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Mental wellness without the mental health care system
28 replies
In response to: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
NotLabelDefinedSenior Contributor
Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
hi @Former-Member, sorry but i really gota go for now i got so much stuff to do. i would stay chatting if i could. i hope things start looking up soon for you.
In response to: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
MavRixxContributor
Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
Only thing that helped me was when I realised I had to have faith in myself and take responsibility for my health issues.
Attending Support Groups regularly makes you realise you are not only person who is struggling. Everyone is battling their own demons. You also gain perspective.
In response to: Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
AppleblossomSenior Contributor
Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
@Former-Member
I am not going to agree with your rant against yourself.
I have done my own against my self.
I have ended at a point were I also make it a joke ... but pretty heavy irony ... ha ha ha ... and thank GOD I know with you ... we dont need to go into varieties of Fe on the planet ...
You might have read it as I post it ..
I am a piece of dirt ... so just as well I went to the best uni in the country ... to study how dirt behaves ... otherwise I would not have a clue what to do ..
it even has a rhyme!
Make up your own unique summation ... but put in a twist that enables you to turn it into a good somehow.
I will call you out if you endlessly put yourself down .. dont buy that BS .. get to the bottom of your rant but plant something there so you can then rise up again. That is one way how we find a balance with self esteem confidence arrogance and humility.
GOD I used to hate it
when before mindfulness solved every problem under the sun ...
positive affirmations were all the go
.... I struggled to do as requested ... do my own research ... anyway
THAT ME!
In response to: Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
Unknown userMember
Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
@Appleblossom,
I'm re-reading posts that people have written to try and dig myself out of my hole.
Thank you for this post.
And for the bad jokes!
The problem is, I don't deserve to rise up again. I deserve to be down, stomped on, degraded and tossed aside.
I've decided to give mh professionals a break for a while. I've cancelled all my standing appointments with them.
I'm not sure about the medication. I'm going to think about that for a while.
I've also decided I'm going to ask for my medical records. I don't know if I'll be allowed to see them, but I know I should be able to request them.
I'm worried it will destroy any relationship I have with my doctors if I do request them. I'm not sure I want to destroy any relationship I have with them, even though I don't think I want to see them again.
AND I've got to find a doctor that will prescribe my meds without me seeing a psych. If I do decide to continue with the meds.
I'm not so sure I need them. And I think if I tried really hard I can do without them. After all it's me as a person that is wrong, so maybe it's not the meds after all.
I'm re-reading posts that people have written to try and dig myself out of my hole.
Thank you for this post.
And for the bad jokes!
The problem is, I don't deserve to rise up again. I deserve to be down, stomped on, degraded and tossed aside.
I've decided to give mh professionals a break for a while. I've cancelled all my standing appointments with them.
I'm not sure about the medication. I'm going to think about that for a while.
I've also decided I'm going to ask for my medical records. I don't know if I'll be allowed to see them, but I know I should be able to request them.
I'm worried it will destroy any relationship I have with my doctors if I do request them. I'm not sure I want to destroy any relationship I have with them, even though I don't think I want to see them again.
AND I've got to find a doctor that will prescribe my meds without me seeing a psych. If I do decide to continue with the meds.
I'm not so sure I need them. And I think if I tried really hard I can do without them. After all it's me as a person that is wrong, so maybe it's not the meds after all.
In response to: Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
AppleblossomSenior Contributor
Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
It will not necessarily destroy your medical relationship to ask for records. A director of a Family Therapy gave me records and kept feeding my confidence re parenting when I had little kids. He was trying to reassure me. Anyone who knows you will know that you are proactive and smart and if they are being therapuetic .. they will try and engage that part of you.
About the other stuff. I dont know ...
there is always the challenge to make amends if that is what is needed
or just try and and give it your best shot from now on.
In response to: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
SaharaSenior Contributor
Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
@Former-Member , I agree with Appleblossom - asking for your medical records will not destroy your relationships with your treating professionals. It has become very common for patients to request their own records... I think mainly due to mistrust and the legal profession encouraging people to sue each other,etc.
