I am frustrated because I have asked the mental health professionals at the VA Clinic here in Athens, Ga. to refer me to a specialist in dissociative disorders and they won't do it. This is the same treatment that I got at the VA Clinic in Lake City, Fl.

They have no treatment plan for me. I was in Lake City for ten years and for ten years I told the mental health staff that I had a dissociative disorder. They would not even talk to me about it.

It is this problem with the mental health professionals that has made me totally mentally ill instead of mildly dissociative.

Don' t get me wrong I have always been emotionally unstable (borderline personality disorder) because of my childhood. But, I did three years in the U.S. Army and my dissociative disorder did not exhibit enough to cause me problems, at least not during working hours. I also have two engineering degrees so all I needed was one competent mental health professional who understood dissociative disorders to give me some support and understanding. I should still be functional and working. Instead I am totally wacked-out, suicidal, and drinking too much. I have been unemployed since 2001 and totally isolated for ten years.

I would prefer to work but not one labor company in Athens will help me. Probably because I have four felonies on my record now and have not worked in so long.

I had a total mental breakdown in 2001 and got caught in the Florida legal system on alcohol related charges.