When a psychiatrist asks you if you think of harming yourself....

[Wilburis]

Hi

Over the years Ive seen different psychiatrists and when they ask me if I ever think of taking my life I always say to them that I couldnt do it because of my kids. I wouldnt want to leave them without a mother.

I always wonder how they interpret this as I feel Im not really answering the question, just skirting around it.

Obviously, I wouldnt want social services involved either.

What would actually happen if I said answered yes?

xx

[Catherine S]

Are you trying to say that you have thought about it, or are you just curious as to what would happen if you said it? I doubt the psychiatrist would contact social services, you are there for help and guidance not to be judged. If you do feel like this then you need to be talking to somebody about it, and who better than your psychiatrist.

ISB ☺ x

.

[Benjammin69]

Hi



Over the years Ive seen different psychiatrists and when they ask me if I ever think of taking my life I always say to them that I couldnt do it because of my kids. I wouldnt want to leave them without a mother.



I always wonder how they interpret this as I feel Im not really answering the question, just skirting around it.



Obviously, I wouldnt want social services involved either.



What would actually happen if I said answered yes?



xx



Hi

I have 2 young kids and partner.

I've been to various docs and psychiatrists - I've told them all that I was thinking of suicide and at one point was actively cutting myself. They don't really do much to be honest - you have a risk assessment done and they just make sure you have good family support and a crisis plan.

Don't stress and answer there questions honestly that way they can treat you properly and sometimes more aggressively.


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[Wilburis]

Thank you.

I never say as I dont want anything to happen to my kids.

I dont have any family support, it's just me, my husband and 3 kids.

I saw an NHS pychiatrist before Christmas and I told her I used to drink a lot - ony in the evening and she went mad on me. She said if I needed to call an ambulance for one of the kids, and they could tell Id been drinking, then they'd involve social services :weep: and the kids could be taken off me.

x

[Benjammin69]

That's probably a bit of scare mongering for the sake of your mental health and a bit for your safety. Your husband counts Family support, your less likely to harm/attempt if you have people around you.

My NHS psychiatrist is straight up and moody too I remember he prescribed me diazepam and told me he was going to report me to the DVLA! Never did


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[Wilburis]

Hi

WIthout sounding rascist, she was muslim so i thought that's why she took a dim view of drinking? :blush:

She wasnt nice at all - she told me to "suck it up" and think of the children. Errmmm, hello? That's all I do!

She gave me Pregabalin and that was it. No follow up, nothing.

So now Im seeing a private one in London, at almost £500 a go.....

Ive been taking Buspar for just over a week now and I feel worse than ever. Everything seems to bright, feeling more anxious - almost hysterically buzzing from it, feel like i cant breath, feels like my heart is pounding but its not.

Im so worried to be alone again next week when the kids go back to school.

Im a mess

xx

[MyNameIsTerry]

It's a question in the standard monitoring forms used by IAPT from my experience. Obviously, I've only seen one but it was the therapist that said this so I'm assuming it's a standard. Certainly everyone attending CBT at mine fills them in prior to every session.

What she told me is that it's less someone saying Yes go the question "do you ever feel life is not worth living" and about the follow up questions such as "have you thought of ways to do it", "on a scale of 1-10, 10 being certain, how likely do you feel you could" and the free form one "what keeps you from doing it".

At every session, I said Yes, 1 on the scale, free form answer was about my family.

It's to look for those who "could" be a risk so that they can adhere to the Mental Health Act.

There is also the matter of intrusive thoughts, which they know are ego dystonic anyway.

I'm a bit surprised your psychiatrist reacted so strongly. Here's a "what it" to consider - 2 parents with no mental health problems put the kids to bed and have have a few drinks...are we really going to call in Social Services if one of those kids was taken ill in the night and the parents called for help?

Seems a bit over the top to me, not the best way to get it across to an anxious person.

[Wilburis]

Hi

Yes, I thought it was a bit extreme. Most people have a drink at some time.

Well, Ive not touched a drop now for 16 months and Ive never felt worse.

I just feel I can never say too much as it may impose on my children's safety.

Im scared of everything - living, dying.

My brother committed suicide in 2004 and I know the despair it caused my family. He neve got any help either.

x

[MyNameIsTerry]

Then it seems even more over the top. I'm guessing she just jumped in before you mentioned you had stopped drinking a long time ago (well done for that).

Sorry to hear about your brother. I've known a few people who have either lost people to suicide or managed to get their in time and they are the last people I would consider who would entertain it as they've seen the devastation first hand of how some poor person felt they had no choice other than this.

If you have concerns about what they can & can't do, perhaps you could ask someone like MIND? Anyone who provides advocacy services is likely to understand this.

[Catherine S]

I lost my sister in this way too lizzie, many years ago now, and there was even less help then too. I'm in my 60s now, but in the early 1980s in my early 30s I hit rock bottom and had a community psychiatric nurse (male) allocated to me who actually came to my home once a week for about 3 months or so. I think it was a really good idea as he got to know me in my home environment and got to see family interaction if he came during school breaks. So me saying ive never had any kind of therapy wasn't correct...I had this kind of therapy, it just didn't feel like therapy because it wasn't in an office or a hospital ward etc.

I was much less anxious sitting on my own sofa having a cuppa and chatting to him about things, and he didn't have to second-guess what my life was like, he got to see it every week. He and Claire Weekes helped me get through the bad stuff and I never looked back. So if you're out there nurse Tony, if I never said thank you then i'm saying it now...Thank you.

Getting the right kind of help from a therapist you trust is important to help you recover. You've had some scary experiences lizzie, I hope you find someone you can trust eventually, because therapy shouldn't be about holding stuff in, it should be about letting it all out.

ISB x x

[Wilburis]

Thank you.

I appreciate your replies.


xx

---------- Post added at 12:28 ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 ----------

Hi

Im sorry about your sister.

In my experience there is really no help now.

I begged my GP for an appointment with a psychiatrist, it took weeks even after ringing them up hysterically, it was still a couple of more weeks - they brought my appointment forward.

My sister works in mental health and she said there is a national shortage.

Im seeing someone privately now that she has worked with and thoroughly believes in but its so expensive. I mean, what sort of person has £500 each time to see a psychiatrist?

The NHS one was awful, here are some tablets, that's it. In my letter, she did state that she thought I wouldnt continue with them, which I didnt.

The person I was assigned to, a mental health social worker was supposed to contact me a few weeks later - I never heard anything.

x