My Support Forums - View Single Post - dissociative disorders check in thread #4

katmc1 · Oct 24, 2021, 01:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SprinkL3

Are you a veteran? If so, you can possibly seek assistance and counseling with PTSD specialists at the Vet Center, which is housed outside of the VA Hospital (VAMC).

I'm so sorry you are struggling with all of that, on top of OCD. I have OCD-like tendencies (not enough for the diagnosis), and my T (who used to be at the Vet Center before transferring to private practice; and who used to also consult for the FBI; and who is a veteran officer) has stated that it is also common for some veterans to experience both PTSD and OCD from trauma that brought the OCD about. She knows how to work with that, and she helped me to see that it's about control, and also to help me find ways to feel safe. She also knows that with dissociative disorders, on top of all the above, that it takes a long time to process many of those traumas and triggers spanning from childhood to military traumas and beyond.

I merely moved and then asked the VA for a referral, and I was going to ask the Vet Center directly, but then they had already referred me to my T at the Vet Center. Sometimes the VA refers to the Vet Center, and sometimes they refer from within the VA Hospital (VAMC) system. For those with disorders beyond PTSD and dissociation, for instance, they might refer out to a specialist at the VA Hospital (such as veterans with psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar, etc.). But for other disorders, the Vet Center is more than capable of working with them.

The VAMC's (i.e., VA Hospital) has walk-in behavioral health units (though it might be different during a pandemic and surge in cases), so you can always request a different T or specialized T's for different things. Unlike civilian healthcare, the VA will allow you to see a specialist for insomnia (to learn short-term CBT-i, for example), as well as a smoking cessation therapist (to quit smoking), and other providers (like psychiatrists) to help with things beyond talk therapy for PTSD, coping skills groups, and more.

Not all VA's will have a specialist for dissociation, but it's worth asking about. You can also request that the VA pay for community care for a disorder that you believe will best be treated by a dissociation specialist (though this is extremely hard to get in certain jurisdictions, because not all VA's will operate the same; I know this because I've tried out three different VA's - and they state themselves that not all VA's are the same). Take, for instance, vaccines for Covid-19; many VA's offer different vaccines, and many of them have different rules for dissemination than what the public health offers in terms of Covid-19 vaccines. It's weird; and, the numbers of those included in state counts of both Covid-19 vaccines, Covid-19 cases, and Covid-19 deaths do NOT include veterans who seek care at the VAMC; they primarily only include veterans if they seek care in the community or solely through civilian healthcare). So, I'm not counted in the vaccination counts for my state, LOL. I'm also not counted in many state statistics either, since the VA holds their own separate stats for our unique population.

Anyway, I thought I'd mention this to you since you seek care at a Veterans Hospital.

Hope some of these things help.

Private message me if you have any questions or would like to chat.

Thank you for your message. Yes I am a veteran😊. I will look into Vet centers cause I haven't heard of that. I think the therapist that I have told me that I can get referred to someone who specializes in OCD. At the VA that I go to, they do refer me to community care for some things. There is more chance of that happening if I need something that the VA can't do or if I have to wait longer than a month for an appointment or drive longer than an hour then they try to send me to a ace nearby. I will try that. I just finished CBT for insomnia and it has helped a lot. I have a psychiatrist but they just prescribe medicine and I'm scared of side effects of most medicine so I like psychologists better. My psychiatrist is more understanding than some have been. I gonna try to find out about the behavior health units. Yeah they told me that my OCD was made worse because of PTSD. I did notice when the pandemic first started that the VA in each state had its own covid 19 statistics. It would be nice to have one therapist that can handle issues at once so I can have one long term therapist. I was surprised when they plan for 12 sessions or before I was in the trauma center, they used to schedule my appointments a month apart.