Can you just discharge yourself from mental health services?

[Ballerina123]

I'm on section atm but when I'm off im thinking about discharging myself from mental health services because I think they are making me worse.

Can you just discharge yourself or will they stop you if they are concerned about you? (Ie just come off section).

[LionCondemned]

I asked my psych to be discharger from MH services but he said because i had been on a section 3 for a year that it was their duty to contact me anyway regardles sof whether i wanted them to or not, but then again beckie discharged herself from services so you might be better off talking to her.
i hope this helps a bit x

[sherlock holmes]

Yes you can usually discharge yourself at any time, though if you've just come off a section they probably will not allow you because you'll still be on s17 leave or have a community treatment order or some such.

They will probably only be happy to discharge you when you are more stable.

No harm in asking.

[Cacoethes]

You can. I discharged myself in March. It did take a few months of asking them though. And they really didn't want to discharge me.
I think they need to make sure it's not a spur of the moment decision.

I think basically as long as you're not sectionable at the time (so you have capacity etc.) Then they can't stop you discharging yourself.

I will say though, that it might be better just reducing appointments with you cpn/psych or whoever rather than complete discharge at first.
The cmht weren't doing anything for me at all and like you, thought they were making me worse.
Since being discharged, things have been that bit harder and I was admitted, which I probably wouldn't have been if I was under the cmht.
Just something to bear in mind.

[Snow White.]

Are you still going to be managing your psychosis without medication? If so perhaps consider you'll need extra support while doing this to keep safe if things get difficult.

[MissAnonymous]

Instead of discharge could you ask for a set up whereby you have PRN appointments and wouldnt ordinarily see someone, except perhaps every 2-3 months as a check up. I would imagine if that went well for a while they wouldnt have any reason to stop you discharging yourself or opposing the process.

TBH this way, you leave it open in terms of access to crisis services [ie you can ring them yourself rather than be referred via a and e or gp] if you change your mind; you'll have a care plan and referral back into services wont be an issue. I think this arrangement would be more acceptable/reasonable to the people looking after you than discharge, given your recent history.

[sherlock holmes]

Yeah at my CMHT it's called a therapeutic break. You don't have routine appointments but you can ring them whenever you need to and talk to or see someone.

It's a really good idea because it gives you an idea how often you need to see someone or if you can manage without support completely.

[Angelina]

Give it some thought. Maybe talking with them about what is and isn't helpful would be more productive.

There's a saying I try to go by:
Don't make spontaneous promises when you're too happy and major decisions when you're depressed/sad/overly emotional.

You need to be in the middle to think and consider properly.

Tbh you seem pretty chaotic lately. You're rushing around in a storm and that's not the place to be making big snap decisions.

X