Reason why the nhs is a waste of f***ing space

Former Member

I started showing symptoms of some OCD when I was about 10.

I was 12, I went to the doctors. They diagnosed me with this OCD. And they referred me to a child mental health thing to get some CBT. The thing was, the therapist, I think he didn't know a lot about OCD, well we talked about absoloutely crap, didn't help my OCD at all. Then my mum forced me change schools.

i moved to another city. This was when I was 12 and half. This was in 2011, about February.

Of course, I had to go a whole new doctors. I got referred to CAMHS. I waited for absoloutely ages of course, finally they took me to see this random person who talked aboute shit to me for like 7 weeks. She didn't even give me any treatment, just talked about shit. Like how to make friends and shit.

then it was the holidays and she said that was my therapy, she weren't gonna give me no more. By then my OCD was severe.

so we waited for f**king ages and then I finally got given another therapist, this one seemed like she at least we're gonna give me some actual treatment.

Then about 6 months later she were like: right that your f***ing treatment done, now go and live your crap life.

I weren't even ready to cope with my OCD!!!

now 8 months after they discharged me I'm living a crap life and I want to kill myself. I suffer from extreme OCD, delusions, paranoid thoughts, anxiety, depression every day. Every day is so hard. Trying to remember the stuff I need to remember to ask reassurances. It's so hard.

Tried a lot do times to get some treatment. No one gives a shit. Gone to my GP, she doesn't seem to understand. Complained. Tried finding a private therapist, guess what? CAMHS have stopped me getting any treatment even if I wanna see a private therapist!

So now no support. Paranoid thoughts every day. Delusions, convinced I'm in another world right now coz I touched something I thought someone out something harmful on it...

Imagine having an itch you can't scratch. Wpthats what OCD is like. But the thing is an itch is just annoying...OCD is annoying, scary, stressful...

Having 100 OCD stuff I have to do ask reassurances but my mum won't answer. Like having a massive allergic reaction for days on end. Just sitting there suffering. And depression. And suicidal thoughts. And delusions. And paranoid thoughts. And worrying. And cutting yourself.

I've had this OCD for 4 years now, people just say I'm making stuff up, my OCD isn't as bad as I say. In fact, it's actually worse than I actually make it out to be. Because there are simply no words to describe what I hadpve to go through every day...

Honestly, why the f**k am I even here? No one gives a **** just like no one gives a stuff about me

Sorry, I just had to get it off my ****ing chest

Former Member

Have you an exact idea what it is that you would like to receive? Do you want to be a talking therapy and/or medication, inpatient therapy? It might help talking to PALS, and also talking to your doctor like you just have - saying how it makes you all feel - maybe keeping a diary of it all? It may help to talk to your mum and let her know exactly how it all makes you feel.

Former Member

Hi yeah I think that just even talking therapy would make a big difference, or maybe CBT or ERP, I don't know...but just to talk to someone who knows about it and who could maybe give me some advice...strategies...I don't know, I'm not a professional...:( but yeah my mum knows quite a lot about it as she's sat in on some of my assesments so she knows about all of it. Tbh she's really angry at the nhs for it as well, but doesn't really know what to do...

Former Member

You have a right to second opinion. As Miss Riot says, it would help you if you knew roughly what it is you want in terms of help.

Former Member

How have CAMHS stopped you getting private therapy exactly? Have you tried any medication? Might be worth asking your GP about meds if you really don't think therapy will help.

Former Member

Yeah I know it's a bit unbelievable that CAMHS can stop me getting private therapist, but it's because when I went for an assessment with private, then they said they were gonna get back to me, then my mum got an email saying that they were talking to CAMHS and CAMHS told them that there's no point giving me any treatment as my home life is rubbish. ( my mum has mental health problems) anyway, I think therapy will help, it's the CAMHS people who think that there's no point in it. My GP thinks it'll help too, but she can't do much, only refer me to CAMHS again, and then CAMHS only ditches me again

Former Member

I'm not being funny, but I'm with CAMHS and they are fully supportive of me getting a private therapist. They can not stop you, you pay for a private therapist... they wouldn't turn you away, you're their business. Contact them again.

