Crashing

This is an astonishingly frank article from the Guardian today.

About a quarter of the patients I see as a GP practice counsellor in the NHS have had some engagement with A&E. When I get referrals through this route the notes I see are universally superb; useful, thorough, balanced, considered, caring. But it is still instructive to read a ‘case history’ from a patients perspective.

This chap is very lucky; he has a group of friends who understand and support him, but also a GP who works hard to help and contain him, even when he refuses medication. And of course he lives near to a psychiatric hospital that has good outpatient services.

But I was still shocked by a couple of things. Firstly he says quite frankly that CBT didn’t work; this is true for many more people than is broadly admitted. Secondly, he says that having attended as an psychiatric outpatient, he was not allowed to engage with CMHT while waiting for IAPT; in my part of London, the default offer at the end of a wait for IAPT is a twenty minute triage phone call and an online course of “self-administered reading” [essentially, giving someone a leaflet without the cost of giving them a leaflet]. At a time when twelve men kill themselves every day, that isn’t good enough.

Which brings me to my point; the writer says he jumped ship at this point, and found a private therapist he could afford to see for 18 months. I work in both private and IAPT work, and I’d advise anyone to do this. Do some research, find a therapist you trust, try a couple of sessions to ascertain what route you might take. If this sounds like you, or someone you know, put your hand up and ask to be heard. Start getting better.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/05/psychiatric-hospital-breakdown-admission