Wow. I used to be jealous of the Canadian health system, but not anymore.
So what's next? Please tell me that someone whose job is being a psychiatric nurse didn't just leave it at that?
No, the nurse apologize repeatedly, told me I had two options:
1) see if my SO's supplementary insurance included and EAP (employee assistance plan) - i.e. a privately funded counseling program. Answer: no they don't
2) could come back to the hospital, have them call in their on-call emergency psychiatrist, and have a one-time only emergency session. Answer: pointless since I'm seeking to overcome a mountain that won't be climbed in 1 hour.
Since neither of these options were even remotely useful, and even the nurse agreed that it wasn't what I needed, I spent the majority of today looking into other routes. I've directly contacted the psychiatrist who originally agreed that she would take me on as a patient (big no-no, but what do I care at this point?) and left a message explaining the situation to her. I've contacted the head of my regional health authorities' mental health intake and assessment, again leaving a message about the situation. Finally I can directly contact the college of physicians and surgeons if the other options fail.
Also, I've found out that the local med school's psychiatric medicine department is currently taking patients for experimental depression treatments, but uhh... I'm not too sure if "experimental" is the way I want to go.
To clarify about the Canadian system, I will indeed not pay a cent for any of this, including any medications I care to take.
I've had lots of excellent care when it comes to my physical health. When it comes to psychiatric health, all I can say is that I've met with total failure. I've been aware that I needed help with this for at least a year, and it took everything that was in me to actually go to the hospital and admit I needed help. To not get anything in return is just bullshit. I didn't want to worry anyone here with my situation, but I went to the hospital because I was
suicidal. I stated this clearly to the intake nurse and the psychiatric nurse, but was still sent home and have since, 6 days later, received no help what so over. Thankfully, though I'm still very depressed, I've managed to push those thoughts away. Since then I've found that if anything at all is going to happen, I have to apparently aggressively pursue it myself. This is utter crap. If someone goes to a hospital and says they're in the state I was in last week, I assumed they would immediately receive treatment. I was apparently wrong in this assumption. I used to have a lot less sympathy for the crazies walking around in the streets, thinking they had care available, but just weren't taking it. It's horrifying to me that I have the presence of mind to know I am in an emergency situation, that I stated it to medical professionals, and that nothing has been done. If aggressive overacheivment wasn't one of my main coping skills, I doubt I'd get any help at all, and I wonder how many people have fallen to the way side facing a similar lack of support.
As it stands now, I'm making it my personal project to find treatment. I'm very set on finding a psychiatrist because I strongly suspect the problem is both learned behavior and chemical imbalance, but in the short term, I will be looking into a local clinic that provides counseling staffed by volunteers.
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Topic: ...plus I got depression. (Read 13331 times)