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We want to hear from you: please tell us about your experience of the online community.

Share your troubles in our new mental health discussion group

Chris_Alumni

Whether you have an ongoing mental health condition or you're experiencing difficulties due to your current situation, declining mental health can make you feel desperate, confused and alone. But you're not alone, and it's estimated that a quarter of all people in the UK will experience a mental health problem this year.

This discussion group is a place to share your experiences of mental health issues, to get and to give support to others in a similar situation. Whether suffering from depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or another mental health condition, you are welcome here. Please be aware though that nothing written in this community should be seen as professional advice.

For a wide range of mental health resources including avenues for seeking professional help, take a look at Mind's website, or give them a call on 0300 123 3393.

If you are feeling suicidal, please call the Samaritans on 116 123 (free) to speak with someone qualified to help you. If you believe you may be an immediate danger to yourself please call 999 or go to your nearest hospital immediately.

If you'd like to share your experiences or seek support and advice of a non-urgent and non-professional nature, simply click the 'new discussion' button at the top-right of the screen.

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Comments

lillihop

In the NHS they would appear to be using a cascade distribution (option 2) model based on peer support centers (recovery colleges) training their customers in peer support.

I haven't got all the figures but my gut feeling is this will take more generations to meet the minimum maximum of 15 million this option will take a lot of time (my voices say 50 years)

however option 1 is a big bang model

In the UK 1 in 4 people have a mental illness. The peer support sector in the UK represents over 15 million people. It will completely eclipse the voluntary sector in its scope and Majesty.

I would engage them all with a coproduction voucher scheme this would create many new businesses and as many new personalisation opportunities pool; all the service provider's compete for their customers vouchers.

Excellence through market forces as a customer can vote with their feet to access any service. Using Porter's 5 forces which are supplier power, buyer power(that's you), new entry and risk of substitution coming together to make competition

I want strong competition with strong relationships with suppliers and forward integration of the customers through coproduction.
New entries and the stalwarts' forces are also strong with innovation, diversity and choice creating a paradigm of powerful customers

In real terms if you have a mental illness you would get a voucher on prescription from your GP and you could take it to any service provider who would offer a range of coproduction options giving the customer control of their treament this model will positively grow our Gross Domestic Produce a much needed source of equity

Is there a 6th Force? I believe there is the Ethical Imperative which keeps the other forces in check!

However there is a snag to a voucher scheme. Which is each voucher's redeemable value depends upon the support needs of the user.
This requires a standard assessment of risk at source I would recommend a level 1 coproduction between the GP and patient of Total Risk
“any views expressed are my own and do not represent those of The Council of Governors, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Foundation Trust or the NHS"

dee2110

Hi I recently applied for pip payment but was refused i then asked for mr And was still refused My reasons for claiming pip is all mental health, I find it difficult to speak to anyone in depth about my situation as I’m ashamed I was abused at 8 yrs old, up till 11 years old then my mum got with another man who within a month also started abusing me Now in adulthood, I’m very hateful to myself I can’t be around Others as I feel they are talking about me and judging me Or even think they might know, I don’t feel health professionals are helping me, at the same time, I find it hard to tell or even explain my childhood. As if I have to talk about it all I do is cry. I do often wish I would go sleep and just not wake up! I started drinking at 22 so I attend CGL group sessions “booze talk” I have a support worker at the women’s centre, who knows some of my story but not all as I said earlier I find it difficult to talk about it! Donna 36 Newton, Hyde Sent from my iPhone

Krystal

Krystal, I suffered a psychosis, after haven 13 Steroid injections in my back all at once in 2011, I was in a very low low place where I tried to commit suicide due to the medication that was in the injection was some steroid ‘s. I am under the mental health as I get very Low as I spend quite a bit of time on my own so if it hurt anyone but this is how I feel 5/7Days xxx?

Adrian_Scope

Hi @Krystal, thank you for sharing your story. How are you getting on today?

harryc

I am 63 and have suffered post-traumatic depression with anxiety and severe anxiety induced panic attacks for six years since my dad, of whom I was sole carer for for seventeen years, died because of NHS incompetence. My doctor doesn't seem to take me serious and has done little to help me. He did refer me for counselling, but that consisted of a woman asking me a series of questions and scoring me points whilst sat at a computer with her back to me on all of the six sessions. Not once did she show any interest in finding out why I was depressed. "You score about the same as last time" is an example of her interest in me. There seems to be a lot of help for young adults with mental illness, but nothing worth the trouble for the elderly. We are society's abandoned; not worth the slice of a budget, and only of interest to life insurance companies and those who sell chair lifts. Of course, we can get a free pen, but hand-written letters are old-fashioned and, like us, uncool in the modern world.

Adrian_Scope

Thank you for sharing @harryc, I'm sorry your experience with counselling was so inadequate. A lot of people seem to fall through the cracks and obviously it's a bit of a lottery when it comes to the standard of care you'll receive. Have you been back to your GP recently?

debbiedo49

I’ve had mental health issues most of my life. Usually I’ve been treated by my g p or self referred to local charitable m h organisations for parcels of counselling or c b t. This is because of the delays and waiting times for nhs services. Around 18 months ago I asked my g p to refer me to local nhs m h services which took one year to get my appointment from one telephone consultation. Anyway I got a parcel of c b t which was excellent. As it was coming to an end my therapist referred me to the team and I’ve got an appointment tomorrow. This took about 2 weeks. So perhaps once you are on the database then you can get help easier? I don’t know. Anyway like others have mentioned, I feel wary to talk about my issues but I feel I’ve been neglected by the nhs in terms of getting help when I need it and getting little parcels of help and sent in my way. I know it’s due to resources but it makes me feel that I have to choose which issues to discuss in the time scale and which to shelf. Also at 50 years old they say to me you seem to be coping well and doing the right things because I can verbalise coping mechanisms. I know other people who get ongoing help and they don’t seem to be given same restrictions. I know everyone is different but I feel I’ve done myself a disservice at times by not digging my heels in and demanding help and by not disclosing the full extent of my m h issues. Is it too late to start?

debbiedo49

@weaver no it’s not too much to ask and I hope you feel better soon x

Adrian_Scope

Just to echo what others have said @weaver, please don't feel bad for expressing how you feel.
Are you getting much support at all at the moment? Let us know if there's anything in particular you need help with as we're always here to listen.

