My CAMHS Experience..

[beebs]

o i had my first camhs appointment today for self harm, i thought i would share my experience.

Me, my mum and dad, all went into a room, she started asking questions about why i am here, i stuck my fingers in my ears and refused to talk, then she told my parents to go outside. so they did. then she started asking me questions about school and family. I didnt answer any at first..

Then she threatened to section me, she said "if you dont co-operate i will have to go and get the psychiatrist and he will take you do the psychiatric ward, and we dont want to go down that route"

She asked me what music i like,i said Emilie Autumn then she started telling me that emilie autumn, who has bipolar, she told me shes faking it for attention. and says i should not "idolize" her as she is a liar. i felt like punching her in the face.

then she goes and starts explaining depression to me like im 4, she was telling me i was suicidal, and she was saying she thinks i have depression. seriously if i ever see her again, i will probs punch her. she wants to put me on medication, and is still considering sectioning me because she could not do a risk assessment because i would not talk about the self harm.

so yeah thats how it went..

[DejaVu]

Well why don't you want to cooperate? She seems pretty stupid but still...

[beebs]

I didnt want to be there. I didnt want to talk about my self harm.

[kenoloor]

I didnt want to be there. I didnt want to talk about my self harm.

It is my opinion that, if you do indeed want to get better, you're going to have to make sacrifices. You'll have to put up with shit that you really don't want to put up with; keeping your long-term goal of "getting better" (or something along those lines, whatever your goal may be) will help you immensely, I think.

That being said, this woman sounded rather bitchy and not helpful in the least. If you have an opportunity to get a counselor/therapists/psychologist/psychiatrist/whatever somewhere else (I'm not entirely familiar with the CAMHS system), I think taking that opportunity might be a good idea. Finding a suitable therapist is often difficult, what with people's different personalities, philosophies, ideas, etc. and it might take more than one visit. I encourage you not to give up hope, and to keep in mind that the road to and through recovery is not easy, but it most certainly is worth it.

[Love.Hate]

She doesnt sound all that nice, i found CAMHS slightly patronising so i know what its like. You can ask to be swapped to another one, but if your not going to talk im afraid there isnt anything they can do to help. Saying she was going to section you though is rediculous! she obviously doesnt have very many people management skills.

Dont give up on them all completely because of one bad session, fisrt one is always the hardest, stick at it for a bit longer, doesnt have to be with her, remember they are there to help you

[Fiction]

CAMHS have always been shit, but this one sounds particularly bad. My advice would be to ask for a different counsellor.

[FullyAlive]

CAMHs weren't great for me either but seriously do you have any desire to get better or do you want this forever?
Seriously trust me I know how hard it is to talk about it I find it really really difficult, but you're wasting their time if you don't even want to try.
Sure this woman sounds awful but it's better than nothing, or ask to see someone else. But if you won't at least try it's pointless going.

[Carly011]

Find another therapist who you ARE comfortable with. I really didn't want to talk about my self harm either, so we would talk about lesser issues and build up to that. I would just sit there and refuse to look at her or i would stare her down :p i was very very bratty but i was SO upset that she had found out(my mom told her). Its OK to be upset, its OK to be mad. but you have to talk about it eventually....they tried to send me to the hospital also :/ that did NOT go over well...i started screaming and yelling and refusing. :p

[beebs]

I just sat there and stared at the floor at first too :P