any one else been refused help

[tricia56]

hi just want to ask if any one else been refused any more help because they are not medication as i cant have no more cbt therapy as I have had it 3 times in the past 5yrs because not on meds and i think my gp refered me to the to the metal health team to see if i can get any help with the anxiety and they foned me to night and they said because im not at risk and not on medication they said they cant offer me any kind of help because they work on the same guidelines as i.a.p.t who do the cbt therapy reguarding medication sojust thought id ask if any one else has been refused help because not on medication

[MyNameIsTerry]

Sorry to hear this Tricia.

I do dislike this blind CBT issue the NHS seems to have. Its strange when considering NHS Direct promotes psychotherapy in general and advises CBT is for less complex issues. It seems there is little 'joined up thinking' going on in there.

In my case my GP won't refer me to Level 4 for psychotherapy so I have disengaged with him and not been back in about 16 months now...not that he has noticed of course. I had CBT once prior to that and his final words were "I think psychotherapy opens up more issues than it resolves" and "You will find your own way out of this"...so I gave up really.

I think if I were in your situation, I would would do a few things:

1. Contact Mental Health charities such as MIND for advice and see what they recommend. They also offer therapy according to others on here.

2. Read the NICE guidelines relevant to your disorder(s) and see what they recommend should be done and this csn be used in discussions with your GP.

Also, please remember that you are not refusing help, you have glady accepted CBT on several occassions and want further help. Not everyone wants to go the medication route and GP's really think they are easy to take from my experience, they don't seem to understand how much worse they can make you feel at first and not everyone is suitable to them all anyway.

I find it very strange since the NHS are happen to bang on about how therapy is as successful as medication then they take this attitude because you don't want to be nicely filed into the medication draw where they tend to do nothing further unless you chase them!

[tricia56]

thks terry I just foned my gp up this morning to see if it was them who refered me to the metal health ream and it wasn't them it was mind as it was my gp who referd me to mind, as I asked my gp if I could have some kind of couciling not cbt that's why he referd me to mind as ive had the cbt so now I don't know why mind contacted the metal health team as all I want is some kind of help to findout why im like the way I am and try to understand it a lot better I know ive got GAD and seem to know a lot about it it and what I should do but for some reason im not consistant enough to put it to practice if that make sence thatswhy I thought that psychotherapy would maybe help me

[MrAndy]

try rethink.org as well they have a self referal form on their website.I had CBT therapy with them and they were very good

[tricia56]

thks andy ive just had a fone call from mind and they say that they never contacted the metal health team and that there must be a mix up some ware and that they are going to arrange to see me to see what support they can offer me, andy ever since last night when i got the call from the metal health team i ve been really worried and anxiouse and thinking what on earth did my gp or mind say to them to make them call me and what if i get worse and cant get help because i m too scared to take medication , and should i just force myself to take the meds just so i can get help to help overcome the anxiety, could it be the anxiety that makes me think this way as i always seem seem to anilize every thing, sorry to ask

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes, I can understand that Tricia, I'm the same. I know I put more effort into achieving my CBT goals after my therapy ended. What changed? I had spent 6 months learning Mindfulness and I felt my atttitude changed and I was suddenly more motivated.

CBT is a therapy that talks to you, helps you set & monitor goals and then leaves you all alone for weeks to do it all on your own. Now, for someone like me who has issues with breaking obsessional routines, it was never going to work much anyway as I needed something more intensive.

Also, my OCD was improving much with CBT but it improved greatly from Mindfulness.

GP's have now started referring people for Mindfulness courses but it might not be available in many regions as they have been slow to adapt despite is being NICE approved for ages now! Same old, same old with GP's really!

So, could you get onto a course like MBCT? That combines CBT with the techniques of Mindfulness. You meditate daily and change the format each week to make it progressive to your goals & recovery. For me, this is a better model than CBT which leaves you with some goals only but not much in the way of tools to change thought processes other than affirmations, thought records, etc which I believe take a hell of a lot of effort to make your subconscious take notice, whereas meditation goes deeper.

I would read the NICE guidelines. I can post them if you want me to? It explains the stepped care model. Beyond CBT, you are looking at Level 4 which offers a whole range of treatments and you don't have to be at risk to access it, just have complex problems that need more intensive therapy. The problem tends to come from the lack of support for it and 12 month waiting lists are common.

Don't be worried about the mental health team contacting you, that changes nothing and you are the same as when you saw your GP. Its just got you thinking you are in the same bracket as those in crisis. I've been visited by the crisis team when I first went onto medication because of the side effects because my GP didn't know what else to do and all that came out of it was 2 visits and advice to my GP to give me something to combat the insomnia which was making things much worse. It helped a great deal! So, it might mean they don't believe you need crisis services so the referral was incorrect but that doesn't mean your GP can't refer you for Level 4 services if you have them.

[MrAndy]

stop worrying about not taking meds nobody can force you to and they arent the be all and end all for anxiety or depression.I met plenty of people in hospital with me that never took any meds and recovered.If you arent happy with your GP change,I changed mine 3 times until I found one that would listen to me.Try rethink.org they are very helpful so are mind ,you can get help and there is good help out there to be honest.Who can you turn to within your family ?