Don't believe me?
Then you are one of the few lucky people who has never known some one who suffers from one or you yourself have never suffered. And I choose the word suffered for very specific reason.
The definition of suffered is:
to experience or be subjected to (something bad or unpleasant).
"he'd suffered intense pain"
Anxiety and depression are real. They are not just mental illnesses they are physical illnesses. To be in pain, to experience, undergo, be subjected to... those are not mental terms. Those are physical.
You may think there is such an easy fix, it's mental after all... just think happy thoughts, just snap out of it, stop feeling sorry for yourself, get over it, move on...
Laughable. When you get angry does it help if I tell you to calm down?
You may think that there's a magic pill out there, just go to your primary care doctor... prozac, paxil, lexapro, celexa, xanax....
Laughable. Everyone is different and those pills are band aids. Not to mention my primary care doctor isn't an expert in the field of mental health and prescribes the pills the pharmaceutical companies tell her to.
You may think you can just pick up the phone and find a psychiatrist... because it's so very easy to actually ask for help. Do you know how hard it is to admit that you need help? Never mind the fact that you can't JUST see a psychiatrist. There's a waiting period and a process."
So you've reached out to your primary care and she's given you every pill she knows to see if that one works. You're a walking experiment. Some dull the pain, some make it ten times worse, some make those thoughts get much darker. Some work for a couple months and then just stop. Then you have to ween yourself off of them (because they all have terrible side affects {except prozac really....}) and start all over. When you've run out of pills to try your doctor says she can no longer help you and you need to see a psychiatrist.
It takes 4 weeks to get an appointment at a mental health facility and then you have to see a therapist for a couple weeks to "show you are committed to treatment."
Do you know how hard it is to work full time, and see a therapist once a week?
So you start talking and time goes by and finally your "approved" to see the actual doctor.
He can't see you for a couple weeks though, he's pretty booked.
Maybe you feel better and say screw it I'm fixed! Maybe you can't wait that long. Maybe you don't want to have to sit through another 4 weeks of therapy with a shrink who stares at you waiting for you to talk. A shrink that asks you things like "And why do you think you feel like that?" or "You know if you don't like me you just have to say so and we'll change therapists..."
As if my anxiety and depression weren't enough now I have to tell you I don't like you.
I know I have a chemical imbalance and I know that it runs in the family.
I know I need help and I know it helps to talk about it.
I actually had a counselor, one that I loved. I was seeing her once a week. She was helping. But she had no ties to a medical doctor and that wasn't good enough for the mental health facility. I had to see THEIR therapist. I had to stop seeing the one I loved and sit with this thing who stared at me and waited for me to talk. How is that not broken?
My therapist and my primary care doctor think I need medical help yet you need me to "prove" that I'm dedicated to getting better?
My time and patience wore out and oh did I mention my $35 co-pay every week to see this therapist I didn't need to see.
I was feeling better so I just stopped. Never got to see the doctor.
Three months later I'm back to the darkness.
I called the mental health facility and asked if I could see the doctor and they said no. I had to start all over again. 4 weeks of therapy to be approved to see the doctor and wait another 4 weeks for my appointment.
I reached out for help. And this is what I got.
If I needed surgery would you make me wait 8 weeks?
If I needed antibiotics would you make me wait?
So why do I have to wait?
Mental illness is a real thing.
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