NHS Appointment At Last

[shyoldguy]

After 3 months I’ve got an appointment for an NHS assessment. I ‘m wondering how to make best use of it.

I have felt depressed and anxious for years. I particularly don’t like meeting new people or social occasions. I find a lot noises distracting, particularly people coughing and sniffing. I feel uncomfortable most of the time and get pain in my back, shoulders and feet. At the moment my feet are unbearably hot. I don’t know why and I’m dreading the really hot weather.

Last summer I had a particular problem at work where I had to share an office with a guy with a chronic and serious hay fever problem. He was constantly and loudly sniffing and sneezing. I found this really irritating, particularly as I had some complicated figures to prepare for my manager. I was then called into the manager’s office and told I was not recording my flexi-time correctly. All this culminated in my having a meltdown in reception and lashing out and kicking at the security barriers in reception.

I was lucky not to be sacked. After that I saw an NHS therapist for what he said was Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, but did n’t work for me. He had me recording my daily activities and how much satisfaction I got from them. He also had me saying “Hello” to new people at work. After that he said I was now ready to join a club or society. That was the end of the therapy. He did n’t address my problem of being distracted by noise.

I’ve had various therapies before. I also had CBT on NHS 20 years ago and also had some therapy privately. Neither made any difference. None seemed to be able to work with me to gradually build up my confidence. Nor did they address problem solving skills. In fact after the first lot of CBT ended, I was refused further NHS treatment because I was going to an evening class in Assertiveness. Ten years I tried again to get treatment or at least a diagnosis but all I got was a letter saying “further therapy would not be appropriate.”

Thanks,

[inCOGnito]

What are you seeing the NHS for? Depression, anxiety, your feet, the noise issue, pain, everything?

First of all list exactly what you want out of the appointment. No point getting disappointmented afterward because you didn't address something. Say at the beginning of the appt what you want to address. If you say there are 5 issues then that allows them to monitor and manage the appt time accordingly.

I always like to set the scene with the gp or whoever it is by saying something like "I have anxiety but I'm also experiencing some other issues and I know there is a tendency to attribute all physical symptoms to anxiety but I want to investigate them in their own right to get the proper diagnosis or at least to eliminate a physical cause". This way it tells the physician that I won't be fobbed off without adequate attention to this pertinent issue.

Basically know what you want from the appointment and have a strong intention to leave the appointment knowing you have explored what you wanted to.