[-jimi-]

Just a general question how well we do with that in here. Access can depend on so many things.

For me, we don't have enough doctors and getting therapy from an actual therapist is very rare. Those who seem stable get almost no help, I hope at least those with more urgent needs get better care. Seems so, because a friend of mine came to a psych doc with only 3 weeks notice. Never heard anyone getting in so fast here, like ever.

I refill my meds over the Internet. They take care of it when they can, so it usually goes quite smoothly. They have to see me once a year says the law but sometimes they simply can't fulfill that. Sometimes I waited more that two years. If I needed assistance in the meantime I simply could not get in.

My psych clinic, when they had too many patients, simply decided to not take in new patients of a certain group for a while, those with ADHD, because they thought they can always wait! Bit of an uproar there I can say.

You cannot contact my clinic. You have to leave your number and if they have time they call you back. Sometimes they never call.

Here "just" depression and anxiety is not seen as mental illness so it is treated by a GP and always treated with SSRI:s. Also they have an option to get 8 counseling hours with a person who is not a therapist.

Despite this I am quite pleased because a long stretch of time I had the same doc and a good one. He straightened out my meds before he left the clinic.

I'm to see my psych doc today. I will see if I can squeeze in everything in the time slot, I hope so. Or that will wait until next year....

I'm sorry if I sound a little negative but... I am.

How are YOUR access to docs and therapy and maybe even OTHER therapy ideas? It would be interesting to hear.

[*Laurie*]

I had good access to a pdoc. I was so pleased with her. Then something happened...my pdoc suddenly disappeared...don't know why. I don't know if it was budget cuts, or something she did that caused her to be let go. Now I don't have a pdoc and it's very upsetting to have to get meds from a GP who lacks knowledge of mental illness. I'm very frustrated, and somehow I doubt the situation will improve anytime soon.

[Unrigged64072835]

While I have access to a therapist and a psychiatrist, I can't get ahold of them outside of appointments.

I was so so so extremely lucky. I benefited from a case of it being all about who you know.

I am very fortunate to have a family doctor best friends with one of the leading psychiatrists in the city. It is a 6-8 month wait here; but, pulling some strings, I got in to see my psychiatrist right away. Similarly, he pulled some strings and got me into a CBT program without the usual one year wait.

There are a lot of services here but the waits for a psychiatrist are long, 6 - 8 months. It is worse for youths; an unbelievable 18-24 months. Ridiculous. They do have as mentioned a lot of services and stop gap measures. If they deem it necessary, they will assign a psych nurse who will work with your family doctor to prescribe medications. If you have been hospitalized they also have a transition team to help you out until you get a permanent psychiatrist. The team will visit with you once a week. In addition there are several clinics with various programs. In the meantime, if you can afford it or have work coverage, there are enough user pay therapists in the city that can take you in right away.

sucks.

I hate the UK mental health system- it's sort of screwy

it takes ages for you to find something half good, and then either you're not important enough and get pushed to the back of a waiting list, or you end up getting only half the support you need

and so many mental health workers here arn't properly trained it's a joke

[benzenering]

I guess I'm lucky to be in the US. I had an emergency a couple of months ago and got seen the same day. I have a psychiatrist I see every month or so and a therapist that I see once a week. I didn't know it was different elsewhere....I guess I am naive.

[splitimage]

Depends entirely on (a) where you are rural is way worse than urban (b) if you have a family Dr. (thousands don't), and (C) how connected that family Dr.is in getting you good referrals.

I find that once you're in the system, care is excellent, it's accessing the system that's the problem, and accessing takes some skill, knowledge, and self advocacy.

I have a phenomenal psychiatrist, who I see once a month, and more frequently if I'm in crisis if we're doing med changes. If I need an emergency appointment I can usually get in within 2 weeks, 3 at the outside. He's on staff at a dedicated psychiatric hospital and I've been a hospital patient for over a decade - had a couple of different psychs assigned by the hospital during that time, but it's a great facility and I've been IP there 3 times, and the care is excellent.

In general, in my city the wait time to see a psychiatrist is 3-4 months for a first appointment, and increasingly psychiatrists are acting more as consultants who will see you a few times, and then make a medication recommendation to your GP for future management.

Psychiatrists are covered by public healthcare.

Therapy is a whole other story. Most therapists are private and expensive so unless you have good insurance through work or money your SOL. there are some free couselling clinics but most have huge waitlists and are time limited. CBT groups are pretty widely available, but there's no coordinated access so it kind of depends on the knowledge of your GP of groups for a referral.

DBT publlicly funded groups are rare and the wait lists are in terms of years. There are increasingly private dbt groups but you have to pay for them. That's how I got my DBT.

