This week OCD Action and survivors of the Manchester 2017 bombing have taken to BBC Television to protest about the lack of professional help available. NHS Talking Therapies boasts that it has over a million referrals a year, but the public are it seems nevertheless feeling short-changed.
OCD Action pointed to a three fold increase in youth OCD since 2019. A survivor of the bombing was told that she had had the requisite number of therapy sessions and was now ineligible because she was out of the catchment area, for the Manchester service. Those who feel that their needs have not been met, have been led to believe that is simply a matter of demands exceeding resources. A mantra repeated by NHS Talking Therapies, in its’ quest for greater funding.
But where is the evidence that those undergoing routine psychological treatment for OCD or a trauma response such as PTSD, recover to a greater extent than if they had attended their Citizen’s Advice Bureaux with the social consequences of their disorders. Much is made by Charities and Survivor Groups about the importance of social support, whilst nobody doubts this necessity, there is no evidence that it is sufficient to realise recovery.
Given Government expenditure of £2 billion a year on NHS Talking Therapies for Adult and Children’s mental health, the burden of proof is on the Service to demonstrate that it does not offer a duff firework, and that its’ staff are not simply huddling around the dying embers of a fire for warmth. Perhaps eclipsed when it joins with the Department of Health and Social Care in 2027.
Dr Mike Scott