Healthline: How to Find Mental Health Services When You Need More Than Therapy
“Mental health conditions, even when they’re temporary, can affect every area of your life. While psychotherapy is a powerful and effective tool for treating mental health, you may find that you need other kinds of treatment or support to get the best outcomes.
Medication can treat many mental health conditions. The National Institute of Mental Health notes that well-researched and effective medications include:
Antidepressants
anti-anxiety medications
Stimulants
Antipsychotics
mood stabilizers
These medications can treat a range of conditions. A doctor, psychiatrist, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant must prescribe them.
To locate a healthcare professional who can prescribe medications as part of your treatment plan, you can start by contacting your insurance provider, if you have one. Using a psychiatrist in your network can save you money.
Sometimes people experiencing a mental health crisis need a short stay in a hospital or residential treatment facility. If your insurance covers mental health, check with your insurance provider to see which inpatient treatment facilities it covers, how many days are covered, and what your out-of-pocket costs may be.”
Some Insights From This Article
Oftentimes keeping and maintaining our mental health may require more than just therapy sessions and discussing it with a person. It’s important to understand it’s okay to be seeking professional medical help for interventions when therapy seemingly isn’t working.
Understand that your physicians are there to help not just only in the physical aspects but mental aspects as well. Psychiatrists are board certified doctors that are especially trained to manage mental aspects of our health including prescribing medication with combination of therapy.
In terms of mental health treatment, therapy is often seen as the be all end all treatment option to resolving anything. However there are resources and options available further if therapy doesn’t seem to help.
Have you ever met with a therapist? Or a psychiatrist? What was your experience regarding care from them?
Full article is here!
The article itself also outlines great resources to help access further help.
#MentalHealth #Therapy #Management
I don't understand this go to insurance for advice where to go. Yes, if I contact my health benefits company they will confirm what's covered. They do not recommend who I see though and the true health insurance plan definitely doesn't advise with where to go.
There are not many psychiatrists one can just book an appointment with here. A referral is typically needed. A good starting place is a family doctor, a therapist, or if not connected to anyone in particular with the healthcare system, Health LInk. Those are assuming it's not an urgent need, if it is, there are hotlines, walk in clinics (probably least likely to be able to help well but there are many of them and aren't an awful choice if someone feels more comfortable showing up to one than making a phone call), urgent care and the emergency room.
@AffyAvo
Thank you for clarifying! I agree it's definitely important to be aware of how you can access a psychiatrist if you want to seek one. Some insurances require a referral through the PCP for one, while others have designated on board psychiatrists that you can see if you need their services. Other insurances you can simply show up to any one you like and they'll cover it. It's definitely unfortunate that for some insurances psychiatric are aren't readily available without a long complicated process of getting qualified for one.
@sunnyWriting4806 Here the referral isn't about insurance. It's the way the healthcare system works, generally to see a specialist a referral is needed, which can come from another doctor be it a GP, another specialist or a nurse practitioner. Access can also be initiated during hospitalization or sometimes with an emergency room visit.
In general I think we should push back against insurance dictating any form of medical care decisions.
@AffyAvo
Oh definitely I agree. regarding some insurance plans out there people aren't getting the care they needed because insurance decisions on covering treatments. People will avoid hospitals in fear of the bill they'll get tagged on with if their insurance doesn't cover any treatments.