Former Member

If they think your home life is a mess, why aren't they intervening?

Former Member

Basically I'm on child protection...blah and CAMHS are saying there's no point in giving me treatment as it won't help, meaning I'm past help? I don't know, but I personally don't think that anyone is past help. I don't know, they just left me to cope with it.

Former Member

The mental health system is in tiers, CAMHS is tier 3 which is the middle tier. Perhaps they are suggesting you don't need their level of support, but maybe you could go back to your GP and see what they say? Your GP can refer you to a tier 2 counselor, which is the tier below CAMHS. Your GP can also offer you medication, or refer you back to CAMHS if they think it's appropriate.

CAMHS would in no way be able to stop you getting private therapy, private therapists are not connected to CAMHS or the NHS at all.

Do you have a social worker?

Former Member

If you do have a social worker (which you should if you are on the CP reg) then I think you need to talk to them in full about how you feel and what services want to have in order to feel better. Maybe they could off some respite care for you for a while so you could focus on therapy for a time (maybe 6 weeks or so).

Former Member

Hi
Miss riot.....I have a social worker, and I've talked to her about it, well my mum has, but they aren't offering anything, and my mum has tried to ask for info on respit care and they have said they're gonna get back to her but then they only went off on a break!
Broke angel.....I've gone back to my GP so many times now, they only report back to the CAMHS, and CAMHS still don't do anything. Someone from the CAMHS teem are coming to see me today, but that's only coz my mum had been phoning them up lots.
I haven't really got my hopes up tbh
Thanks for both of your support
Madi x

Former Member

I think you should speak to your social worker and explain to them you aren't coping, and you need more support. Have you told your GP CAMHS aren't helping you? There is support outside of CAMHS, perhaps in a local youth center or something, I'm sure your GP could advice you about this. School probably can as well, do you have a pastoral team in your school?

When CAMHS see you today explain to them how much you want help, and what you want from the help.

Former Member

It's not that they're not helping. They're not giving any help to start with. I've spoken to GP, social worker, they can't do anything except write back to CAMHS and CAMHS doesn't want to do anything. I have a school counseller who I see for half an hour every week, but she doesn't know much about OCD, she knows some of it like what I have to do and stuff, but she's not really a phychiatrist, if you know what I mean. So sometimes when I tell her about my OCD stuff, she can't really do anything, apart from tell me to challenge it.
Yeah ive just had the assessment, I explained to them what kind of help I thought would help, they said a nurse was gonna Jose me for eight sessions, which isn't really enough, tbh, but I suppose having that is better than nothing at all.
My mum isn't too pleased, as she's a nurse not a therapist, but tbh I'd rather see her than have nothing.
My mum as usual got really emotional, which made it very hard to hear what CAMHS thought, but I do get why she's angry, I mean, I'm angry as well, but being angry about it is hardly going to get them to give me treatment, if they are not gonna give me treatment in the two other assessment,s they're not gonna do it now.
I've kinda given up tbh.
Basically they're just gonna assess how bad I'm getting, not gonna do anything to help. Come on! OCD is not a terminal illness! Why are they acting like that?

Former Member

OCD is something that yuo'll need to learn to live with. There isn't a magic wand to get rid of it. It also sounds like you're prejudging the outcome. If the nurse is good, then 8 sessions may be more than enough to teach you the coping strategies you need - for any of this to work you need to go at it with the right attitude.

Yes, it might not work, but equally if you're not expecting it to - then it definitely won't and there's no point in them trying.

Former Member

I think you're getting a bit confused about peoples rolls. The nurse you will see is most probably a psychiatric nurse, a psychiatrist is a psychiatric doctor.

It sounds to me like you want a psychologist, which is a person who treats mental illness without medication but with therapy.

