Got a note from the "Community Mental Health Team" today giving me my appointment for my first contact with them regarding an ADD diagnosis

Two options

1) Yes the appointment time is suitable
2) I do not want an appointment with the Community Mental Health Team.

I'm on holiday the week of the appointment

Don't you just love officialdom :-)

kilt

PS They only ever do first consultations on Tuesday afternoons....institutionalised or what!

Sounds like it sucks. . . . . .

Very few options huh?

I prefer your letter to mine......
Mine informed me that my local PCT has a policy of not funding treatment for AD/HD....nice huh!
I actually didn't particularly want meds, but it would have been nice to have the choice.

I havent even got a diagnostic yet, and i dont know when i will be getting one. :(

Some times I wish they had national health care here in the US however it does sound like it may have some draw backs. I have to pay out of pocket for my ADD care is that an option for you all if you pay privately?

It probably would be Meadd823....but i know i couldn't afford it....plus it really goes against the grain to think that we should pay for something like this when the point of the NHS is that it's there to look after us and we pay higher taxes for it....it's like paying twice.

Grrr i can see a soapbox situation here if i don't watch myself ;)

But psychiatric care in general is known for being bad in this country. Doctors are fine to give antidepressants.....but anything else, like councelling, therapy etc....very hit or miss.

I should add i'm not blaming individual doctors....mine has been wonderful with me and has gotten really frustrated at not being allowed to help me more.

I have no idea of how the NHS works -- but i assume is it similar to universal medicare here in Canada. If one can afford better, then they buy better care.

I was a student on a Community Mental Health Team when i was in Nursing School. (ACT, or Assertive Community Treatment.)


Community Mental Health teams in the US and Canada are moreso for people with disorders that leave them barely functioning in the community:

e.g. Type of clients served:

-ACT Teams (people who refuse to take their medications & wind up coming to the attention of the police/hospital repeatedly; team shows up daily to give meds and OBSERVE taking them; clients often live in rooming houses, etc.)

-psychosis (schizophrenia, paranoid personality disorder, rapid cycling bipolar, delusional disorders)

-crippling depression (barely can leave house; on a disability penson; self-care problems with bathing and paying bills and making MD's app'ts)

-severe personality disorders (interfere with interpersonal functioning needed for day to day activities).


Unless someone is repeatedly hospitalized several times PER YEAR and/or Talking to Aliens and having Command Hallucinations ('kill, kill, kill'), it is hard to get the most basic of mental health care.

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It sounds like you are more interested in ASSESSMENT and TESTING?