Posted by Tomatheus on July 5, 2006, at 18:24:00
In reply to Re: mental health centers, posted by helpme on July 5, 2006, at 17:08:21
Helpme,
See below for my responses...
Tomatheus
> Well, I lost my job some months ago due to missing work over panic attacks and other physical manifestations of anxiety- I couldn't manage and it was a stressful office with manipulative management who had us spying on each other. I was also working on my grad degree at the time. I feel I have burnt out and can't figure how to respark. I still have COBRA until December- it's PPO and quite good. Mostly, I want someone to take the time and to be inquisitive and open minded enough to help me try to figure out why all of the antidepressents I've ever tried failed. I have "atypical treatment resistant depression".
Have you ever taken any of the MAOIs? If so, which ones have you tried, and what have your responses been?
My depression is also atypical and relatively "treatment resistant." However, like others on this board, I think that the term "treatment resistant" unfairly puts the blame on the patient instead of where it belongs: on the doctors and the treatments themselves. In other words, I wouldn't say that it's you who's "resisting" to respond to the appropriate treatments for your conditions. Instead, I think it would be more accurate to say that your doctors have "resisted" to provide effective treatment for you. Either that or the drug companies have "resisted" to develop a medication that effectively treats your condition. (Sorry if I'm getting too nitpicky.)
> I want to go somewhere where I do not have to be scared of the other patients, that is, I do not want to have a screaming schizophrenic who threatens to kill me to be my roomate. I want a calm and nurturing environment, but still no-nonsense. I want to be able to relate to the other patients, and not have them be picked up off the street and dropped off nightly by the police- that was a culture shock and I simply could not relate to them in the group therapies. This indeed happened at the private teaching hospital where I last stayed. I do not want staff members to be burnt out, brush me off, or to treat me disrespectfully or scornfully.
All I can say is that I can relate to what you're saying and that it certainly doesn't sound to me like you're asking for too much. I wish that I knew of a facility that fits what you've just described. Of course, if I knew of such a place, there's a good chance that I'd be there myself ... assuming that I could afford it.
Personally, I'm a little cynical when it comes to residential mental health facilities. I'm not going to say that the type of facility that you've described doesn't exist because I can't rule out the possibility that such a place does exist. I'm wondering if you might benefit more from simply having a good pdoc and/or a good therapist: a pdoc who would have more sense than to put a patient on nine different meds at once and a therapist who'd be willing to give you the kind of "practical guidance" that you need. Then again, you very well might have already tried several pdocs and therapists only to benefit very little (if at all) from their expensive services. But if there's one thing that I could recommend, it would be this: don't lose hope that the right psychiatrist and/or therapist for you is out there. *Good* mental health professionals may be hard to find (depending on how lucky or unlucky you are), but they are out there.
> Many people were judgemental, I was surprised to discover, after they incorrectly deduced I tried to kill myself. I also experienced a staff member who challenged me that there was no way I, a mental patient, could have earned a masters degree.
Some things never cease to amaze me (I would go into more detail, but I don't think that I'd be able to do so without being "uncivil" toward the staff member who you referred to).
poster:Tomatheus
thread:664155
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060701/msgs/664275.html