Free or low-cost mental health care?

[BookstoreEscapee]

Still here. Had my first session yesterday, and so far all I can report is that they don't think I'll need any meds.

I think that's a good thing. I don't like doctors who jump immediately to meds, unless your condition is severely interfering in your life (like can't leave the house, and/or a danger to yourself or others). Better to at least take a few sessions to try to figure out what's really going on before throwing drugs at someone.

[Seshat]

If it's a psychologist (ie, can't prescribe) who discovers that you're not responding to talk therapy alone, he'll know good psychiatrists (can prescribe) to refer you to; AND the psychiatrist will be able to get a report from the psychologist with the diagnosis and info-so-far.

(No, the report won't breach patient confidentiality - that weird dream about Herbie the Love Bug is between you and your psychologist. But symptoms and signs the psychologist has noticed will be helpful to the psychiatrist when prescribing.)

Be aware that at first you might feel worse.

Think about it like this. You have a big infection in your body, which has been encapsulated by a cyst. It's messing you up, and it has to go. But for whatever reason, they can't just remove the cyst, they have to lance it and let your immune system (possibly with antibiotic support) deal with it.

During the phase when your body is healing the infection, your immune system will be in full function, giving you fever, a runny nose, and encouraging you to stay in bed (yes, those are all your immune system, not the infection itself!).

Your mind works the same way. The psychologist is skilfully finding 'cysts' of mental 'infection' and lancing them, and your mental equivalent of an immune system is then going to go and make lots of mental 'white cells' to nom up the invading 'bacteria'.

On the plus side, all those skills the psychologist is teaching you are additional 'mental white cells'. The job of both types of psych includes improving your mental 'immune system'.

But on the minus side, you're going to feel mentally yucky for a week or two every time a 'cyst' is 'lanced'.


Once it's done, though, you'll not only be a lot healthier, you'll have a much, much stronger mental immune system! Yay!

[Solumina]

I have never heard it described that way but I'd say that is fairly accurate

[Der Cute]

*snip*

Think about it like this. You have a big infection in your body, which has been encapsulated by a cyst. It's messing you up, and it has to go. But for whatever reason, they can't just remove the cyst, they have to lance it and let your immune system (possibly with antibiotic support) deal with it.

During the phase when your body is healing the infection, your immune system will be in full function, giving you fever, a runny nose, and encouraging you to stay in bed (yes, those are all your immune system, not the infection itself!).

Your mind works the same way. The psychologist is skilfully finding 'cysts' of mental 'infection' and lancing them, and your mental equivalent of an immune system is then going to go and make lots of mental 'white cells' to nom up the invading 'bacteria'.

On the plus side, all those skills the psychologist is teaching you are additional 'mental white cells'. The job of both types of psych includes improving your mental 'immune system'.

But on the minus side, you're going to feel mentally yucky for a week or two every time a 'cyst' is 'lanced'.
Once it's done, though, you'll not only be a lot healthier, you'll have a much, much stronger mental immune system! Yay!

Yes, and...you'll build a skill set to (in the future) find those mental cysts, name them, lance them and heal thyself. The goal (big goal here) is to have you balanced enough to be out in the world, functioning and enjoying life, AND able to help yourself.

Be careful. My antie described the mental cyst analogy as soda bubbles, some larger than others. And...somehow, your mind only lets a few out at a time - just enough to give you issues but not enough to kill you! (thanks, mind). You fix Large Cysts 1-5, Smalls 6-10 - but you don't know that there can be others waiting in the wings. Take heart, because those futures may pop up - you will have the skills to fix them. I've had this happen a few times.

Here's an example. I'm recovering from post partum depression /anxiety. In the beginning I'd feel squirrely in my head about the baby: omgomg can I take him out omg omg wtf omg I dunno oh boy I dunno can I take him out omg omg.
You and I both can see that ^ is not normal.
Add drug here...and now, with some training, I can "catch" myself when I start that squirrely thought of "omgomg can I do this omg can I take him out". I catch it and tell myself: No, Self. That's anxiety. You CAN. You HAVE. You don't have anything to fuss over. And I get what ever it is done.

Keep up the good work Dave, and as I said before, keep a journal. If you have a bad thought run thru your head "geez why cant these people leave me alone omg emo emo emo" write it down. Also write your surrounding situation: Home alone, quiet day, bad incident on bus on way to work, thinking about quitting work. Be honest, be truthful, be open....and you can get out of the ditch.

Hugs from someone who's been there!
Cutenoob

[Dave1982]

Well, I'm sure you've noticed I'm still around; I haven't stopped posting.

I am getting better. I've only had six counseling sessions so far but even my counselor agrees that I'm already doing better.

As for the root cause...well, I still don't want to say exactly what it is, but it is situational, and I've had some very promising indications recently that said situation may be about to take a turn for the better. If it does, then it'll be a HUGE emotional burden off my shoulders. I'd say more but I really don't want to jinx it.

[Whiskey]

Good work

[Der Cute]

Hugs and High Fives!

Glad to see you and counselor both think it's situational. That's much better than prolonged, lifelong general depression.

You dont have to tell us what IT is, just keep us informed that you're doing alright and haven't really gone off the deep end.