Mental Health Discussion
So I thought I'd start a dialogue going and break a cardinal rule and maybe even get a little personal in order to fuel a discussion about the state of mental health care in America. Now the whole notion is still stigmatized even though half the country is on meds and it took me a long time to even admit anything to myself until I was in my early 20's which sucks and discourages a lot of people from seeking help. Basically, I've always been shy to the point where large crowds other than mosh pits give make me extremely uncomfortable and meeting new people gives me the cold sweats. I've also always felt things very intensely where it takes me forever to get over things like fights and break ups to where I avoid those people and situations entirely and during bad breakups, suffer symptoms that can be categorized as evidence of a heart attack or broken heart syndrome. I also haven't been able to feel genuine, happiness lasting more than 4 hours since I was 11, haven't had regular sleep patterns since I was 15, and haven't had real energy since around the same time.
Now over the years I've coped, despite a few incidents where I've gotten so depressed where I literally haven't been able to move but have occasionally seen people who've all tried the talking cure, meditation, and exercise and all the other traditional crap that has never worked.
Then, an extremely talented shrink working with AmeriCorps looked at my family history, personal story, exposure to stuff like chernobyl, and ran a few tests and diagnosed me with General and Social Anxiety as well as dysthymia. The other two are common and well understood but dysthymia is basically a fancy way of saying "extremely long-term, low-grade, functional depression" typically brought on by drug abuse or exposure to toxic chemicals. I've gotten by ok but functional depression is a lot like functional alcoholism, you're quality of life is always less than satisfactory, you're never functioning on full power, and every mole hill is a mountain.
Now after kind of making a name for myself at two jobs, my position was eliminated a month ago and all my hard work was basically reapropriated and recredited (your tax dollars at work). Of course I lost my insurance and benefits because I'm completely unwilling to pay COBRA $750 a month on a policy that costs $180 a month on the individual market and am currently unable to afford individual insurance due to no income, a paltry severance, and a battle with UI after my former employer under-reported my work history, health care is a luxury I can't afford.
I've been taking tests, applying to schools, and applying to jobs but its been so difficult to focus due to the depression obviously intensifying under these conditions that I've decided to seek out a prescription for welbutrin and other mild-anti depressives through our wonderful social safety net.
Holy shit is this thing full of holes. Let's talk about mental health for the uninsured and let's leave out medicaid because getting that card is becoming more and more impossible as states swirl their budgets down the capitalist toilet. I live in a major city of nearly a million people. The number of public mental health workers serving these roughly 800,000 people is 12.
If you have an emergency you can call a crisis line...they'll send you a bill in the mail.
If you have a serious emergency you can go to an emergency room and have them charge you several thousand dollars for a waiting room chair, a 30 minute appointment, and maybe a prescription because even the "free" clinic/"free" hospitals mental health services come full price or do not accept you if you are uninsured. This translates to (in some cases) up to one thousand dollars per hour.
Now lets talk about run of the mill depression, anxiety, management stuff or I don't know, getting your meds if you're a bipolar or whatever. That falls under 12 people. You call in Monday at 8 am to schedule an intake appointment which is first come, first serve and the slots fill up in the first 10 minutes. Once you get into intake, you pay them sixty bucks to set you up with an appointment with one of these 12 people which can be anywhere between a month to a year and a half from now and amounts to a 10 minute session, costing $30 wherein someone asks you how you are, writes you a prescription, and makes you buy whatever meds you need at their pharmacy for a significant markup. Oh and you have to see them once every two weeks or as needed, $30 for five minutes in person or on the phone. It's pretty much the same for all other local cities.
So I'm shitty but I'll deal.
But think about people who have very serious problems, are suicidal, or potentially violent but not at the point where a state would institutionalize them (which considering the budget, often means send them to prison). Think about mental health services in your own city and how that affects public safety, your safety, and the general welfare.
Discuss.