Earlier this year, Health Secretary Wes Streeting suggested there was evidence of over-diagnosis of mental health and neurological conditions, which could explain the dramatic increase in people suffering from mental health and neurological conditions. Today, he is launching an independent review into rising demand for mental health, ADHD and autism services in England. Streeting explained: “We must look at this through a strictly clinical lens to get an evidence-based understanding… That’s the only way we can ensure everyone gets timely access to accurate diagnosis and effective support.” Okay, that’s fair enough, at least to a point. I am available to assist Wes if he wants a view from the ground on how things really are in the real world.
My experience is that there is next to nothing available in terms of treatment for the vast majority of people with mental health issues. There is basic, short term counselling for people with very mild mental health conditions and at the other end of the scale, while it struggles as a result of long term underfunding, there is a fair degree of support for those in crisis. For the rest of us – and that’s almost all of us – there lies nothing.
My depression is treated by an insufficient prescription of antidepressants and for as long as I stay on a relatively stable footing, that’s all there is. I know from long experience that there is virtually no “access to accurate diagnosis and effective support”, as Streeting put it. And when it comes to ADHD and Autism services, there is literally nothing. I had to abandon my lifelong principles and go private in order to get an ADHD assessment and when I returned to the NHS, where the waiting list was something like eight years, there was nothing they would do for me by way of treatment and drugs. When I mentioned that the ADHD assessor had suggested I get an Autism test, too, the GP could not have been more dismissive had he laughed in my face. “You’re not a young chap,” he airily pointed out, as if I didn’t know it. “Just go home, forget all about it and get on with your life.” That does not suggest to me that we have “access to accurate diagnosis and effective support”.
I am reassured by the news that both the mental health charity MIND and the Autism Society support the government’s review. Lives are being ruined by inadequate or non-existent mental health treatment and support and, frankly, I feel insulted by any suggestion that actually we’re not ill or on a spectrum and it’s purely a question of some people not being able to cope with life’s everyday problems. More than that, in my personal and professional life, I have come across countless people who have mental health issues and I can honestly say that I don’t think any of them are faking it. Why would they? DWP benefits are mainly paltry and inadequate. No one gets rich on benefits unless they are serious fraudsters. Being mentally ill is horrible.
We seek therapy and diagnoses because we want to live better, more normal (awful word) lives. It really is that simple. How hard can it be to understand that simple fact? I have an illness and a neurological condition and, at its worst, its life-destroying. Yet, I am one of the lucky ones who thanks to the love and support of others made it through my working life without too many disasters. But I am not going to pretend it’s been easy or pleasant. Us mental people deserve better. No one with a physical illness or condition would be treated as badly as us. No one says cancer is over-diagnosed, do they? And nor should they. So, why us? Why me?
Sure, let’s have a clinical review and once it’s complete take action and spend whatever it takes to give us mental health and neurological services that are fit for purpose. I have always felt under-diagnosed and ignored. I hope subsequent generations don’t get to feel the way my generation did.
