Hey @Jesspresso. I am totally confused by your mental health system. Can you explain a little bit about how a GP is going to help you? In the world I’m in GPs are for annual physicals, nurses take vital signs therapists talk to you and psychiatrists treat sz. There seems to be a three ring circus of GP, nurses and psychiatrists that make up some kind of team for you. It really boggles my mind
I’m open to input from anyone who understands this
Here GPs are the first port of call for any kind of health related problem whether it’s mental or physical. GPs can prescribe medication to you and refer you to specialist teams that can provide you with more help, whether it’s a mental health team, or something like cardiology, neurology etc who are based at a hospital.
There are two main mental health teams here - CAMHS (for under 18s) and CMHT (for over 18s) . So for example, when I first started having problems when I was 15, I got referred to CAMHS. This year I got referred to the CMHT as I am 18. I had a crisis a week before I turned 18 and CAMHS refused to see me as they have long waiting lists so there would have been no point. So I started seeing the CMHT shortly after I turned 18.
The CMHT have more specialist teams. The only ones I am aware of are the eating disorder services and the early intervention for psychosis (EIP). My mental health nurse from the CMHT referred me to the EIP because some of the things I was telling him made him think I have psychosis. But now the EIP don’t think I have psychosis but I still have appointments with them for a while. I think they are tricking me into thinking I am getting better just because I did well in my GCSEs and A-levels and have plans to do a scientific degree at university in the future.
I know that all might sound complicated - it is. Perhaps @JH85 could explain it better.
Sounds to me like mental health theater. It sounds like care but really it’s just a shuffle from one person to the next. Hot potato here we go. I mean look at all the appointments, it must really look like they’re doing something.
Bah I hate this kind of thing. I see It a lot in Portugal in other ways
I get it. Once you’ve seen a pdoc do you make another appointment directly with them or are you back to the GP first?
I’m with @moonwalker Nothing about my Health Care makes any logical sense to me and I am in America. Like, i have to pay the specialist co-pay with my Humana Plan to see my Psychiatrist, but i never really see him except once every three months, on the monthly visits, i see a nurse practitioner, my Primary Care Doctor doesn’t work with the Psych team because they are different hospitals on different Networks covered by the same insurance. I am healthy as a race horse physically and see my primary care on average once a year for a wellness visit, and that is free, but my illness requires a specialist (Psychiatrist), that my insurance wont pay fully for because he’s not my primary care provider (Physical Doctor). If i ever have a disabling Physical disease, i am covered, and the disabling mental illness is as well, i just have to pay more because he is considered a specialist. I just go to my appointments, take my meds, report changes and pay the co-pay. I would need a hospitalization if i tried to figure out on what planet this makes sense. So i feel for anyone with a weird Health Care setup.
Socialized medicine for mental health scares me. I could go thru a similar burocracy here, but just the thought of that freaks me out. That’s why I just pick the private psychiatrist I want to see based on the best reviews and stick with him. No missed appoints no intermediaries, no shuffle dance, just the right care I need
It’s not so bad if you just start with the GP and from then on see a pdoc. But if you have to keep seeing the GP that’s frustrating. And you should be able to switch specialists too if you don’t like the one you have.
That sounds like a mission… I just see my pdoc every 3 months. I don’t need crappy therapy or a GP’s opinion. I suppose because the mental health care is so bad in my country it actually works in my favour for once
Well, i shouldn’t complain, i am fortunate to have health care, they closed so many mental health hospitals designed to treat folks like us, and the hospitals still have a section for the folks in bad shape, but the main care that the mentally ill get in America is Prison and Jail. A lot of states are reporting that the homeless mentally ill are committing crimes in the early winter so they have a place to stay and get stabled on their meds. I am much more fortunate than them.
I don’t even have a psychiatrist… the two I spoke to before had differing opinions.
The first one was like get on APs asap.
The second one was like lol troll you can’t get As in your exams and be mentally ill lol troll stop being anxious. He messed me up so much.
The mental health teams have psychiatrists that work for them but youre not assigned one. You just see one when it’s suitable for them.
That’s terrible! Where are you from?!
I’m from the middle East of the UK
Yeah the first one was really concerned, she phoned my mum to fetch me as she didn’t think I was safe to walk home on my phone .
The second one just didn’t seem to care, and let me walk home on my own after I’d told him I was suicidal right there and then. Jacka$$ …
Why did you need to see two? Couldn’t the first just prescribe meds
The first one wasn’t from the EIP and she moved to a different city a few days after I saw her lol
Just print out the DSM page for sz and talk about your symptoms. They can’t argue with the DSM
Technically we don’t use the dsm here we use icd-10…
Jess is right the nhs is a cess pit of inefficientcy and they like to do watchful waiting before giving you pills.
Hell I couldn’t even get antibiotics for a ear infection, had to have a swab first… Then they do cool things like not check for interactions, so I was in crisis for a week or so.
