disappointing assessment with CMHT, considering private, any help?
Hi,
Basically I have struggled with my mental health all my life but more severely in the past 7 years. For years I have had different therapies, CBT and CAT a lot, but none seemed to help. I think the main problem is that I was always focusing on anxiety, when really there was a deeper problem. I am now on 100mg of Sertraline and my anxiety feels better than ever.
I am almost certain I have a personality disorder, and so are my friends and family. I am thinking it is Borderline, but not 100% sure. After months of waiting I finally got an appointment with my community mental health team for assessment (I go to uni in Sheffield). As you can imagine i was over the moon with this and expected to at least come out of it understanding myself a bit more.
my appointment was yesterday and I am devastate with the result. I opened up more than ever which is really hard for me, I talked about my extreme emotions, suicidal thoughts and actions etc etc and in the end I was told that I would only be allowed a diagnosis if I was in a "mental health crisis". She said all she can do is offer me therapy and write me a letter explaining I have a lot of traits of BPD. At this point I started crying and saying I dont know what to do and im scared of what Im going to do (something which I also find hard as I do not like to cry in front of people) and she still didnt do much.
I feel like that appointment was my last hope through the NHS and I feel completely lost and let down, if anything it has made me a lot worse than before I went. I am now strongly considering a private assessment.
I was wondering if anyone could suggest a good place that would preferably specialise in personality disorders, however I am not 100% this is my problem, I just know that I do have a problem. I am willing to travel anywhere for this as I really do feel I need this. Has anyone got ANY advice or experience of a similar thing that has happened to them? Of course I am willing to pay, but the cheaper the better!
thank you so much for reading
Basically I have struggled with my mental health all my life but more severely in the past 7 years. For years I have had different therapies, CBT and CAT a lot, but none seemed to help. I think the main problem is that I was always focusing on anxiety, when really there was a deeper problem. I am now on 100mg of Sertraline and my anxiety feels better than ever.
I am almost certain I have a personality disorder, and so are my friends and family. I am thinking it is Borderline, but not 100% sure. After months of waiting I finally got an appointment with my community mental health team for assessment (I go to uni in Sheffield). As you can imagine i was over the moon with this and expected to at least come out of it understanding myself a bit more.
my appointment was yesterday and I am devastate with the result. I opened up more than ever which is really hard for me, I talked about my extreme emotions, suicidal thoughts and actions etc etc and in the end I was told that I would only be allowed a diagnosis if I was in a "mental health crisis". She said all she can do is offer me therapy and write me a letter explaining I have a lot of traits of BPD. At this point I started crying and saying I dont know what to do and im scared of what Im going to do (something which I also find hard as I do not like to cry in front of people) and she still didnt do much.
I feel like that appointment was my last hope through the NHS and I feel completely lost and let down, if anything it has made me a lot worse than before I went. I am now strongly considering a private assessment.
I was wondering if anyone could suggest a good place that would preferably specialise in personality disorders, however I am not 100% this is my problem, I just know that I do have a problem. I am willing to travel anywhere for this as I really do feel I need this. Has anyone got ANY advice or experience of a similar thing that has happened to them? Of course I am willing to pay, but the cheaper the better!
thank you so much for reading
Original post by cocacola487
Hi,
Basically I have struggled with my mental health all my life but more severely in the past 7 years. For years I have had different therapies, CBT and CAT a lot, but none seemed to help. I think the main problem is that I was always focusing on anxiety, when really there was a deeper problem. I am now on 100mg of Sertraline and my anxiety feels better than ever.
I am almost certain I have a personality disorder, and so are my friends and family. I am thinking it is Borderline, but not 100% sure. After months of waiting I finally got an appointment with my community mental health team for assessment (I go to uni in Sheffield). As you can imagine i was over the moon with this and expected to at least come out of it understanding myself a bit more.
my appointment was yesterday and I am devastate with the result. I opened up more than ever which is really hard for me, I talked about my extreme emotions, suicidal thoughts and actions etc etc and in the end I was told that I would only be allowed a diagnosis if I was in a "mental health crisis". She said all she can do is offer me therapy and write me a letter explaining I have a lot of traits of BPD. At this point I started crying and saying I dont know what to do and im scared of what Im going to do (something which I also find hard as I do not like to cry in front of people) and she still didnt do much.