A psych nurse can offer therapy too, in the sense that they can support you, help you manage the OCD, come up with an action plan to help things improve and also give you medication if you require it. 8 weeks is a standard amount of time for "therapy" sessions. It sounds like they don't think you need long term treatment, but rather a course of sessions that will improve how you cope with your OCD and help you manage it.

If you want to see a psychologist then you will probably have to pay for private treatment with one, they are few and far between in CAMHS and in very high demand. You must remember that there are people with very severe mental health disorders who are the highest priority, because they need to be kept stabilized and safe. CAMHS can only treat so many people at a time, they only have so many staff and if they are offering you any treatment at all (which they are) you must be grateful for it, because many people go without any support. Some people are left on the waiting list for years and years.

Make the most of the 8 sessions they are providing you with, go in with a positive attitude and some ideas of what you'd like to get out of the sessions.

Former Member

I think my it is sever itpf it means I can't sleep, can't eat and can't live. Just because I'm not slicing and dicing myself, doesn't mean it's not serious? I'd just like to say that to anyone who thinks you only deserve to be taken seriously after you've woken up in a hospital after taken an overdose.

Former Member

It's severe to you - but on the grand scale of issues out there, there will be more acute cases. No one is trying to say that it doesn't matter - simply that it's unlikely to get to the top of a priority list.

You've got a great opportunity to learn coping techniques with these specialist nurse sessions if you can make the most of them.

Former Member

Fair enough, what would you say is sever ?

Former Member

In the OCD line - probably nothing.

There are children and adolescents out there with mental health issues that make them an active threat to their own and other people's safety. A relatively small proportion of the service users, but take up a lot of resources.

And to pre empt any ideas you might get - trying to appear more severe to get help won't work because the services main thing is to get people to just about functioning, which is probably where you are at the moment.

Former Member

OCD can be very dangerous, I don't think you know enough about it to judge it, no offence. If you don't mind me asking, have you had severe OCD before? Im assuming not, or you wouldn't assume it isn't 'serious enough'.
Functioning as in breathing? Well my condition hasn't got to that point. And many people get help from camhs for many different reasons, I've heard people going there for 3 or 2 years...getting the help they need.
Do you know how much effort it would take to appear even more severe? A lot, that. Don't have. S even if I wanted to, I wouldn't have any energy.

Former Member

Obviously your issues are important to you, but you must understand that you aren't going to be highest priority. It's like if someone went to A&E with a broken leg, and someone went with a broken neck. Both are serious yes, but obviously the broken neck takes priority and is treated first, and for longer because it requires more urgent treatment.

I have been under tier 4 in the mental health system for nearly a year and a half, and under CAMHS for 2 years. I am seen every week, at one point I was seen every day even on weekends because that is the treatment I require. I am on multiple medications and regularly get admitted to hospital. You do not require such intense treatment, and you should only see that as a good thing. They are offering you 8 weeks, which is a lot compared to what most people get.

Eight weeks is more than enough for you to come up with a coping strategy, there is no magic cure and you've already said counselling doesn't work for you so that means you just need to find ways to manage your OCD. There is only so much CAMHS can do, as Scary said the point they are there is to help you function. It sounds like you are function okay, you go to school, you live at home, you don't self harm. Yes there are issues but they can be managed in 8 sessions and you can function even better

Former Member

But how are you to judge whether I require the intense treatment or not? All I've said in this thread is a simplified version of my mental illnesses...and you are really lucky for them to see you for two years every week, some of us don't get the help we need, and I know I'm not the only one who has been let down.
I don't think it's a lot compared to what most people get, do you mean most people or most people who have mental difficulties?
It's not for coping strategies, it's for someone to talk to about it. Like a counseller but with someone who knows about it. I don't go to school as its too much for me to cope with and I'm failing at it so no point, and where else do you expect me to live? A homeless shelter? Self harming is not a line that means your condition is serious or not, it is simply a way for some people to cope with. Some people self harm, some people have eating disorders, some people have to punch a wall, some take drugs. They're all ways to cope with life, and mine is to distract myself by reading for long hours because I don't have access to the others.

