Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael W. Harris
From the first I told every psychologist and psychiatrist immediately that I had a dissociative disorder. That should have been all I needed to say.
Most of the mental health professionals in Florida would not even consider that diagnosis. It is how they are trained in the colleges down there. Not one of them referred me to a specialist.
I have two engineering degrees so when a mental health professional disrespects me it makes me extremely mad. (Well not at first, but now it does.) All I needed was one competent mental health professional who understood the long term mental health issues an adult lives with from childhood trauma. Since 1992 I have not found one.
My life fell apart after my Dad died and left my mentally ill Mother alone. My Mom and my Brother caused my mental health issues. So Mom was a major trigger for me. I love my Mom but I could not take care of her, financially or emotionally. My career was not going well.
|
just because someone walks into a doctors office and says hey I have strep throat doesnt make it so. that strep throat can be anything from the flu, a cold, dehydration, allergies....
my point just because someone goes to a mental health treatment provider and says I have a dissociative disorder doesnt make it so. that person with dissociation problems can have PTSD (which includes dissociation problems) depression (which includes dissociation problems) schizophrenia type mental disorders (which includes dissociative like symptoms)...
in my location, usually when someone walks into a mental health treatment providers office and says I have a dissociative disorder and thats all I should have to tell you... thats actually a "symptom" (not diagnostic criteria but a symptom) of having factitious disorder imposed on self mental disorder. then they are treated for that mental disorder (focusing treatment on issues not diagnosis, focusing on stabilizing day to day living, any mood problems, and other existing problems for example if I remember right you are a veteran so most likely someone somewhere has diagnosed you with PTSD (which by the way does have dissociation problems)
if you want treatment providers to diagnose you, you have to ask for actual diagnostic testing. this is where you go to a psychiatrist and say Im here to find out if I have any mental disorders. here are my problems. then you explain what your problems are. (this is different then telling them that you have this or that mental disorder so they cant jump on well this person is researching and fitting their self in all kinds of crap whether its true or not by a treatment providers diagnosis process.)
example when I go through diagnostic evaluations I sit down and say I here for testing to find out what mental disorders if any that I may have, I have a problem with getting out of bed some days, some days I feel like I just want to find an isolated cabin in the woods and stay there for ever, I have a wife and three children, my job is this that and the other thing....
then .......based on what I have told the treatment provider.... that treatment provider asks questions to get more information/ details about my problems and some oral testing questions.
then they have me do some written and computerized tests.
some mental disorders require going to a medical doctor too.
then after all the tests have been scored including what information I supplied with the interview and therapy sessions the treatment provider tells me what my mental disorders are, I do not tell them what my mental disorders are, they tell me.
the way the american mental health system is you do not get referred to a specialist for dissociative disorders. you get a therapist and a psychiatrist and here in america all therapists and all psychiatrists have "knowledge" (which is different than their personal beliefs) of all american mental disorders that are in the DSM.
treatment for dissociative disorders is the same treatment you get for anxiety, depression, PTSD....grounding, how to handle your day to day stress and living, if you are a survivor of abuse, wars or what ever you talk about it. (you have to bring up the issues you want to work on in therapy, treatment providers are not mind readers, if you want to talk about your childhood and such then you have to tell them)
yes there are some treatment providers who work with dissociation problems. to see them just ask your treatment provider who in the mental health agency works with PTSD, Depression and dissociation. most likely they will tell you they work on all those things.
if you want to go inpatient like your other posts state there is the colin ross inpatient and out patient programs. you dont need a doctor or therapist to refer you to them you just contact these places and ask them if they have space available and if they are taking on new clients if so go to them. be sure to check with your insurance plan to make sure these specialized treatment programs like colin ross are on your insurance plan or that they accept your insurance plan.