I feel like that appointment was my last hope through the NHS and I feel completely lost and let down, if anything it has made me a lot worse than before I went. I am now strongly considering a private assessment.
I was wondering if anyone could suggest a good place that would preferably specialise in personality disorders, however I am not 100% this is my problem, I just know that I do have a problem. I am willing to travel anywhere for this as I really do feel I need this. Has anyone got ANY advice or experience of a similar thing that has happened to them? Of course I am willing to pay, but the cheaper the better!
thank you so much for reading
Basically I have struggled with my mental health all my life but more severely in the past 7 years. For years I have had different therapies, CBT and CAT a lot, but none seemed to help. I think the main problem is that I was always focusing on anxiety, when really there was a deeper problem. I am now on 100mg of Sertraline and my anxiety feels better than ever.
I am almost certain I have a personality disorder, and so are my friends and family. I am thinking it is Borderline, but not 100% sure. After months of waiting I finally got an appointment with my community mental health team for assessment (I go to uni in Sheffield). As you can imagine i was over the moon with this and expected to at least come out of it understanding myself a bit more.
my appointment was yesterday and I am devastate with the result. I opened up more than ever which is really hard for me, I talked about my extreme emotions, suicidal thoughts and actions etc etc and in the end I was told that I would only be allowed a diagnosis if I was in a "mental health crisis". She said all she can do is offer me therapy and write me a letter explaining I have a lot of traits of BPD. At this point I started crying and saying I dont know what to do and im scared of what Im going to do (something which I also find hard as I do not like to cry in front of people) and she still didnt do much.
I feel like that appointment was my last hope through the NHS and I feel completely lost and let down, if anything it has made me a lot worse than before I went. I am now strongly considering a private assessment.
I was wondering if anyone could suggest a good place that would preferably specialise in personality disorders, however I am not 100% this is my problem, I just know that I do have a problem. I am willing to travel anywhere for this as I really do feel I need this. Has anyone got ANY advice or experience of a similar thing that has happened to them? Of course I am willing to pay, but the cheaper the better!
thank you so much for reading
Hi there. I was lucky enough to be covered by my dad's work insurance for my mental health problems so I have some experience with private care. On the whole I would say that there's no point in going private unless you have the money to spare because there's not much difference in the care, but mental health is one thing that I would advise trying private care for if you have the resources to.
I would take a look at what is available around you in terms of a psychiatrist from a private hospital/ organisation. I say around you because then it's going to be easier for you to get to and they will be more aware of what the deal is in your area so can advise you better.
My psych was wonderful because he was aware of other things like the NHS and was able to work with that so I really would suggest sticking to your area.
Any psych you see should be capable of understanding personality disorders so I wouldn't focus so much on that and would go for just finding a place that suits you in terms of cost and area etc. You might like to look into organisations that specialise in mental health because they can be set up for it a bit better, but really just go for whatever fits in with you.
I hope that helps even though I didn't give you any proper suggestions.
Call around and explain that you're not made of money and would they do you a discount based on your being a student. I managed to knock off a couple hundred when I saw a psychiatrist privately in the UK. Another thing that might be worth doing is seeing if you can find someone who has officially retired but has a small side business of seeing people; I do that here in the US and he charges me $30 per session which would be cheaper if I earned less.
I disagree with Kindred that there isn't a point in going private. I've seen private psychiatrists in Manchester and one near London and the difference from the NHS was huge. You can see this by the way CMHT treated you.
I disagree with Kindred that there isn't a point in going private. I've seen private psychiatrists in Manchester and one near London and the difference from the NHS was huge. You can see this by the way CMHT treated you.