Your doctors may find it interesting that you would like to read your records... but not too concerning. I used to work closely with health professionals... I have had the great honor of reading many medical histories of various patients! (It was a job requirement) They are written in a very dry, impersonal manner. This is because they are legal documents.
Patients can be disappointed when reading their own records, because they contain only the bare minimum of information, usually. It is not the job of a professional to make any personal observations about someone's personality... or to speculate about their feelings or motivations. So therefore a person can feel like the professional who wrote the record "doesn't know them at all" or was not diligent in their assessment. It can seem misleading
I just don't want you to be disappointed go what you find!
But don't be discouraged either. You have every right to see your records.
Your doctors may find it interesting that you would like to read your records... but not too concerning. I used to work closely with health professionals... I have had the great honor of reading many medical histories of various patients! (It was a job requirement) They are written in a very dry, impersonal manner. This is because they are legal documents.
Patients can be disappointed when reading their own records, because they contain only the bare minimum of information, usually. It is not the job of a professional to make any personal observations about someone's personality... or to speculate about their feelings or motivations. So therefore a person can feel like the professional who wrote the record "doesn't know them at all" or was not diligent in their assessment. It can seem misleading
I just don't want you to be disappointed go what you find!
But don't be discouraged either. You have every right to see your records.
In response to: Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
Unknown userMember
Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
Hi @Sahara,
Thank you.
I don't know, I guess I *know* that they are keeping things from me and I know they think I'm either lying or making up the symptoms I'm complaining of.
I guess I'm just sick of it all. And I don't think I want to be a part of it anymore.
I'm sick of feeling like a failed pariah, I'm sick of not really being listened to. Being placated and being told that it's all my fault that I'm feeling the way I do when I'm not well.
I'm feeling well now. I just want to go out and live as much of a life as I can. I know I'll never be normal, I know I'll never be good, but I'm sick of playing the game whereby I am this fundamentally flawed, broken, failure of a human being happily turns up to be objectified and judged every 4-6 weeks.
Thank you.
I don't know, I guess I *know* that they are keeping things from me and I know they think I'm either lying or making up the symptoms I'm complaining of.
I guess I'm just sick of it all. And I don't think I want to be a part of it anymore.
I'm sick of feeling like a failed pariah, I'm sick of not really being listened to. Being placated and being told that it's all my fault that I'm feeling the way I do when I'm not well.
I'm feeling well now. I just want to go out and live as much of a life as I can. I know I'll never be normal, I know I'll never be good, but I'm sick of playing the game whereby I am this fundamentally flawed, broken, failure of a human being happily turns up to be objectified and judged every 4-6 weeks.
In response to: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
SaharaSenior Contributor
Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
Hey, @Former-Member. You sound very normal to me. Please don't put yourself down. I think mental illness can effect our self confidence... so we end up having a kind of low opinion of ourselves.
In my experience, doctors do not keep things from patients, because it isn't ethical. I know that with looking after my Dad (who has a physical illness) that he assumes that the doctors don't want to tell him the truth! But we have come a very long way from the 1940's! Doctor are legally bound to tell patients the truth about their illness.
Sometimes a doctor will leave out details if they believe that these details may be confusing or misleading. That is my experience, anyway. You could not be expected to understand medical jargon. However, he you start asking a lot of questions... then the doctor is obliged to answer them.
What you could do is take a trusted friend with you to your doctor and have a written set of questions that you want answers to with you. That way you would feel supported. I don't know.... I realise that you feel like you have been misuseatd- which of course does happen, and it must be very difficult for you to trust.
In my experience, doctors do not keep things from patients, because it isn't ethical. I know that with looking after my Dad (who has a physical illness) that he assumes that the doctors don't want to tell him the truth! But we have come a very long way from the 1940's! Doctor are legally bound to tell patients the truth about their illness.
