"Inadequate mental health support"

A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD). This was after being in the NHS therapy system since I was 19 (I had a long wait for Talking Space, and then undertook the treatment but it was not enough and my counsellor referred me on). I was offered group analytical therapy which turned out to be woefully inadequate for my needs. When I quit, I said explicitly that I didn’t want to be lost in the system and wanted to be put on the waiting list for individual therapy. This was ignored. In the meantime I have struggled immensely with my condition, paid hundreds of pounds for private therapy, and attempted suicide in February following a break up (I overdosed and an ambulance had to take me to the JR Hospital). I was offered no NHS support following this.

A couple of months ago I was re-referred to a psychiatrist by my GP, because I wanted to obtain mood stabilisers – there is convincing evidence that they help patients with BPD – and Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT). DBT is the standard treatment for BPD, as other forms of CBT are largely ineffective in treating the condition. The psychiatrist refused to prescribe mood stabilisers as they didn’t think they would be beneficial for me, but declared I was a moderate long term suicide risk. They said that they would refer me to the DBT team and that I would probably be accepted. Yet I received a discharge letter saying that the referral has been declined as I have not been known to CAMHS before, which seems like a bizarre and woefully inadequate excuse. I was told that I need to self-refer to the Complex Needs Service (which has a waiting list of at least one year, and no other support was offered.

To summarise, I am a young woman who has a debilitating mental health problem with a 10% suicide rate, who is a ‘moderate’ long term suicide risk, who has attempted suicide before, who has been known to the NHS for years, and I have been told by OUH after years of trying to get proper treatment that there is nothing they can do for me and I need to ‘self-refer’ to a service which has an enormous waiting list. Their reasoning is that I have not been known to CAMHS before.