You're best bet is to become a patient at a teaching hospital affiliated with the medical school. I'm registered with 2. My psych hospital which takes care of my mental health, and meds, and IP when I've needed it I get all my addiction treatment through another hospital and it's excellent, and I've accessed some mental health programs like CBT and day treatment when I didn't need full IP faster because I was an internal referral.

But English is my first language. I'm assertive, I present well, and I'm really good at self advocating so I have a lot of advantages that minority groups don't have.

I get excellent care, but I know that's not a universal experience.

splitimage

My access has been pretty good. The services and facilities for IP have been questionable to excellent. My own paranoia kept me from opening up to doctors for a long time. I started opening up to my husband and he said this isn't right, then my grandmother who had paranoid schizophrenia passed away and she had pretty much isolated everyone from her life except her brother. She did better being near him. He was a comfort to her but it was sad how paranoid she had become about my whole family and I recognized my paranoia and my husband saying certain things I thought weren't right and needed the help of a doctor and I had to be honest. Which is very hard and I must admit feels very bad to me in some ways but good in others. When I'm not too paranoid to avoid services I get very quick results and responses from my doctors and I think they try their best to help me. They give me a say in my treatment which I find respectful and I do appreciate and hope that doesn't end.

Originally Posted by justafriend306

I was so so so extremely lucky. I benefited from a case of it being all about who you know.

I am very fortunate to have a family doctor best friends with one of the leading psychiatrists in the city. It is a 6-8 month wait here; but, pulling some strings, I got in to see my psychiatrist right away. Similarly, he pulled some strings and got me into a CBT program without the usual one year wait.

There are a lot of services here but the waits for a psychiatrist are long, 6 - 8 months.

I'm not okay with this.
Sorry.
I might be overly sensitive to "who you know" situations...

[passionfruit3]

My acess has not been well i need to see a neuropsychologist cause my diagnosis has changed so often i just want to know the truth. But the furthest one is in sanfran and my parents dont want to take me i also need to see a therapist who specializes in emdr but they keep giving me doctors who don't specialize. I had a different insurance im just forced to be with this one cause of a terrible mistake i made

My experience has been the system is poor but has some outstanding individuals within it.

Last situational depression I was told one year waiting for therapy, so only option SSRI meds. The GP however sat and talked to me way longer than the appointment time, that made a huge difference.

Depression and anxiety is not treated as MI in UK it's true, so not prioritised.

I have a relative with more serious MI and I can say at crisis point things do pick up, but it seems like you have to be really ill before it does. If only it was tackled seriously sooner.

[gayleggg]

Right now I'm losing my psychiatrist because he's no longer taking my insurance. And since I'm covered under Obamacare the future is unknown. I'll be Medicare primary in February so that will bring a change so I don't know what to expect.

[The_little_didgee]

The first time I accessed services it was fairly easy. The only problem I had was with misdiagnosis. It made getting appropriate help nearly impossible. I quit seeing the psychiatrist and attending any mental health services out of frustration for years. I ended up having to seek services again, when a school counselor noticed I was struggling with some sort of illness. She referred me to an agency which referred me to another agency where I started seeing a social worker. Over a period of four months this individual noticed I was exhibiting psychotic symptoms. She was very concerned and found me a family doctor who also worked for the same agency. After that I was able to get a decent psychiatrist and treatment. Without this assistance I would have ended up an inpatient or worse in the emergency department, a place I refuse to go to for psychiatric emergencies (the ER terrifies me more than a hospital admission).

My psychiatrist is my therapist and has hospital privileges. Whenever I need a stay in hospital she does the admission which is a lot easier on me. I don't like dealing with clinicians who don't know me.

I'm in Ontario, where it is hard for people to get help for mental illness, unless they suffer from severe disorders such as psychosis and/or bipolar 1 disorder. Higher functioning people usually have to wait months.

[-jimi-]

Originally Posted by splitimage

But English is my first language. I'm assertive, I present well, and I'm really good at self advocating so I have a lot of advantages that minority groups don't have.

Being assertive where I live, can get you kicked out. Also they seem not to listen to people who can express themselves well since then "You cannot be that bad off".

Everything is so different around the globe it seems!

[mugwort2]

Its fine. I see my pdoc every 6 wks for a med check and a therapist for counseling 2x a month. I'm okay with that plan. In a different place I was seeing a shrink for several months. Totally out of the blue, ie absolutely no warning, his secretary called me. She told me he couldn't see me anymore. I suspect it was my then HMO. Still he could of told me himself. Maybe I should consider myself lucky. Found out he carried a gun with him.

[-jimi-]

Anyway, my doc visit went OK. Doc will even call me this spring! Wow. So much attention. (No sarcasm.)