[coyotee]

About a week ago I went for a psych consultation, or evaluation, not sure, whatever the first step is..

It was two hours. We concentrated on some issues I'm having with paranoia and depression and relationship issues and she touched on ocd.

It was all good, til the end...

I lost it at the end. I broke down, started crying because she said it would take atleast a month before they could put me in one on one counseling. I cried for a few minutes. She just watched. One month is too long...

Went home feeling dumb. First time voluntarily going for counseling but now I sort of don't want to do it... I want to back out of the whole thing..

I went previously to counselors in high school, but I didn't talk to my counselor or psychiatrist. Mom used to just make me go. that was 10 years ago.

[coyotee]

Another thing that really got me, was the setup for the assessment...

These kind of questions are hard for me:

Do you feel ______?
a. always
b. a lot
c. sometimes
d. hardly ever
e. never

and:

On a scale of 1 to 10, are you _______?

Even at my medical doctor, the pain scale question drives me nuts... My brain just can't figure out how to correctly number something...

I didn't express that during the consultation but maybe I should have. I just kind of went with the flow.

[stopdog]

It would seem, if you have to wait a month anyway, that you could wait and decide whether to go when they call you with an opening. The Number of people who do not go to an appointment more than once or twice is quite high.

I think the scale thing is a bit silly really. What is one person's 3 will be another person's 9. I usually start by explaining what I consider a 1 versus a 10.
(For example for me a 1 is a simple broken bone etc and a ten is like having an electric transformer with 10000 volts fall upon and crush you while electrocuting you sort of thing).

I'm sorry you have to wait a month. Try and hang on in there, and use PC for as much support as possible till you get therapy.

I hate the scale thing, and have to fill it out each visit to the pdoc. They seem to think it doesn't matter how a person defines each level because, to their thinking, the individual definition or way things are measured is constant....that the change from that base level is what matters. However, they don't take into account that the base for some people shifts. My assessment of "one" or "seldom" is going to differ each time. So, a "mostly" one week can be a "seldom" the next week, depending on how I'm viewing and assessing myself. It's utterly meaningless. I usually just randomly pick things.

I agree with stopdog. You have time to make a decision. One month is not long to wait for a first appt., unless you are seeing a therapist in private practice.

[wotchermuggle]

I just wanted to let you know that my first intake appointment included answering questions like you mentioned. I found it difficult too. I was also told it would be awhile before I could actually be seen by the Pdoc and I was like "awhile as in weeks or months?"

When they said months, I broke down too. You can make it.

[LonesomeTonight]

Stick with it. A month seems like a long time, but you can make it.

I have trouble with those scales, too. When I was in the hospital after a c-section, they would ask that regarding my pain level. I learned to pick a number higher than what I felt like I should say, so that they'd still give me pain meds (this was like, two days after surgery--wasn't trying to get high, just was genuinely in pain!) And I have trouble taking tests for depression, etc., because I know how some of them are scored, so I could manipulate the results by my answers. Plus without being in someone else's head, it's hard to know what's "normal."

[coyotee]

Originally Posted by LonesomeTonight

Stick with it. A month seems like a long time, but you can make it.

I have trouble with those scales, too. When I was in the hospital after a c-section, they would ask that regarding my pain level. I learned to pick a number higher than what I felt like I should say, so that they'd still give me pain meds (this was like, two days after surgery--wasn't trying to get high, just was genuinely in pain!) And I have trouble taking tests for depression, etc., because I know how some of them are scored, so I could manipulate the results by my answers. Plus without being in someone else's head, it's hard to know what's "normal."

Oh wow I relate. I had a c-section too a few years ago and the scale really got on my nerves too. I broke down crying with one nurse and she was so confused why I was so confused

Hate the scale thing too.