(TX) I think my doctor handled handled my request for a therapist wrong. Can you please give me your opinion on this?
Hi! Thanks for reading
Some background: I'm 20, female. I grew up in an abusive home (read old posts for context on that). I decided I needed a therapist but having military insurance I needed a referral first.
I went to my doctor for my referral. I told her I needed a therapist for anxiety, which isn't wrong, I just didn't want to go into all the details. She asked me a few questions I can't remember them all but some were;
-
are you awkward in social situations (answer: yes)
-
do you have anxiety attacks (answer: not often)
-
are you depressed (answer: I don't think so)
She gave me two tests, one for anxiety and one for depression, and left the room so I could answer. Each test had six questions. The first 5 were on a scale of 0-3. 0 being "this never happens" and 3 being "this happens most days". The last one on each was something like "how much do the things listed above effect your life?" I can't remember all the questions but here are some;
For the depression test;
-
do you have trouble remembering things? (answer: 3)
-
do you sleep poorly? Either over or under sleeping? (answer: 2)
-
do you have trouble motivating yourself? (answer: 2)
She took the tests back and "graded" them then told me I was severely anxious and mildly to severely depressed. I told her again that I don't feel depressed. She asked if I answered to the best of my ability. I said yes. She said maybe I'm depressed and just can't feel it.
She then asked me if I was okay taking medicine. I said I'm not against it. She prescribed me 10mg of a medicine I can't remember the name of. She said it treats anxiety and depression and that it doesn't cause weight gain.
After that she told me she wouldn't refer me to a therapist but would refer me to a counselor. She set up a follow up appointment for 4 weeks and said if I felt any negative side effects from the medicine to make an earlier appointment.
I just feel like mental Heath is more nuance than two five question tests, yaknow? I'm hesitant to take the medicine.
I need some outside opinions.
Thanks for reading!
0 comments:
Post a Comment