Hi Gwydion,

I have experienced your exact situation but I handled it badly because I was young, confused, and not aware how cold an insurance company (or doctor for that matter) could be. The first time I was admitted against my will and just wanted to get out. The second time I admitted my self and actually wanted help. Sure enough, two weeks, IT'S A MIRACLE YOU'RE CURED! They shoved me out the door despite my protest.

I just got pissed, threw away my meds, ditched the out patient and jumped back into work to bathe in all the stress again. Didn't take long for me to go down again either, but wait, more good news. My insurance only covers two, two week in patient psychiatric admittances - FOR LIFE. Happily I'm with a new company now and also have the wisdom to persue treatment before it gets out of hand.

The only things that come to mind would be one, get a second opinion from another psychiatrist and two maybe see a social worker. You might have to go "temporarily disabled" or something but it may buy you some time to stabilize and help with the bills. I had a girlfriend once who was declared disabled after attempting suicide (before I knew her) and was declared disabled. Only problem with that was, that to recieve disability, she had to have a very low amount of assets and was forced to cash a life insurance policy to qualify. Also she was limited as to how much she could earn, it was very little as I recall. When she went back to work though they just stopped her disability payments no problem. A lot of red tape as I recall her telling me but it helped. It may be an option for you friend.

I hope the best for you. Priority one for you is your family and supporting them I'm guessing but your mental well being is intimately tied to that obviously, so that by extension is also top priority. It might seem a difficult problem but I would really like to believe their is a doctor or social worker who would see this and the importance of keeping a family's father, husband, and bread winner healthy.

Keep us posted friend. We are all hoping the best for you.