Former Member

You're being very rude to me now and I don't appreciate it. I know a hell of a lot of people with mental health problems who do not receive any treatment at all who desperately need help. You do need to be grateful for the 8 sessions, I'm sure if during those 8 sessions if they feel like you need more help they will extend the course. There is no guarantee the psych nurse will know lots about OCD either.

And, you said you see a counselor every week at school? How can you possibly do this if you don't go to school?

If you read to cope, then that is functioning extremely well in that sense, that is a great thing to do to cope and you should be proud of it.

The reason I said you don't need intense treatment is because you are not being offered intense treatment. I am going simply by what you have said here. You should be pleased that they think you can cope better after 8 weeks. Some of us will need to be on medication for life.

Former Member

Madison1 wrote: »

OCD can be very dangerous, I don't think you know enough about it to judge it, no offence. If you don't mind me asking, have you had severe OCD before? Im assuming not, or you wouldn't assume it isn't 'serious enough'.
Functioning as in breathing? Well my condition hasn't got to that point. And many people get help from camhs for many different reasons, I've heard people going there for 3 or 2 years...getting the help they need.
Do you know how much effort it would take to appear even more severe? A lot, that. Don't have. S even if I wanted to, I wouldn't have any energy.

I'm not saying it's not a big problem to you, and I'm not saying it's harmless - just that on a comparative scale it will always struggle to compete with some other issues. CAHMS aims to make the best use of its resources. Teaching you coping tactics is a good use of it's resources, so that's what you're getting. CAMHS don't have a magic wand and can't make all of your problems go away. Equally, while there are other issues going on in your life the impact that CAMHS are going to be able to make are limited so they're being realistic about that.

No, I don't have OCD. Which probably actually puts me in a better position to make a comparison than someone who's life is directly impacted by it.

Does it help to make a comparison between a broken leg and severe arthritis in their knee? Someone with a broken leg will generally get treatment pretty quickly, being put pretty close to the front of the queue and with a fair amount of resource thrown at them for a short period of time. As a result of that, their broken leg will get fixed, and they'll go back to their normal life and no need any further input from the system. Great resource consumption to result ratio. Someone with severe arthritis will also have their mobility restricted, in much the same way that the person with a broken leg did. It will take them a lot longer to access treatment, and when they do it's likely to be in the how to manage it/cope/adapt your life lines rather than fixing the problem - because it's almost impossible to fix arthritis. Someone with a bone disorder that means their legs repeatedly break and damage blood vessels and lead to life threatening injuries will get help pretty quickly - and then will continue to get a pretty high level of input from the system because that's the only way to keep them just about functioning.

It sucks that we can't 'fix' everyone 100% - but then you'd end up with a nation of clones and that's no good for anyone.

Dealing with OCD is all about learning to cope and manage it (so I've been told separately by a friend and a colleague). If you can make the most of these sessions - then hopefully you'll be able to do that.

Former Member

Scary Monster wrote: »

I'm not saying it's not a big problem to you, and I'm not saying it's harmless - just that on a comparative scale it will always struggle to compete with some other issues. CAHMS aims to make the best use of its resources. Teaching you coping tactics is a good use of it's resources, so that's what you're getting. CAMHS don't have a magic wand and can't make all of your problems go away. Equally, while there are other issues going on in your life the impact that CAMHS are going to be able to make are limited so they're being realistic about that.
No, I don't have OCD. Which probably actually puts me in a better position to make a comparison than someone who's life is directly impacted by it.

Does it help to make a comparison between a broken leg and severe arthritis in their knee? Someone with a broken leg will generally get treatment pretty quickly, being put pretty close to the front of the queue and with a fair amount of resource thrown at them for a short period of time. As a result of that, their broken leg will get fixed, and they'll go back to their normal life and no need any further input from the system. Great resource consumption to result ratio. Someone with severe arthritis will also have their mobility restricted, in much the same way that the person with a broken leg did. It will take them a lot longer to access treatment, and when they do it's likely to be in the how to manage it/cope/adapt your life lines rather than fixing the problem - because it's almost impossible to fix arthritis. Someone with a bone disorder that means their legs repeatedly break and damage blood vessels and lead to life threatening injuries will get help pretty quickly - and then will continue to get a pretty high level of input from the system because that's the only way to keep them just about functioning.

