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_Scope

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