While the vast majority of my experiences with the mental health industry have not been through the NHS, I experienced similar clownery with other models of healthcare. When my university told me I needed to go back to the mental health system via the NHS, I just stopped responding to the mental health team.
My experience with both psychiatry and psychology was that the standard course of SSRIs SNRIs and CBT was chucked at me, and when those didn't work, I was seen as a hopeless case. I was misdiagnosed for years and told I was merely depressed and anxious, my dehabilitating ptsd and autism ignored until I told the 6th or so therapist that my teacher at school wanted me evaluated for ASD.
Because of the psychosomatic perception doctors have of many chronic illnesses, my physical issues were ignored until they became permanent. I was told even as a young child that I was depressed and lazy and that somehow alll my problems stemmed from that. These were non mental health doctors pushing this narrative.
This started the cycle of seeing a new doctor, getting put on new med cocktails with horrible side effects, then blamed for the drugs not working and told I needed to stay on them longer, rinse and repeat. Cue the same thing with therapists when none of their mindfulness shit worked. I have been in the system since I was 13, with sporadic counseling before that.
They could never admit that they were unable to help me. I'd just get referred somewhere else and told maybe that new psychiatrist or psychologist could help me, maybe they had some special insight or expertise. They never did. It made me realise how powerful the illusion of authority is, at least.
Whenever I registered for disability support at my university, I told them about my ptsd and Autism and how I often get overwhelmed, but have tried pretty much every medication and modality of therapy to no avail. They didn't listen and told me I need meds and therapy and to get with the local NHS GP immediately. They informed me the wait times were many months for ANY kind of services so I better get on the list now or I'd be waiting till I graduated.
The NHS services in my area are notoriously shit. So bad that many people will tell you to reach out to local charities instead. Except the crucial little detail these people fail to mention is that these charities refuse to help people who are suicidal.
Some of them even stipulated that they would not help people who had trauma within the past year, and stated that clause, alongside the banning of suicidal people, was because they can only accept people who are actively ready for healing or some bullshit like that. Seriously?
I don't think the current methods of "help" are really working. We need better treatments, community support, and socioeconomic help, but that will never happen. I am gaslit constantly when I say doctors made my conditions worse. People think I am judging the benevolent NHS healthcare hero's when I inform them that it was literally a doctor who traumatized me. Doctors are pretty much immune to scrutiny so they can get away with treating people horribly. They treat people with chronic pain like we are in hysterics and just mentally ill, and society laps it up and blames many chronic illnesses on "poor mental health" rather than useless doctors doing absolutely fuck all to help.
I have read the NICE guidelines for my conditions many times about what is allowed to be prescribed and I have already exhausted all the options. Still, people tell me it is my fault and not the system's. The system that refuses to try anything even slightly costly or experimental in fear of liability, but will allow you to suffer with no relief for years and years until you end up ctb due to their negligence.
This article has some striking anecdotes about how bloody brain dead many NHS GPs and mental health workers are about these issues:
'A GP told me I can solve my issues with anxiety by tearing paper'
thetab.com
www.independent.co.uk
www.elpiscounselling.co.uk
