allautumn, i'm so upset with you. my brother was dx'ed bipolar years ago. he would get treatment when suicidal, then decide he didn't need those meds and go off of them.

we've contacted our community mental health and they said that he probably wouldn't be treated by a therapist and dx'ed there for a full year due after he's been sober...due to his substance abuse issues. I was irate! he needs help now! they demand he be in drug and alcohol all that time and remain clean all that time...setting him up for failure. dr's won't give him drugs, so he gets his own to self medicate. i don't agree with that, but can't imagine his hell either.

one thing i posed to them is why won't they treat him if NAMI pushes dual dx treatment so much?

they won't give him therapy till he's been sober a year. he won't be sober a year until he receives meds to alleviate his symptoms. it seems to be a vicious cycle.

i'm so very angry! he needs help now as well. i believe he's had some kind of breakdown in this last depressive episode. i'm very thankful that he's not been hospitalized for attempting suicide at this point. he has been before a few times and the only reason he won't allow that thinking he says is due to the fact that he has a little two year old boy now (that i'm caring for).

they say they can't dx him properly without his being sober for a year. can't they take the prior dx (which was a proper one) and know that he's using street drugs to self medicate...mainly tranquilizers and pot...nothing hard core.

he's doing everything he needs to do right now, but i know he'll soon begin mania and let it all go. he has the bipolar where he's mainly manic. why on earth while he's reaching out won't they attempt to show him how normal life can be to attempt to change his future? he doesn't necessarily want meds from dr. he wants therapy to help himself realize what is wrong with him and how to deal with it in other ways.

i'm venting as well. i hope so much for you right now. with our persistence, they have agreed to see him and are "considering" allowing him to test for drugs to ensure clean urines and may not force him to do the long, drawn out drug and alcohol before any type of treatment. i hope they follow through. maybe they'll do that for you. allow you to get a week's worth of meds at a time (or even a day if you're a suicide risk) to begin some stabalization, while you're proving to them through urine that you're not using alcohol? i'm grasping, but this seems to be working so far for my brother.

i wish you good luck. please keep us posted.

kimmydawn