work, to find out what needs to change  in mental health provision for adults on the spectrum. The findings were grim, revealing widespread autism ignorance amongst mental health staff and lack of autism training, all things that the Autism Act is supposed to rectify.

    I have seen three different CBT therapists in the last 6 years. The first therapist stopped seeing me when I was on the waiting list to be assessed for Asperger's. Once I was diagnosed she started seeing me again, and was prepared to work with me for a longer period of time, but then she moved to IAPT in a GP surgery.

    I was left at square one until a year later when I saw another therapist, but she only worked with me for 6 weeks and knew next to nothing abput autism. Neither did the first one, but at least she was nice and understanding - she was willing to learn. The second therapist told me I was unlikely to receive any more therapy on the NHS because I am not really  'ill', and can get out of bed in the morning!. This seemed to me as though she was clueless as to how severe my anxiety actually is. Yes, I can get out of bed in the morning, but the chronic anxiety and tension causes extreme discomfort and stops me from living a productive life.

    The third therapist told me she had worked with someone on the spectrum before, but did not help me overcome my anxiety, and I only saw her for 6 weeks.

    My support worker has done far more to help me than any of these so called experts, but I still experience mental health problems. I am now waiting for another referral from my CPN for more therapy, clinging to the perhaps foolish belief that next time will be different.

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