It sucks that we can't 'fix' everyone 100% - but then you'd end up with a nation of clones and that's no good for anyone.

Dealing with OCD is all about learning to cope and manage it (so I've been told separately by a friend and a colleague). If you can make the most of these sessions - then hopefully you'll be able to do that.

I don't know, I think you can get completely better form it, I've heard of people who had it quite bad and then they don't do it any more after getting CBT.
Yeah, I know there no wand, that what they said as well, it's kinda upsetting to know people who don't have it don't consider it to be serious, it really depends on how serious it is. If you have mild OCD and only have to do a few rituals and your ok, I agree, it isn't serious at all. But if you whole life is taken up with remembering the stuff you need to remember, the rituals you have to keep doing and you can't get a break from scary thoughts in your head, then it is just as serious as having a pain in your chest. That's what I think anyway. Mental illnesses are just as important as physical ones. They affect your mind, and without my mind I wouldn't even be here.
Sorry I don't understand you leg comparison do you mean I'm the one with a broken leg or what?
Yeah it is about that, I never said anyone could make me better and make all the OCD stuff go, but from my experiences, eight would be enough for someone with mild OCD, and we need to flexible about it and change the number according to the perosn

Former Member

I more mean you're the one with the arthritis.

The system is more flexible than I think you're giving it credit for. The 8 sessions is a starting point - if that reveals that you'd benefit from further intervention then that will be considered. As with a lot of mental health issues, dealing with OCD is about learning to manage it rather than fixing it - so the severity of the impact it currently has on your life isn't directly related to how long it will take you to learn to the coping tactics.

Former Member

Madison1 wrote: »

change the number according to the perosn

They will if they think you need more sessions.

Former Member

Broken-Angel wrote: »

You're being very rude to me now and I don't appreciate it. I know a hell of a lot of people with mental health problems who do not receive any treatment at all who desperately need help. You do need to be grateful for the 8 sessions, I'm sure if during those 8 sessions if they feel like you need more help they will extend the course. There is no guarantee the psych nurse will know lots about OCD either.

And, you said you see a counselor every week at school? How can you possibly do this if you don't go to school?

If you read to cope, then that is functioning extremely well in that sense, that is a great thing to do to cope and you should be proud of it.

The reason I said you don't need intense treatment is because you are not being offered intense treatment. I am going simply by what you have said here. You should be pleased that they think you can cope better after 8 weeks. Some of us will need to be on medication for life.

But you're being rude yourself though saying I'm exagerating it when you don't know an awful lot bout my problems...

Former Member

Madison1 wrote: »

But you're being rude yourself though saying I'm exagerating it when you don't know an awful lot bout my problems...

At no point have I said you're exaggerating. I'm saying 8 sessions is a reasonable amount of time to help you put in place coping strategies. They may offer you more support once you start depending on what they think is best.

Why did you ignore the rest of my post? I am trying to give you advice and support, I've been in the CAMHS system for a fair while and I know how it works. All I'm trying to do is help you understand it's purpose.

Former Member

Broken-Angel wrote: »

At no point have I said you're exaggerating. I'm saying 8 sessions is a reasonable amount of time to help you put in place coping strategies. They may offer you more support once you start depending on what they think is best.

Why did you ignore the rest of my post? I am trying to give you advice and support, I've been in the CAMHS system for a fair while and I know how it works. All I'm trying to do is help you understand it's purpose.

Fair enough, but I don't really agree with them. I do know how it works, all I'm saying is I don't agree with what they are offering. I didn't mean to be offensive, but I've talked to quite a lot of people about this and they all tell me that I deserve to get the support so getting a lot of mixed messeges.