I've been very good lately about letting my pdoc and my t know what is happening with me. Today during session, however, my t said something that scared me:

"We don't want things to get so bad that we'd have to send you home.

What? I thought that the worst thing that they as mental health professionals could do would be to hospitalize me, but apparently they have power over whether or not I can stay in the country?

Scary, really scary. I feel bad for all the patients who've had their study abroad experiences cut short because they got too sick and had to go home.

My t said that they send people home because hospitalization in a foreign country where most doctors don't speak English is a traumatic experience. Well, I think that having to explain to everyone I know that I had to come home early for mental health reasons would be more traumatic!

Any thoughts on this issue? I seriously doubt that I'll get to the point where they'd need to send me home, but I find it disturbing nonetheless that that is their go-to protocol for psychiatric emergencies.