To answer your question, I do everything for my mental health. If it’s dishes (not on my life a machine) I do so mindfully. Ditto cleaning, laundry, gardening, driving. I’ve been told I’m a bit OCD. I was for decades told I have intractable anxiety. Bipolar 2, then 1, drugged right into neurotoxicity.
For my health I slowly got off medication, one substance at a time. The more I got off, the better I felt.
Joy is everywhere; you have to choose it, you have to work at it, it ain’t always easy, but it is so worth it.
Doing everything mindfully sounds like a great practice. I can't believe you got off all the meds! Wow, I kind of wish I could do that, but I don't know how. Plus I'm sure my family would never let me.
I’m glad you found someone and I wish you well with your Substack.
I am being treated for mild depression, so I tried to find someone to talk to recently.
There are very few choices in my area. I found one doctor, but the price would be $400, maybe more. I couldn’t afford it, so for now I let my GP prescribe medication.
But that prescription under current GA law requires visits every three months. The last visit was $260 because I’d already been to the GP for a routine visit this year.
OMG, yeah, $400 for an appointment is obnoxiously expensive. A lot of psychiatrists are super expensive and many don't take insurance, though that seems even higher than I'm used to hearing! This post was about finding a therapist, but maybe I should do one about finding a psychiatrist in the future. I've noticed recently that a lot of psychiatrists are all online now and don't have actual offices you can go to. I guess they're avoiding the cost of rent, but I think that's problematic too.
It's good that your GP can prescribe your medication, Nikki. That usually works if you're not taking a ton of psych meds. But I agree $260 is A LOT, especially every three months. There are doctor's offices all over the US called FQHCs or RHCs that offer sliding fee scales. I read about them recently in this doctor's newsletter: https://marybraunbates.substack.com/p/fqhcs-take-the-pressure-off-financially
Ooof that is terrible. I almost gave up on therapy my first try because I was told I was just lonely and didn't have ADHD because I'd never failed school or lost a job (a few months after that I did in fact lose a job so thanks!)
I kept trying but finding someone who fits insurance and schedules is so frustrating.
I found my current therapist on Pyschology today and after using their filters I picked based on her profile picture having an animal with her lol. She's older and I'm always afraid shes going to retire and I'm going to have to start over.
Oh yeah, scheduling is a whole other complication! I'm very lucky right now that my insurance covers my therapy 100%, so no copay. Finding someone who took insurance and was available was hard though—I used Psychology Today too! My new therapist is young, one of the reasons I picked her, but I also look for people who seem friendly in their photos! An animal would definitely help lol.
(reposting this comment b/c I forgot to hit reply!)
To answer your question, I do everything for my mental health. If it’s dishes (not on my life a machine) I do so mindfully. Ditto cleaning, laundry, gardening, driving. I’ve been told I’m a bit OCD. I was for decades told I have intractable anxiety. Bipolar 2, then 1, drugged right into neurotoxicity.
For my health I slowly got off medication, one substance at a time. The more I got off, the better I felt.
Joy is everywhere; you have to choose it, you have to work at it, it ain’t always easy, but it is so worth it.
Doing everything mindfully sounds like a great practice. I can't believe you got off all the meds! Wow, I kind of wish I could do that, but I don't know how. Plus I'm sure my family would never let me.
I'm glad you're feeling better!
I’m glad you found someone and I wish you well with your Substack.
I am being treated for mild depression, so I tried to find someone to talk to recently.
There are very few choices in my area. I found one doctor, but the price would be $400, maybe more. I couldn’t afford it, so for now I let my GP prescribe medication.
But that prescription under current GA law requires visits every three months. The last visit was $260 because I’d already been to the GP for a routine visit this year.
What a pain!
OMG, yeah, $400 for an appointment is obnoxiously expensive. A lot of psychiatrists are super expensive and many don't take insurance, though that seems even higher than I'm used to hearing! This post was about finding a therapist, but maybe I should do one about finding a psychiatrist in the future. I've noticed recently that a lot of psychiatrists are all online now and don't have actual offices you can go to. I guess they're avoiding the cost of rent, but I think that's problematic too.
It's good that your GP can prescribe your medication, Nikki. That usually works if you're not taking a ton of psych meds. But I agree $260 is A LOT, especially every three months. There are doctor's offices all over the US called FQHCs or RHCs that offer sliding fee scales. I read about them recently in this doctor's newsletter: https://marybraunbates.substack.com/p/fqhcs-take-the-pressure-off-financially
I wonder if you could find one of those places?
Hahaha not laughing at but because I too do that thing with comments and replies.
That's awesome! Glad you found something that works.
Ooof that is terrible. I almost gave up on therapy my first try because I was told I was just lonely and didn't have ADHD because I'd never failed school or lost a job (a few months after that I did in fact lose a job so thanks!)
I kept trying but finding someone who fits insurance and schedules is so frustrating.
I found my current therapist on Pyschology today and after using their filters I picked based on her profile picture having an animal with her lol. She's older and I'm always afraid shes going to retire and I'm going to have to start over.
Oh yeah, scheduling is a whole other complication! I'm very lucky right now that my insurance covers my therapy 100%, so no copay. Finding someone who took insurance and was available was hard though—I used Psychology Today too! My new therapist is young, one of the reasons I picked her, but I also look for people who seem friendly in their photos! An animal would definitely help lol.
(reposting this comment b/c I forgot to hit reply!)