[UK] Young people struggle to get proper mental health care

[David Baxter PhD]

Young people struggle to get proper mental health care, says survey
by Mary O'Hara, guardian.co.uk
Wednesday 11 March 2009

Research by charity Young Minds finds 75% of respondents lacked support while waiting for treatment

Young people with mental health difficulties are not getting the support they need while waiting for treatment, raising fresh concerns about access to effective care, according to a new study.

The research, carried out among 10- to 25-year-olds by the charity YoungMinds for their new mental health help site My Head Hurts, found that three-quarters of young people said no support was offered while waiting for treatment. More than half of those surveyed said doctors failed to adequately explain the side-effects of treatments, leaving many unsure about what to do if they needed additional help.

The results are worrying because young people are often left on waiting lists for more than three months.

"With government figures showing 4,842 young people with mental health problems waiting over 13 weeks last year for treatment, these are shocking figures," a spokeswoman for the charity said. "Being placed on a waiting list can make people feel despondent and uncertain as to where to turn to for help."

She said the study's results have reinforced anecdotal evidence already collated by the charity through its Very Important Kids initiatives in which groups are set up to give children and young people in distress a voice in the media and in policy making circles.

On a positive note, 53.8% of respondents to the survey said their doctor did discuss the treatment options available, but 57.1% said possible side-effects were not addressed.

Sarah Brennan, the chief executive of YoungMinds, said: 'Being diagnosed with mental illness, receiving treatment, seeing doctors and psychiatrists and being admitted into hospital can be confusing and brings up all sorts of questions: can I say no to treatment? I don't want to be here, do I have to stay?

"Having information in one central resource such as the myheadhurts website is exactly what young people need. They need to know what is happening to them, the risks associated with treatments and the right questions to ask. This site is vital because it provides comprehensive information on these issues and thus empowers young people."

Some estimates suggest that about one in 10 young people have to deal with a serious mental health problem. The My Head Hurts online resource, funded by Comic Relief, aims to provide information to young people diagnosed with anxiety, self harm, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and eating disorders.

The Department of Health said it welcomed the site as an information resource. A spokesperson said: "We are improving the quality of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). We have increased funding by over 60% in three years and waiting times for treatment are actually going down even though more patients are being seen.

"We are also working on recent recommendations made by the independent CAMHS review to improve services further."

 

[cosmo]

I am really pleased that there is recognition of the insufficiency of proper mental health care for young people. Hopefully early intervention will have positive repercussions by reducing the overall number of people needing mental heath care.

Unfortunately this is just the tip of the iceberg in the UK. The mental health care system is in crisis, with ridiculously long waiting times for treatment, insufficient and fragmented care, and very limited care when it is eventually given. It is a postcode lottery - and even in the 'better' areas, it is merely a case of getting some care rather than none at all. Meantime the primary care system (GP surgeries etc) are reliant on drugs - which although are certainly helpful and necessary in a lot of mental health issues, are not suitable or best practice for many others.

Because of the financial crisis that the NHS finds itself, finance is focused on shorter-term (quick-fix) therapies rather than the longer-term therapies needed by a number of the population. The outcome is that the same people just get re-cycled through the 'system', with a complex layer of 'band-aids' applied rather than the full long-term treatment that may see them being discharged for good in an (overall) shorter amount of time & treatment.

So despite the benefits of the NHS (not having to check you have your wallet when you are hit by a car), the lack of money going into the system means that the mental health care options are so much more limited, and often non-existent. A great deal of mental health care provision in the UK is offered by charities rather than the NHS, which shows how much of a crisis there is in this field.

The problem is that this is a very narrow-minded approach, with a significant impact on both those struggling to get support from an already overstretched system, as well as the obvious repercussions on their children. For example, a unpreventable but easily treatable problem such as postnatal depression can cause significant attachment problems in the children involved, which has long term ramifications on THEIR mental health - which means you have not one, but two people now needing treatment. Treating the mother in good time and with proper resources will go a long way to prevent this - but it is a situation only just becoming recognised, and only in some locations. There are some excellent charity-based programs, but it is a constant struggle to keep these funded adequately.

Yes, I do speak from experience!

So - thank you for posting this up, but please know that this is only the start of what should be a concentrated program by the UK government to tackle an ever-worsening and critical health care problem.