Are you entitled to one-to-one CBT on the NHS in the UK?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Haha quite possibly... ;-)

I think we just have a very good service here. The last time I had a few CBT sessions years ago I self referred to the same place and only waited two weeks then.

I think the only response to this is...

[MyNameIsTerry]

It at least makes up a fair bit for your areas ludicrous treatment of the Pregabalin situation.

I'm really surprised that are giving as many sessions as required as there is normally a set number although I seem to recall NICE have different guidance for OCD which has not specific time limit, like they set for GAD, which I've probably posted above for Sparkle.

My local one is Healthy Minds. Level 2 is a target of 30 days to be seen and CBT is 90 days. They told me I can't self refer though, GP referrals only. They also only offer limited support and services whereas yours has several other services which look very useful and would benefit many on here if they all had them. The other half of the city has a different provider doing the same as mine and they do allow self referral although I seem to recall it was only for Level 2 services and Level 3 needed a GP referral. The 2 therapist I saw were lovely and I got the impression they found it all a bit embarressing how their service manager was running it like a bureaucratic dinosaur...you couldn't even have CBT if your GP referred you as they had a rule about doing Level 2 first regardless of it not being appropriate so all they achieved was a management funnel, not a patient centric process and created additional delays for patients.

I'll end with one of these

---------- Post added at 06:56 ---------- Previous post was at 06:50 ----------

Are you royalty?

Surely someone with far more power, David Beckham perhaps?!

[Rennie1989]

The NHS love CBT because it shows results through evidence, so it is quite easy to get through a GP referral. There are often long waiting lists and you only get 6 sessions, which is a negative. But as said before it is dependent on where you live, I lived in Epsom in Surrey and I had to wait 10 months for CBT, whereas others have waited 3, 6 and 12 months.

[ricardo]

The NHS love CBT because it shows results through evidence, so it is quite easy to get through a GP referral. There are often long waiting lists and you only get 6 sessions, which is a negative. But as said before it is dependent on where you live, I lived in Epsom in Surrey and I had to wait 10 months for CBT, whereas others have waited 3, 6 and 12 months.

I got 12 sessions but it was useless or maybe it was the therapist.

[Rennie1989]

It's not always the therapist's fault, could mean that no working relationship was bonded or the therapy was not the right kind, none of which is anybody's fault.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I had about 12. They said it was 12-15 sessions which mirrors NICE Guidance for GAD. It is interesting that NICE also state less if not required but more if clinically required because my service said 15 was all you could get.

They also ran the sessions for 50 minutes to give them a 10 minute buffer zone to get clients out & in and I notice that NICE says they should last 1 hour each.

6 sessions is pretty worthless. Level Guided Self Help runs for 4-5 at about 20-30 per telephone session so its not much of a step up but I've seen others on here say the same about their CBT so I think thats says a lot about the quality of some of these IAPT network parties and how no one is watching what they are doing since IAPT are supposed to conform to NICE guidance.

The OCD guidance suggests low intensity to be 10 hours or less of a therapists time. This would be Level 2. Level 3 being more but doesn't set a standard for the treatment sessions.

So, I think there is a far bit of management fitting CBT to their service and not to the needs of the patient going on.

[Rennie1989]

I ranked up a score of 'high intensity treatment' for anxiety which got me my messily six sessions of CBT. It's fascinating what different trusts do. On my counselling course we looked at CBT and even the founder says that patients need 6 months of therapy for it to actually work. I noticed mine started working long after the therapy because it takes time to change behaviour.

[ricardo]

Not sure if it's trusts, I think it is the availability in the area and the funding that is available.

As I said previously I literally argued with my CBT counsellor that one couldn't walk through a full blown panic attack.

When they ended the sessions on the advise of her psychiatrist who initially assessed me , he was pretty curt with me and I got the familiar "we are handing this client back to you" meaning my GP

[pulisa]

It at least makes up a fair bit for your areas ludicrous treatment of the Pregabalin situation.

I'm really surprised that are giving as many sessions as required as there is normally a set number although I seem to recall NICE have different guidance for OCD which has not specific time limit, like they set for GAD, which I've probably posted above for Sparkle.

My local one is Healthy Minds. Level 2 is a target of 30 days to be seen and CBT is 90 days. They told me I can't self refer though, GP referrals only. They also only offer limited support and services whereas yours has several other services which look very useful and would benefit many on here if they all had them. The other half of the city has a different provider doing the same as mine and they do allow self referral although I seem to recall it was only for Level 2 services and Level 3 needed a GP referral. The 2 therapist I saw were lovely and I got the impression they found it all a bit embarressing how their service manager was running it like a bureaucratic dinosaur...you couldn't even have CBT if your GP referred you as they had a rule about doing Level 2 first regardless of it not being appropriate so all they achieved was a management funnel, not a patient centric process and created additional delays for patients.

I'll end with one of these

---------- Post added at 06:56 ---------- Previous post was at 06:50 ----------



Surely someone with far more power, David Beckham perhaps?!

Or....Kim Kardashian whilst holidaying in the UK?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Or....Kim Kardashian whilst holidaying in the UK?

Yeah, they can just buy a few of the mags to diagnose her without even seeing her!

---------- Post added at 05:50 ---------- Previous post was at 05:44 ----------

I ranked up a score of 'high intensity treatment' for anxiety which got me my messily six sessions of CBT. It's fascinating what different trusts do. On my counselling course we looked at CBT and even the founder says that patients need 6 months of therapy for it to actually work. I noticed mine started working long after the therapy because it takes time to change behaviour.

Its good to know that people at the training end believe this. Davit mentioned that in Canada it goes on for as long as needed and I'm sure he said he had his for year but I can't remember if it was weekly.

Mine last over a year but it was because we took breaks of 1-2 months between the later sessions as movement was slow on goals.

I also found I started to work more on my goals months after I left. I had started Mindfulness part way through my therapy and I put it down to this and how it can make changes in our brains.

The more I talk to people who have the old fashioned CBT route e.g. in Scotland where they have the old pre-IAPT style structure, the more I find that we are not even having CBT. Its a strip down version meant to work in the alotted weeks.

I do wonder just how successful CBT really is and how they determine that outside of clinical trials. Shifty guru types tend to consider you not coming back to them as success, so do the NHS have something similiar? I can't see the success rate with IAPT being that high though, aside from milder anxiety, given these forums are litered with people.

It is good to see IAPT rolling out new therapies though such as DIT but its just for depression at the moment. I would like to see them rolling out MBCT as I think that could help more than CBT.