"Psychiatric Care"

I've lived with mental illness for more than 10 years and I feel the help i've received over the years has been erratic to say the least.

GP referred me to CMHT who to be fair I feel have tried at times to help. What gets me the most is the frequent changes in Drs (SHO rotations) which doesn't help in building a trusting relationship between patient and Dr - in fact all it does in my opinion is build barriers. In fact, I think it's lead to a protracted and dis-jointed service provision and I feel this has hindered my recovery at times.

In all the years I've been under the care of CMHT I don't recall any Dr giving me a diagnosis or in fact developing any kind of care plan with me. If there is one I don't know about it! I feel that half the time the Drs havn't listened to me - all I feel they've done is ask the same tick box questions and sent me packing till the next appointment.

Note to Drs - we might be ill but we are not children, please respectfully talk to us as adults and be more open - give us the opportunity to understand what's what and let us make more informed choices when we are capable of making them.

Medication isn't the only answer but I have found talking therapies are not easy to come by in the NHS. There is at least a 2 year waiting list for psychotherapy in my area which I find disgusting.

I've experienced what I feel is a reluctance by Drs to refer for this service which I feel is to avoid increasing the waiting list further so individuals are stuck with taking meds or nothing.

I've been through therapy and it has been worthwhile, although could have done for it to continue a while longer.

All in all, I feel that care in this area of the NHS is relatively poor but is down to lack of funding, lack of qualified staff and very poor communication. Most Drs and nurses I've come into contact with have been fairly pleasant and do their best with what they've got to work with, albeit in a disjointed fashion in my experience.