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CMHT blaiming autism

Raspberries

I was diagnosed with autism (ASD) 3 years ago after struggling with my mental health for over 30 years. It took over five and a half years to get this, as the CMHT did not tell me that I could be diagnosed without any knowledge of my mother's pregnancy or my first five years of life.

Now, I am being honest: I don't have much faith in the NHS as a whole, which stems from how different departments treated me and CMHT lying in letters to my GP and on my medical file. I also had many difficulties trusting the CMHT, as they never seem to believe anything I say.

Last week, I had an appointment with a psychiatrist and a clinical lead from the local CMHT. Straight away, the psychiatrist started blaming my mental health problems on autism, and the CMHT can not provide care for autistic people. They told me that I have to go to a local autism charity for help with autism, and once I have help with that, then they can look into if I need mental health help. The autism charity can not provide help for mental health, so if they (who are not qualified in mental health) think I need help, then I would have to be referred back to the CMHT.

The day after this appointment, I had a complete meltdown and smashed my computer and several other things. Unfortunately, I live alone, so I have no one witnessing these meltdowns. While in a meltdown, I cannot think of anything else but to get the frustration out, and all the information I have read to stop the meltdown is not in my head at that time. Afterwards, I go to bed and stay there for days, but I still get angry and upset because of the meltdown.

Does anyone else have this problem? I think it is an absolute shambles that is putting people's lives at risk and delaying the help that people desperately need.  

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can stop during a meltdown? Bearing in mind I am on my own and I have read the neurodivergent mindfulness booklet. 

Thanks for reading. 

Parents

  • Your mental health is low, yet the CMHT passes that responsibility of helping you to the autism charity, and the autism charity says no, they can't do anything for you, and that's the responsibility of the CMHT to help with your mental health, and it just goes in circles. You realize no one in these organizations are going to ultimately help you when you need it the most, and that is both frustrating and discouraging at the same time, and you lose trust in them both. 

    I've got into nonsensical "circles" like this a few times before, for situations that are different from yours. So I would suggest to tell the CMHT that you took their advice, and talked to the local autism charity about getting help for mental health, but they are not qualified in mental health, and they referred you back to the CMHT. And then say that you still need help with mental health, and wondering what services they could provide for you. 

    If you can't remember the ND mindfulness booklet, have some of the steps posted up on a wall, so that when you are frustrated, you can try to look at and follow the steps to calm yourself down. But you could also channel your anger into doing something more productive, like exercise, since exercise has physical movements that are repetitive, which can help get the stress out and and lower cortisol levels, and repetitive movements can be calming.

    Also, while reading about your meltdowns, it reminds me of the fight-or-flight response, where the prefrontal cortex gets shut down, so that you can reaction to whatever threat is in front of you. Because in a dangerous situation where there is an immediate threat, there is no time to think, only time to act, and your body goes into that state. High stress or anxious situations can trigger it too. That's why many students can't remember information during a test or exam. I also think that intense anger can trigger the brain to go into blind rage, in which you will just blank out in a fit of rage, and that can be dangerous for the people around you. I wonder if anger management classes could help with that or not. 

    But I hope you receive the help you're looking for.

Reply

  • Your mental health is low, yet the CMHT passes that responsibility of helping you to the autism charity, and the autism charity says no, they can't do anything for you, and that's the responsibility of the CMHT to help with your mental health, and it just goes in circles. You realize no one in these organizations are going to ultimately help you when you need it the most, and that is both frustrating and discouraging at the same time, and you lose trust in them both. 

    I've got into nonsensical "circles" like this a few times before, for situations that are different from yours. So I would suggest to tell the CMHT that you took their advice, and talked to the local autism charity about getting help for mental health, but they are not qualified in mental health, and they referred you back to the CMHT. And then say that you still need help with mental health, and wondering what services they could provide for you. 

    If you can't remember the ND mindfulness booklet, have some of the steps posted up on a wall, so that when you are frustrated, you can try to look at and follow the steps to calm yourself down. But you could also channel your anger into doing something more productive, like exercise, since exercise has physical movements that are repetitive, which can help get the stress out and and lower cortisol levels, and repetitive movements can be calming.

    Also, while reading about your meltdowns, it reminds me of the fight-or-flight response, where the prefrontal cortex gets shut down, so that you can reaction to whatever threat is in front of you. Because in a dangerous situation where there is an immediate threat, there is no time to think, only time to act, and your body goes into that state. High stress or anxious situations can trigger it too. That's why many students can't remember information during a test or exam. I also think that intense anger can trigger the brain to go into blind rage, in which you will just blank out in a fit of rage, and that can be dangerous for the people around you. I wonder if anger management classes could help with that or not. 

    But I hope you receive the help you're looking for.

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