Will CAMHS actually help?

I'm 16 and my mental health has really dipped in the last year. From the age of 11-12 I self harmed a lot but didn't seek any help. I was having CBT at the time but never mentioned it. I am having the urge to self harm again now and acted on it in late December which was really frustrating after being clean for 3 years.

I decided in mid December to get help properly. I spoke to the deputy head at my school and she recommended I see the GP. I had an appointment and was referred to CAMHS. The therapist I saw 4 years ago was private so I haven't gone through CAMHS before.

I want 3 things from CAMHS
1. A diagnosis of depression and anxiety
2. Medication to help me manage the depression
3. To be tested for Autism

Do you think this is possible? I have been reading about how reluctant they are to diagnose people and my GP basically said no to meds.

I don't want to ask for the Autism testing as it would make me too anxious.

Will CAMHS actually help or will they tell me to have a bath? I'm at a place now where I'm willing to help myself but I won't be able to without real support.

They are reluctant but if you do not show improvement from therapy, then meds may be used and a diagnosis may be on the table? is my understanding. The Autism thing is going to be difficult. If you exhibit signs and you have someone nice and you tell them about your behaviours then they may put you on a waiting list which will take YEARSssss. Maybe better going for a private diagnosis if possible.

In my experience and my friends they are quite unhelpful and are very much like go and take a bath. However, if you go through them you can get referred to better people which did end up helping me and i was taken a lot more seriously after going through CAHMS. It is worth doing as a lot of people do benefit from it. It is mostly CBT though.

This is just my experience and I found it hard to be diagnosed and gets meds and ended up giving up. I wasnt very forceful about it though.

A friend of mine successfully managed it. Another friend managed to get on the waiting list to be diagnosed with Autism. So obviously its doable through CAHMS. It just takes a while and i think you have to be pushing for it and in a very dark place.

They likely will assess you and appropriately diagnose you, and refer for further testing re: autism if it's clinically indicated, particularly as you are too anxious to bring it up yourself (could a parent ask on your behalf?). Medication for MH reasons is difficult in younger people, they mostly want to avoid it as it can have severely adverse effects and they're more common in younger people. It might also be worth asking for support in terms of therapy from them as well, how did it go for you before? Did it help?

I had CBT before and it made everything worse. I just felt too overwhelmed in the situations that were making me anxious to be able to use any of the strategies. I am nervous to raise the autism possibility with my parents as they would immediately reject the idea. I may wait until I am an adult and pay myself.

I'm 16 and my mental health has really dipped in the last year. From the age of 11-12 I self harmed a lot but didn't seek any help. I was having CBT at the time but never mentioned it. I am having the urge to self harm again now and acted on it in late December which was really frustrating after being clean for 3 years.

I decided in mid December to get help properly. I spoke to the deputy head at my school and she recommended I see the GP. I had an appointment and was referred to CAMHS. The therapist I saw 4 years ago was private so I haven't gone through CAMHS before.

I want 3 things from CAMHS
1. A diagnosis of depression and anxiety
2. Medication to help me manage the depression
3. To be tested for Autism

Do you think this is possible? I have been reading about how reluctant they are to diagnose people and my GP basically said no to meds.

I don't want to ask for the Autism testing as it would make me too anxious.

Will CAMHS actually help or will they tell me to have a bath? I'm at a place now where I'm willing to help myself but I won't be able to without real support.

I'm 16 and my mental health has really dipped in the last year. From the age of 11-12 I self harmed a lot but didn't seek any help. I was having CBT at the time but never mentioned it. I am having the urge to self harm again now and acted on it in late December which was really frustrating after being clean for 3 years.

I decided in mid December to get help properly. I spoke to the deputy head at my school and she recommended I see the GP. I had an appointment and was referred to CAMHS. The therapist I saw 4 years ago was private so I haven't gone through CAMHS before.

I want 3 things from CAMHS
1. A diagnosis of depression and anxiety
2. Medication to help me manage the depression
3. To be tested for Autism

Do you think this is possible? I have been reading about how reluctant they are to diagnose people and my GP basically said no to meds.

I don't want to ask for the Autism testing as it would make me too anxious.

Will CAMHS actually help or will they tell me to have a bath? I'm at a place now where I'm willing to help myself but I won't be able to without real support.

I'm 16 and my mental health has really dipped in the last year. From the age of 11-12 I self harmed a lot but didn't seek any help. I was having CBT at the time but never mentioned it. I am having the urge to self harm again now and acted on it in late December which was really frustrating after being clean for 3 years.

I decided in mid December to get help properly. I spoke to the deputy head at my school and she recommended I see the GP. I had an appointment and was referred to CAMHS. The therapist I saw 4 years ago was private so I haven't gone through CAMHS before.

I want 3 things from CAMHS
1. A diagnosis of depression and anxiety
2. Medication to help me manage the depression
3. To be tested for Autism

Do you think this is possible? I have been reading about how reluctant they are to diagnose people and my GP basically said no to meds.

I don't want to ask for the Autism testing as it would make me too anxious.

Will CAMHS actually help or will they tell me to have a bath? I'm at a place now where I'm willing to help myself but I won't be able to without real support.

This may sound silly, but did you make use of the techniques outside of the anxiety provoking situations? I've found that working on techniques outside of distressing situations makes them more accessible for me when I'm in acutely distressing situations. It might be as well that you weren't in the right frame of mind at the time to be able to make use of the therapy, and that's okay! Sometimes it's not appropriate, but I'd hope that it hasn't put you off for life.

Are your parents not very supportive? I'm sorry to hear you're anxious about potentially bringing it up, it must be difficult. Personally, if I was in your situation, I'd write a letter to whoever was going to assess me about why I think I need to be assessed for ASD. I've found that when I'm talking about something that is particularly difficult, it's easier to write it out first, and let them read it. It could be worth a try when you get assessed?

I had to go to CAMHS about 3 weeks ago now and he just shouted at me and said I just have a terrifyingly awful relationship which is ruining my life and then my parents got told off by him so I think that's being sorted. They don't diagnose you straight away, you have to go through a process. Sorry for the negative energy but I didn't have a very good experience with them especially considering how broken I felt.