NeuroCindy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
Not only is there a stigma to mental illness, the access to care is horrendous and horribly expensive when it is available. How many people can really manage weekly visits for $150 each? As a family practice physician, I have dozens of patients who desperately need mental health care and simply can't get it. There just aren't enough providers to go around. Many patients opt to "self-medicate" with drugs and alcohol that could have been avoided had quality mental health care been available. As a result, many end up in the legal system and it's just a downward spiral from there.
This is absolutely true, and some psychiatrists are unbelievably dismissive. I have severe depression. Severe enough that I've had a full plan for suicide and was planning the best time to do it. I tried to get help, I saw psychiatrists. They all put me on SSRIs or SNRIs even though they made me hallucinate. They told me to "just ignore the hallucinations" or "just learn to live with them". I spiraled deeper and deeper into depression. I hit a point where I just couldn't feel any emotion anymore. Everything was just grey, everything was hopeless. I got the motivation to see one more doctor, to try one more time. I'm lucky enough that I found an amazing psychiatrist who has worked so closely with my neurologist and me to find a medical plan that works. I still have bad days, but I actually laugh again and have some hope for the future.