Sometimes a doctor will leave out details if they believe that these details may be confusing or misleading. That is my experience, anyway. You could not be expected to understand medical jargon. However, he you start asking a lot of questions... then the doctor is obliged to answer them.
What you could do is take a trusted friend with you to your doctor and have a written set of questions that you want answers to with you. That way you would feel supported. I don't know.... I realise that you feel like you have been misuseatd- which of course does happen, and it must be very difficult for you to trust.
In response to: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
SaharaSenior Contributor
Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
I meant to write "mistreated" above. I am on my phone typing and I am not used to it.
@Former-Member, if a doctor felt that you were somehow lying to them, them they would be highly unlikely to write that down in your records!
Like I said before, the written records are very impersonal. A doctor would just list your symptoms as you described them. It's funny writing this... I could write a whole essay here!
A medical record might say sometimg like " Mrs Bloggs came to see me in my office complaining of insomnia, panic attacks and loss of appetite. She requested a script for -----."
(I wrote that as I think it could be likely to be something that would be in my own medical records )
It sounds unemotional. It is just a description of what happened. You might take issue with the word "complaining"!! Does this doctor think I'm a "complainer"?? That is rude! But no, that is the word that they always use to tell the story. It shows that the discription of the symptoms came from you.
@Former-Member, if a doctor felt that you were somehow lying to them, them they would be highly unlikely to write that down in your records!
Like I said before, the written records are very impersonal. A doctor would just list your symptoms as you described them. It's funny writing this... I could write a whole essay here!
A medical record might say sometimg like " Mrs Bloggs came to see me in my office complaining of insomnia, panic attacks and loss of appetite. She requested a script for -----."
(I wrote that as I think it could be likely to be something that would be in my own medical records )
It sounds unemotional. It is just a description of what happened. You might take issue with the word "complaining"!! Does this doctor think I'm a "complainer"?? That is rude! But no, that is the word that they always use to tell the story. It shows that the discription of the symptoms came from you.
In response to: Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
Unknown userMember
Re: Mental wellness without the mental health care system
Hi @Sahara,
Thank you for your thoughts. My apologies for the late reply. It seems to take me a few days to be able to absorb what people have to say and then more time to think about it.
I have read my medical records in the past so I am familiar with their format etc. I also did medical science at uni, so I'm pretty comfortable with the language used in medical records.
When I first read my medical records there were a number of surprises. For example that I'd had my first episode of psychosis..... no one told me that. I had to read it after I had worked out my symptoms didn't fit typical 'depression'. .
I feel that things are being kept from me. I don't want to get into it in too much detail as to why I think that as I don't want to go into it right now, but I *know* I'm not being told the full story.
I am far far too scared, embarrassed and ashamed and not prepared to be vulnerable in front of another person to ask them in person.
And I am far far too angry to talk about it too.
I have had a number of very very negative experiences in mental health treatment and I don't think I'm prepared to put myself into a position where that can happen again.
I want the symptoms in technical terms, I want to understand the scientific/medical side of my illness and I think I have a right to know.
Thank you for your thoughts. My apologies for the late reply. It seems to take me a few days to be able to absorb what people have to say and then more time to think about it.
I have read my medical records in the past so I am familiar with their format etc. I also did medical science at uni, so I'm pretty comfortable with the language used in medical records.
When I first read my medical records there were a number of surprises. For example that I'd had my first episode of psychosis..... no one told me that. I had to read it after I had worked out my symptoms didn't fit typical 'depression'. .
I feel that things are being kept from me. I don't want to get into it in too much detail as to why I think that as I don't want to go into it right now, but I *know* I'm not being told the full story.
I am far far too scared, embarrassed and ashamed and not prepared to be vulnerable in front of another person to ask them in person.
And I am far far too angry to talk about it too.
I have had a number of very very negative experiences in mental health treatment and I don't think I'm prepared to put myself into a position where that can happen again.
I want the symptoms in technical terms, I want to understand the scientific/medical side of my illness and I think I have a right to know.
