Posted by TemporarilyBob on October 26, 2012, at 2:20:16
In reply to Re: Have you seen her again? How did it go?, posted by froyo on August 14, 2012, at 0:08:08
Classic by-words of Psycho-Babble: Your mileage may vary.
I have an atypical type of bipolar disorder. When I was an undergrad, it hadn't even started showing up in the research literature, but it looked like Major Depressive Disorder. Even though I was at one of the top universities in the country, I got bounced from one "free" student medical service to another until I ran out of free options. My student health plan got me something like 8 sessions with a private therapist, but my parents' backwards opinions kept them from bothering to check if I was covered for more under my father's health plan (old-style BCBS, basically covered everything since it was a teacher's union plan). Once I stopped therapy with this outside therapist, it took me another 13 years and a series of panic attacks, something I had never had before, to get in to see my primary care doc, who referred me to the therapist I've seen since then, 15+ years.
Your mileage may vary.
But don't let your first experiences with medical care for what I prefer to call a neurological disorder sour you on treatment in anyway or deter you from getting relief from what you are feeling. (I detest "mental disability" or "mental" anything ... it plays to the "invisible disability" perception of what we go through to say it's "in our minds" IMO, and there are just too many negative connotations about that to dump onto what we already have to deal with.)
Don't let fear of being "different" or fupped duck deter you. You deserve the best care you can get. And, particularly at first, YOU need to be the strongest link in the chain, YOU need to be the one looking out for your best interests.
I'm sorry if I sound alarmist or over-dramatic. I just know my first experiences with mental health care left much to be desired. That was 30 years ago. A lot has change. A lot hasn't. Keep your own best interests in your mind and in the minds of the people you have to deal with.
And your mileage may vary.
Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.
poster:TemporarilyBob
thread:1022442
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20120922/msgs/1029838.html