Although having a diagnosis is important to some people, remember that it's only a label used to describe a collection of symptoms and traits and that the treatment you receive to help treat those symptoms is much more important than the word itself
Original post by cocacola487
Hi,
Basically I have struggled with my mental health all my life but more severely in the past 7 years. For years I have had different therapies, CBT and CAT a lot, but none seemed to help. I think the main problem is that I was always focusing on anxiety, when really there was a deeper problem. I am now on 100mg of Sertraline and my anxiety feels better than ever.
I am almost certain I have a personality disorder, and so are my friends and family. I am thinking it is Borderline, but not 100% sure. After months of waiting I finally got an appointment with my community mental health team for assessment (I go to uni in Sheffield). As you can imagine i was over the moon with this and expected to at least come out of it understanding myself a bit more.
my appointment was yesterday and I am devastate with the result. I opened up more than ever which is really hard for me, I talked about my extreme emotions, suicidal thoughts and actions etc etc and in the end I was told that I would only be allowed a diagnosis if I was in a "mental health crisis". She said all she can do is offer me therapy and write me a letter explaining I have a lot of traits of BPD. At this point I started crying and saying I dont know what to do and im scared of what Im going to do (something which I also find hard as I do not like to cry in front of people) and she still didnt do much.
I feel like that appointment was my last hope through the NHS and I feel completely lost and let down, if anything it has made me a lot worse than before I went. I am now strongly considering a private assessment.
I was wondering if anyone could suggest a good place that would preferably specialise in personality disorders, however I am not 100% this is my problem, I just know that I do have a problem. I am willing to travel anywhere for this as I really do feel I need this. Has anyone got ANY advice or experience of a similar thing that has happened to them? Of course I am willing to pay, but the cheaper the better!
thank you so much for reading
Basically I have struggled with my mental health all my life but more severely in the past 7 years. For years I have had different therapies, CBT and CAT a lot, but none seemed to help. I think the main problem is that I was always focusing on anxiety, when really there was a deeper problem. I am now on 100mg of Sertraline and my anxiety feels better than ever.
I am almost certain I have a personality disorder, and so are my friends and family. I am thinking it is Borderline, but not 100% sure. After months of waiting I finally got an appointment with my community mental health team for assessment (I go to uni in Sheffield). As you can imagine i was over the moon with this and expected to at least come out of it understanding myself a bit more.
my appointment was yesterday and I am devastate with the result. I opened up more than ever which is really hard for me, I talked about my extreme emotions, suicidal thoughts and actions etc etc and in the end I was told that I would only be allowed a diagnosis if I was in a "mental health crisis". She said all she can do is offer me therapy and write me a letter explaining I have a lot of traits of BPD. At this point I started crying and saying I dont know what to do and im scared of what Im going to do (something which I also find hard as I do not like to cry in front of people) and she still didnt do much.
I feel like that appointment was my last hope through the NHS and I feel completely lost and let down, if anything it has made me a lot worse than before I went. I am now strongly considering a private assessment.
I was wondering if anyone could suggest a good place that would preferably specialise in personality disorders, however I am not 100% this is my problem, I just know that I do have a problem. I am willing to travel anywhere for this as I really do feel I need this. Has anyone got ANY advice or experience of a similar thing that has happened to them? Of course I am willing to pay, but the cheaper the better!
thank you so much for reading
I'm sorry you were disappointed in your assessment. It clearly took a lot for you to go through it all and I'm sorry you didn't get the outcome that you wanted.
They aren't so keen in handing out diagnoses where they don't deem it necessary - this was explained to me in my recent assessment. I don't really understand where a diagnosis would be necessary (unless in legal proceedings maybe?) by their own standards, because everything I threw at them like benefits, familial and employment understanding, and stuff like that they said a diagnosis wasn't necessary for. Because it was just an assessmnet, they don't tend to give you a diagnosis on the spot anyway. It's the first time they've met you. What might be beneficial is seeing if there are any personailty disorder services in your locality that they can refer you to, as like they say you have a lot of traits, and you might find this quite useful
