I go to a clinic where, in order to receive my prescriptions, I'm required by the state to have an appointment with my Pdoc and also my therapist every 2 to 3 months.

Today at my therapy appointment, I was informed that they want to discharge me and close my case. They would like me to continue my meds by receiving prescriptions from my primary care physician. They said that once a person is stable, they don't want them to get stuck in the system. I assume that means continually coming in for appointments.

I am not sure what to think about this development. Is this a normal thing?

I am on 4 different medications for schizoaffective disorder. Last time I talked to my primary care physician, he said he felt it was the right decision to have me at the clinic being seen by a Pdoc, and that he wouldn't want to manage those prescriptions. (I initially got a mood stabilizer from my PCP to try to save money, but went to the clinic after hallucinations and other symptoms worsened.)

On the one hand, I would be glad to have fewer appointments, which would save me a lot of money and time. I don't feel I get a lot out of therapy; it's more of a "checking in" for health kind of thing. On the other hand, it seems like a good safety net to be "in the system," where I could call and get an appointment at any time should paranoia, hallucinations, or other life altering problems creep up again. I don't want to have some sort of crisis where I'm not thinking clearly or emotionally disturbed and be stuck filling out paperwork and waiting in line for an appointment. Also, I know from time to time medications need to be tweaked, and how would that happen when my PCP is not a psychiatrist?

There is another clinic 15 minutes in the other direction that I could check into, but the idea of starting all over with paperwork and not knowing how many appointments they require, how much it costs, etc. is kind of overwhelming to me. So I don't really know what I'm going to do.

Has this type of thing happened to anyone else before? Is it routine for this to happen?