Since our son was born, I've been able to do some more thinking about other aspects of my health and have learned that my mental health has been taking quite a toll and I haven't been able to really work well on its status until recently.
I grew up with inattentiveness to things that didn't interest me, inability to effectively communicate with others (especially in groups) and my parents attempted to find resources and services to assist with these issues but they didn't quite hit the mark.
I was a depressed teen, like several other of my contemporaries, and had a short run with a mental health provider as provided by my father's insurance. I was prescribed two different anti-depressants to see if they'd work and while they may have, it was not a lasting effect.
I hyperfocus on things and frequently it makes it difficult to see other perspectives.
I'm not great at managing my own emotions, identifying emotions of others, nor being able to help comfort emotions of those that I have affected negatively.
So, with all that in mind, I have started up a journey of sorts to try to get that sorted out. I've got effects that can point to all kinds of things including anxiety, attention difficulty, motivation difficulty, difficulty with interpersonal skills, and a handful of other things.
Through my own insurance now I have been able to start up an individual-style mental health provider system and I've been recommended to an assessment to better identify what I'm working with.
The theme has been "I'm not looking for a fix, I'm looking for labels of what I've got so that I can investigate resources to be able to assist with those things."
Here's the kicker. My main medical/mental health insurance outsourced me to a provider that works on Saturdays (thus enabling me to attend without anxiety of missed work/pay) and they've outsourced me back to my main insurance for an assessment (which had a 6-month wait list) and they've outsourced me to another provider who has many specialities including these assessments.
In order to maximize take-home pay from my job, the medical plan we've selected has some caveats.
Where's Adam Conover when you need him? I'm sure he's got amazing material on Medical Insurance Providers and why the system needs an overhaul.
Anyway, I've spoken with the provider for the assessment and they have a two-step process.
One: Have an interview to determine whether or not the assessment is for me. (I spoke with her on the phone yesterday and she still recommends the assessment, but we'll definitely re-evaluate during the interview).
Two: Have a 3-4 hour assessment to determine what kinds of difficulties I have and which concepts they translate to and what kinds of resources are available for those concepts.
The hard part: The interview is $150 and the assessment is $1500, out-of-pocket, because of how our insurance plan works.
The harder part: Coming up with $1650 for all of it.
The intended result: Learning what I'm working with so that I can increase my quality of life and the quality of the lives around me since I'm identifying that I've been struggling with these unlabelled things for quite some time and I'm really hoping for some insight.
If you're in a position to assist, any value is appreciated. You can get your assistance to me via PayPal at miketrethewey@gmail.com , or via this link.
If you're unable to assist directly. please share this post with your friends!
Thank you.
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