{"id":18492,"date":"2024-11-23T11:27:31","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T11:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18492"},"modified":"2024-11-23T11:27:31","modified_gmt":"2024-11-23T11:27:31","slug":"made-to-feel-like-a-neurotic-mum-familys-battle-to-get-mental-health-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18492","title":{"rendered":"'Made to feel like a neurotic mum' – family's battle to get mental health support"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"BBCBBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mia says she doesn’t want people to feel pity, she just wants to feel “ordinary”<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Mia spends much of her time staring out her bedroom window, the view dominated by a nearby housing block.<\/p>\n

With no lift, the only way the 14-year-old can leave her second-floor flat is by shuffling down the stairs on her bottom.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been years since Mia felt ordinary, a near lifelong sense that she didn\u2019t fit in. It all got too much for her a few months ago when she made a suicide attempt that has left her with paraplegia, unable to move the lower part of her body – and she now needs a wheelchair.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can’t change the past now,\u201d Mia says, \u201cit feels spiteful that I can only look at the future, and that I have no clue what is going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teenager\u2019s story, indeed much of her life, will be familiar to the many families who have struggled to navigate the creaking mental health system, leaving them feeling their concerns have been downplayed or dismissed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Struggle for diagnosis<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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BBC analysis of official NHS data suggests that more than half of young people who get psychiatric support finish their course of treatment with no improvement in their health.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the number of young people who report having poor mental health rose from one in nine to one in five between 2017 and 2023, according to a recent report by the charity Mind. It says that last year only a third of those were able to access treatment.<\/p>\n

Mia\u2019s mother, Christina, first sought help for her daughter when she was five years old and had developed an exact ritual for each morning, getting dressed in a particular order and spending up to two hours in the bathroom.<\/p>\n

Within months, Mia was told she had obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). But they felt the diagnosis was wrong, and life didn\u2019t get any easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re a seven-year-old child and you can\u2019t properly understand why you feel so different and so isolated, it\u2019s obviously going to impact you growing up,\u201d Mia recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s never truly [been] anywhere that I feel I belong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia and her mother became convinced she was on the autism spectrum and Christina pushed for an assessment at the local children\u2019s mental health service in Islington, north London.<\/p>\n

On two separate occasions, Mia didn\u2019t score highly enough in initial screenings to trigger a formal assessment.<\/p>\n

Her mother believes the test was geared towards diagnosing boys, which the service provider says it has now improved in line with increased understanding nationally of how autism presents itself in girls.<\/p>\n

As Mia struggled on, finding it difficult to make friends, Christina approached her primary school\u2019s special educational needs teacher, her local social work department and mental health services, desperate for support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was ignored and made to feel like a neurotic mum – nobody was listening,\u201d Christina says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt they didn’t understand her needs. I don’t think they knew how to support her.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Christina<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mia’s mum Christina said she felt people weren’t listening when she tried to get help<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Towards the end of her first year in secondary school, Christina was contacted by a teacher who said the school believed Mia was autistic. This time an assessment was made, which diagnosed the condition. It helped with her education. Mia was given extra support during exams and with homework. But it didn\u2019t lead to a huge shift in psychiatric help, says Christina.<\/p>\n

There was a stop-start nature to the help Mia received over the years. An occasional eight-week course of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), then nothing for a few months, then some sessions with a different therapist.<\/p>\n

Christina says appointments would sometimes be cancelled as the therapist was ill, or changed jobs, leaving Mia feeling little progress was being made.<\/p>\n

Whittington Health said the care it provided to Mia was \u201cin line with national guidance\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch care is inherently complex and we regret that her difficulties continued to escalate,” it said.<\/p>\n

An NHS England spokesperson added: \u201cOur thoughts are with Mia and her family. The NHS is determined to improve children\u2019s mental health and autism services… because we know there are some people waiting too long for care.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Care Quality Commission – which is responsible for inspecting NHS hospitals – says mental health services are struggling with recruitment, including the right mix of staff, \u201call of which are having an impact on capacity, and the availability and regularity of appointments\u201d. <\/p>\n

It encouraged the NHS to \u201cactively involve parents in their child\u2019s care decisions\u201d adding that \u201caddressing their concerns promptly is critical to safety\u201d.<\/p>\n

It’s a recommendation that Christina dearly wishes had been acted on much earlier.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2023, when Mia\u2019s health deteriorated further, she was prescribed a course of anti-depressants. She was told the medication could lead to her putting on weight, which infuriated Christina, as her daughter then developed an eating disorder. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Spinal injuries<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Mia also started to make suicide attempts – on one occasion, her mother had to physically restrain her to keep her safe.<\/p>\n

In March, two days after her therapist cancelled an appointment, Mia tried to end her life, which left her with severe spinal injuries. <\/p>\n

\u201cI felt I was falling behind with school, with friends. I felt like I was falling behind in the world, really, and sometimes it feels like it’s really hard to stay afloat.\u201d<\/p>\n

After her suicide attempt, Mia says for about a month she couldn’t move or sit up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in constant pain. I was on medication, just to not cry. And then I had to relearn a lot – basic things like sitting up and eventually standing, even though it’s still very much assisted. And I had to relearn certain motor skills. And then I had to adjust to life in a wheelchair and managing being paraplegic and feeling like it’s never going to get any better,” she says.<\/p>\n

Monthly data published by NHS England shows that mental health services often struggle to provide the right care to young people. Since April 2023, psychiatric services have assessed the impact of 94,802 treatments that have been offered to young people to see how their mental health has changed. They show that:<\/p>\n