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More time could have been spent working on my mental health

Posted By Kriss_themusical

"More time could have been spent working on my mental health"

About: CAMHS (Outpatient Services) / CAMHS Response Team

(as the patient),

I got an emergency referral from my GP to go to CAMHS and went in for a few meetings. I was quite anxious going into the appointments especially as my parents were there.

The first appointment was basically just getting to know Laura and getting used to the environment. Then the second appointment was a short mental health assessment then Laura told me she thought I could potentially have autism.

So the next appointment was me and my parents giving her some autism screeners and she then scored them. My parent's one showed that they didn't think I had autism, however my one did. Then the next appointment was after my school sent back some screeners and was meant to be with both Dean and Laura, this appointment got pushed back twice.

At this meeting Dean asked me and my mum several questions pertaining to autism and the traits that I could potentially be showing. After this he then stated that I wasn't showing enough traits to get a diagnosis. This was okay, I wasn't that bothered about getting a diagnosis anyway. But after this I was discharged, which is fine but I do feel like the entire process was a little bit of a waste of time, I didn't get anything in terms of help for my mental health, no tools or guidance to help stop negativity, suicidal thoughts, or shame spirals. And this could partly be my fault as I didn't express that I wanted help with that, but I would have presumed that being referred after a suicide attempt with notes stating I was self-harming and not eating would warrant something. 

It did just feel like they were trying to push for an easy diagnosis, and when they realised it wasn't going to be an easy diagnosis they let me go, rather than actually helping. The people were lovely, I do just feel as though more time could have been spent working on my mental health rather than trying to see if I had autism.

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Responses

Response from Diane Caldwell, NHS Tayside 2 weeks ago
Diane Caldwell
NHS Tayside

Submitted on 12/04/2024 at 14:38
Published on Care Opinion at 14:39

Thank you for your feedback. We take all feedback very seriously and try to learn from it. I apologise that the service you received did not come up to or usual standard on this occasion.

If you would like to discuss this further I would be happy for you to contact me through CAMHS main telephone number.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Kriss_themusical (the patient)

Thanks for the response, however, I don't feel like a phone call would be necessary.(I also hate phone calls 😅)

The experience as a whole wasn't negative, it just wasn't what I was expecting (although I'm not sure what I was expecting) and as stated the people were so kind, I'm just not sure if they took me seriously as I do have a tendency to downplay/cover up things while I'm anxious or in a social setting. And that isn't their fault, but also in retrospect the information that was shared in the initial referral from the GP and the screeners filled in by my teachers have made me realise that I, in fact was not okay.

My teachers noticing, and one in particular detailing some pretty insightful and slightly concerning information about what he had noticed in me/what I had told him, made me feel as though it should've been more of a cause for concern. For example he noticed that I had been missing classes to 'hide' in his department, which is not usual for me as I love school and I love all of my classes, and that I would spend most of my day in that department and wouldn't eat or drink, sometimes he would ask me if I had eaten at all that day and I'd say no, not thinking he noticed to be honest.

A lot of this and more was detailed in the screeners, and I'm not sure if these things sound bad or if I just feel like it's worse than it seems.

Maybe the team is for worse, more at risk patients than me. They did try to find the root of the problem. I just wish that they would have been less fixated on a diagnosis and more focus could have been on the symptoms which I was sent in for.

(Sorry for writing so much in the response)

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