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @weaver, I'm glad you have a social worker and support worker in place, are they helpful for you?

You most certainly are not a burden, I'm glad you get to speak to your daughters. I can imagine it is still very difficult though. If the community can do anything to help then please do let us know

debbiedo49

I went to my appointment which turned out to be a new person taking over from my therapist who left. So it looks like I’m having 2 more appointments and then it ends. Unless I can get referred on . I hate it when they ask me what are you looking for from the service? Tell me what services you offer please! It’s Lind is that a trick question?

April2018mom

Today was a decent day. I took a complete break from job hunting and had a mini picnic in a local park. I also bought some new wine for a garden party this weekend.

susan48

I have recently had 6 sessions with a medical psychologist, for FND, that’s the allowance for patients. I asked if I could continue see her and she agreed it would benefit me. After talking to her supervisor she was told no. Iv now to wait on a referral with someone else in adult mental health. There’s no continuity and it’s frustrating.
also at my last psychiatrist appointment he said it maybe my last one with him as he’s applied for a job in Canada.
I get angry, frustrated and anxious at having tto see different people and go over the same things that are painful to talk about.

Sorry to rant but this surely can’t be in the patents best interests

Chloe_Alumni

@debbiedo49 and @susan48, I imagine it is very frustrating and draining to constantly be swapping the support that you have. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and there is nothing wrong with a little rant on the community.

I'm glad you had a break @April2018mom, that sounds lovely!

dolfrog

Hi All,

I have had a listening disability all of my life, and i only really found out about the real issues in my mid 40s in th mid 1990s onwards..Until then I had life long issues which I could not explain, even though as I now know that I have a genetic issues which due to the social stigma involved previous generations of my family did not really discuss and explain, and used what was their most convenient present day reasons experiencing such issues, trying to hide their real issues.
I have a listening disability, auditory processing disorder, or my brain having problems processing and understanding the sounds my ears hear. This is the underlying cognitive cause of my dyslexia symptom, not being able to process the gaps between the sounds that the letters in a word represent. I am not best able to self advocate in face to face situations where others expect an immediate reply to what they may have said, or the questions they may have asked. I have thebeen the victim of bullying for msost of my life as others do not want o understand my limitations and provide the understanding and accommodations i require on a day to day basis.
I have a many what i know understand as breakdowns during my lifee when things had become too much for me to coping with especially resulting from continually being tols that I am stupid and others do not want to understand the real me. I have been through years of disability disctimination in the work place from employees, or supervisors who did not want o understand that i do things diffferet=ntly to others and that i can only do things in my own way, as this is how I work around my disability.

Currently my mental health issues are magnified by the incompetent and professionally negligent so called medical professionals who failed to be adequately trained and qualified to understand the complex nature of my disability, specifically UK Audiologists ( including those who run their 3 professional bodies), psychologists especially educational psychologists who want to make money assessing and diagnosing a shared symptom as a condition - dyslexia, and Speech and Language Therapists who do not want ot accept that auditory processing is key to processing and understanding sound based communication especially speech, and only want to market their services currently as developmental language disorder (previously known as specific language impairment).

So added to lhe problems of living day to day with my life long disability, my mental health issues are further magnified by incompetent and professionally negligent so called medical professionals, who are the main cause of my high levels blood pressure and other related issues

dolfrog

susan48 said:

I have recently had 6 sessions with a medical psychologist, for FND, that’s the allowance for patients. I asked if I could continue see her and she agreed it would benefit me. After talking to her supervisor she was told no. Iv now to wait on a referral with someone else in adult mental health. There’s no continuity and it’s frustrating.
also at my last psychiatrist appointment he said it maybe my last one with him as he’s applied for a job in Canada.
I get angry, frustrated and anxious at having tto see different people and go over the same things that are painful to talk about.

Sorry to rant but this surely can’t be in the patents best interests

I was discussing this very same issue with a therapist I have been seeing over a year or so now, who said that it was only after my 6th appointment that they really began to understand the complex issue related to my disability. The 6 session limit is all about money and nothing to do with the any of the possible life long issues we may be experiencing.
Most other so called therapists and so called medical professionals tend to be in denial that my disability exists despite a 5 year Medical Research Council program 2004-2009, which asked me to set up and run a support organisation to help those who may share my disability. such is the corrupt nature of those who currently run the NHS

debbiedee513

After fighting for help for my MH for 20 years I finally received an appointment with a psychologist, then lockdown happened, just my luck ?

Adrian_Scope

How are you getting on @debbiedee513? Have they been able to offer you an alternative appointment? I've heard that some appointments are being done by video.

Mary_B

During lockdown I have also found the Samaritans email service helpful as well especially when husband was in hospital

Ross_Alumni

Thank you for sharing @Mary_B, I'm sure others will be happy to read that you found the service helpful.