Therapy waiting and limited sessions

Meredithshep

Hope everyone is feeling as well as can be, I have just finished a course of CBT for trauma. It took months of waiting for therapy and just as I started to feel comfortable with my therapist and started to open up …… that's it, you're cut off and told to refer back in a few months! I had reached the maximum amount of sessions allowed on the NHS. I feel like I've been left to deal with pandoras box that has been opened during those sessions, I have recieved an email every week with information on PTSD and the various ways of dealing with my anxiety, panic attacks, flashbacks and nightmares. It's not easy to master any of the methods and I am still trying to master the first one let alone the rest which I have tried but it takes practice I'm told and I will keep trying. I just feel like such a burden and failure. If my leg was broken I would be treated until it was better and I do get ongoing treatment for physical issues but this living hell has a time limit for therapy.

Catherine21

I feel for you spent years masking keeping everything contained and when you start unravelling your start feeling real pain it's extremely painful your not a burden or failure we are apart of a cruel system from dwp to services collapsing fr feeling supported then all of a sudden say if you ever feel lost here's the crisis numbers and we will open the service to you in 6 months or a year it sucks big time it very emotional I had so much therapy I retain noting but one thing I do is breathing exercises I do get sick of the saying remember the tools use your tools I hope you can find some peace there is groups online zoom groups through ocd action group for all diagnoses talking to people who have same diagnoses I found helpful but sometimes not it's such a hard one and I agree if we had a broken leg we would be taken seriously

luvpink

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/123318/therapy-waiting-and-limited-sessions

I went to cbt once week and after four weeks the therapist suddenly told me I only had two more sessions because thats all they offered.

I was gob smacked.

If he had said that in the beginning I would not have bothered.

Like yourself I had to deal with aftertmarth of opening up in those sessions.

I wish I hadn't bothered because it made me feel 100 times worse and now I have to live with that.

Meredithshep

I've had around 3 months of sessions, can't remember the exact number but think it was 14. I did also have 10 sessions of talking therapies before this but was then sent to mental health team after that therapist contacted my gp. They changed meds and diagnosed a couple of conditions and referred me for trauma therapy. To be fair to the therapist she did say she wished she could continue the treatments but there are a set limit to how many she can offer and said to refer again as soon as possible. I'm not complaining about the actual therapy sessions just the way you're left hanging at the end of them when you actually feel in a worse place than when you started. The information they send is no doubt good but to put it into practice takes time and effort and I am no where near being able to use those tools effectively. I also have physical disabilities which have been long term, I learned to live with those but am really struggling with my mental health and finding support. It's taken my peace of mind, sleep, relationships, self worth, confidence and I am trapped in a cycle of fear. It's far more debilitating than any of the physical issues I have and it's a very lonely and scary place to be. I'm tired and so very weary, living on the edge day in day out has taken it's toll and it's affecting my already poor health. The physical toll it takes on your body has a massive impact too but there seems to be limited support.

Jimm_Alumni

It's really frustrating @Meredithshep. My partner had to wait nearly a year to get therapy after have an incredibly bad mental health episode. I know when I was referred a few years ago for CBT I was offered 6, with the possibility of going up to 10. I remember checking NICE guidelines at the time and the clinical minimum recommendation is at least 12-14! That's the minimum needed to be clinically effective. Mental health really has been neglected in this country.

As you mention, even the therapists themselves know they aren't given enough sessions to properly help. And a private therapist can cost £50 a session or more.

I know it's awful, but I would get back on the waitlist for it when you can, I know you have to wait a set number of months first. I had to do that a few times, but over time it did help. It just would have helped far more and faster if I'd been able to have a proper number of sessions in the first place.

Meredithshep

My sessions were an hour long, to pay I have been told around £125 per session. I have been offered grief councelling just so someone is checking in with me each week. Not sure this will help under the circumstances but will try anything. I was told EMDR would be the treatment of choice for me but no one was available so try CBT first which is fine by me but only if you actually get enough treatment. It's just left me in a worse place because I was using avoidance which was how I protected myself and now it's all there again, brought back to the forefront of my mind and raw like it was at first.

Catherine21

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/916632#Comment_916632

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/916632#Comment_916632

I'm so sorry your going through this its like Pandora box would say there is groups you can join online but you do need speaclist treatment do you have to wait a year to have entitlement for more therapy my doctor referred me to CMHT I thought was going to see psychiatrists No was offered 6 sessions with mix team and the person I seen every week was someone who lived with mental health job title lived experience and they kept talking about there experience in life was a pile of @@@@ talk about handling my emotions !! In six weeks and at the end of it they was like wow from when you came to know you done so well Oh OK I know they say use pip for therapy ect but mines go on bills Do you have a good doctor I do but there is only so much they can do its shocking how we are left I literally had 18 months of therapy group then one to one and I still felt abandoned so can imagine how lost you feel tell your doctor the effects it's having and as jimm said get back on waiting list tell your doctor you need help a longer amount of therapy tell them not acceptable at all

oaksi567

Hey, how you getting on now? I seen this post and wanted to say I agree with you. I have suffered from anxiety and depression for most of my life. I was abused as a child and it has led to me dealing with PTSD, guilt, shame and issues with addictions, confidence and self- esteem. I recently had Talking Therapies through the NHS and after building trust and connection with a therapist, you only have a certain amount of sessions. I had twelve and after finally opening up about issues. In terms of listening and helping she was great but your left feeling worse as you don’t get enough time to learn how to regulate your feelings. You unintentionally feel abandoned. Obviously, you’re told to go back but I was on the waiting list a year originally for therapy. I just with you could do it longer because I feel it would work if you could get more time and sessions.

jonf

I had two sessions and on the first session when the therapist was reading my notes I could see her eyes filling up. I had to sit there in a wheelchair at the time watching tears about to start rolling down her face. Maybe she needed my chair.

The second session was private with a five foot tall psychiatrist and a very strange manner. [removed by moderater]. He kept me waiting for over an hour. Asked why I was looking angry after keeping me waiting. I soon told him that he had no manners making me wait. Never went again.

It was only then i realised that I had to help myself or end it. That was three years ago. The NHS have never come back asking if I am ok.

rubin16

I find therapy is like a placebo, it just never works or just only works or you think it works while your having sessions. As soon as those sessions end, your back to square one. It's a con how expensive sessions are as well.

I honestly believe therapy hardly helps anyone, you never seem to hear many success stories with it. As soon as you feel your getting somewhere, sessions end and most of the time you feel worst than if you didn't have therapy. Its basically a scam, designed to keep you wanting more and more.

Theres many other different free ways to get help online and you might as well help yourself through free online courses than ever using these, these are just designed to keep you trapped and part with your money.

Catherine21

Ive had such a rollercoaster with my psychiatrist and yesterday I cancelled my appointment and she had two men from cmht turn up at my door i thought it was the police left me ao shaken all day its like they open Pandora box and all your coping mechanism stop working and your left vunerable

rubin16

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1087710#Comment_1087710

I'm sorry that happened to you yesterday, they can be abit bullying and confronting at times. I've had many occassions where they've threatening to get the police and break in cause I wasn't answering door, even though they are knocking at the wrong address at my neighbours down the road…. like i'll answer if you knock on the right door.

Take care of yourself, you need a distraction for abit to take your mind off things.