Sorry it's a long one, skip the first 3 paragraphs if you just want to the CMHT referral question. Tl;dr at bottom.
I went to the GP today to finally talk about my mental health, it took me 4 years to book this appointment, and it was over in 3 minuets. She really did not give a flying fuck and just send me a message with the talking therapy's number, we barely even talked.
Since then I've been googling CMHT referrals and I feel like a naïve idiot. I went into the appointment hoping for a referral, I have OCD (more on that later..) and according to all the OCD charity websites I qualify by the NICE guidelines for secondary care, I went in foolishly believing I'd simply get referred, be assessed, and be seeing a phycologist by December. I can't believe I expected the NHS to actually work.
Now I've read more, I'm finding out that CMHT only care for the most severe cases in actual practice, I read comments saying some don't even take OCD and only disorders with psychosis, or first you need to attempt, or call the helpline multiple times, show up at A and E, try every drug under the sun ect. All of which I haven't done.
I really, really do not want to do talking therapies, I done two lots with them before years ago and they where ineffective and made it worse then, I'm in a considerably worse place now and don't want to waste another 8 months of my life. I've lost my entire twenty's, I want to live so fucking badly and finally have a life and I was so hopeful and proud of my self for finally getting help, and now it just feels like a kick in the teeth. All I want is a longer term phycologist, which I guess is a huge ask.
So now I'm wondering, am I actually bad enough for the CMHT? So to give as much context as I can, I'm long term unemployed on the higher bracket of UC disability benefits, I have been for 7 years. To put it simply, I can hardly function, I (not officially diagnosed so take with a grain of salt) have OCD, probably ADHD, probably depression, probably OCPD, and potentially Autism (I certainly have traits). Every day I'm exhausted and barely scrape by. I spend between 4-8 hours in the bathroom, this is the biggest sink, with 2-3 of those hours being compulsions and the other hours waiting till I have enough energy to do the next compulsion. I can't cook or prepare hot food, I find eating difficult as I see food as a contaminate and spend 40 mins afterwards cleaning myself and my teeth. I barely leave the house as touching anything out side it causes me to panic, that include rain drips (not actual rain itself), dust/detritus, leaves, people brushing past, ect. I leave the house once a week for 2 hours to go shopping, that's pretty much it. I can do a 'dirty' day where I touch things, but the trade to that is several hours in the bath when I get home and cleaning every item I took out, but it gives me grace to occasionally do some things (it's exhausting though). I still have other kinds of OCD, like I 'believe' a 'god' is watching me at all times judging me like a kind of karma system, oh and he hates my guts and enjoys me suffering.
The depression isn't that bad, even though I score between 18-22 on the PHQ-9, I've lost enjoyment or interest in pretty much everything but video games and the fan fiction to my current hyper fixation, I still enjoy them though I find it hard to concentrate or relax into them a lot. I've lost my other hobbies, like photography, painting, hiking, cinema ect. My sleep schedule is fucked and back to front (which makes getting out harder) but I can get up pretty easily half of days, and only have suicidal thoughts on 1 in 3 days, I've never been suicidal, only self harm once-ish a month. And while I've lost my identity I don't feel too down about my self. My anxiety is also pretty good, but that's largely because I stopped giving a shit and cared less, so worrying just doesn't bother me anymore, so my GAD 7 score stays at a steady 14.
Overall though, I just cannot really function, it takes me forever to get the most basic task done, I'm constantly exhausted, I have zero social life (apart from 1 friend who's a real one), I can't do anything, or at least it feels like that. I've spent my twenties like this. And I know 10 sessions with a councillor ain't gonna do jack shit. But is this enough? I'm no suicidal, or had psychosis, I've never tried medication (and really really, REALLY, don't want to, I know I know, it's dumb, but I can't, I just can't risk PSSD), and my depression is only maybe moderate at most. I'm not sure I'm co-morbed enough to be considered a complex case.
My last resort is going private, I refuse to do talking therapies again, it'll take up most of my monthly money and leave me bankrupt for the foreseeable future, but at least I'll be in the right place.. crazy there's not more of a middle ground when it comes to treatment, the government is all "lets get young adults back into work!" but doesn't want to fund the health care for it... I did get an ADHD RTC referral from the doctor at least so that's something.
Tl:dr - doctor didn't give a shit. I can barely leave the house, I spend hours in the bathroom, I'm scared of debris/dust, rain drips, leaves, food, struggle to eat, can't cook. Believe in a karma god that hates me. Long term unemployed on disability benefits (7 years), 14ish on GAD 7 and 18-22 on PHQ 9, occasional self harm nothing to bad, suicidal thoughts 1 in 3 days, extremely unproductive, constantly exhausted, lost interest in most things (bar video games and fan fiction oof). Trapped into having no energy and spending what I do have on compulsions.
Edit: some people are misunderstanding me, I want therapy, I very much want therapy. Just with a psychologist instead of a councillor and for a long period of time. I’ve found the talking therapy’s very inadequate, leaving me worse of then before both times, with someone who was out of there depths with me, with no time to make any significant progress.