I think it essentially boils down to this: “Hello suicide hotline… please hold”
It’s so frustrating trying to get appropriate and timely mental health care. They’re just doesn’t seem to be time and space for people with more stability and resources and they all too easily fall between the cracks and do not get the help they need. 
I’ve experienced this first hand with both myself and my wife. It’s abysmal and embarrassing. However, the amount of ppl going into mental health care as Psych MDs and Therapists is dropping while the demand is rising for care. It’s a perfect storm of shit that, as you said, results in people who are at the end of their rope falling through the cracks.
it just seems common sense to me that if you know you need help and you’re asking for help there should be help available and there just isn’t.
I’m not saying that there aren’t more pressing cases or more difficult cases but it just seems that if you have any type of means or support your on your own
Until we change how we look at mental health here in the States, it will always be an issue. We get the sniffles and we are clamoring for antibiotics. Yet when we get a mental health “cold” we ignore it, hoping it doesn’t get more significant. Why? B/c society shames those who don’t do it on their own and ask for help. Until mental health is looked at as part of overall health care and not separate and apart from it, nothing will change here.
Exactly. It all plays together! There is a reason true health is all about mind, body and spirit. Wise wise man you are Goat!
Last yesr, my 14 year old niece took a full bottle of my brother’s blood pressure medication. After being overnight in the hospital, they sent the whole family on the way with only one number to call for mental health help. They called and were told she would be placed on a 6 month long waiting list to be seen. After getting her private help, which they cannot afford, she was found to have mental health issues and was taken out of public school for a while to help her recover. I was just so incredibly appalled that the hospital’s response to this in a teenager was “try not to let it happen again, bye bye now.”
Sad but true and the crisis is worsening if that’s even possible…
I’m on a 3 wait list and everyone I go to is eager to handout Rx like their f**king M&Ms
As a 20 year veteran HS teacher I can tell you stories that will leave you broken and numb regarding the state of mental health and child welfare services.
Touching on a passion of mine, though I’m not familiar with how things work in the USA.
Is health insurance a related factor? Reluctance to cover psychiatric services the same way other medical services are covered?
Where I live, there are lots of free resources through the regional health authority including counselling, substance use services, referrals to other mental health services conducted by government-sponsored non profits, referrals to social services if you’re struggling with income, housing, etc. And if you walk into a hospital, you’re treated for whatever you have - if mental health is a factor you see a psychiatric professional and full on psychiatrist if need be. If the hospital is too small, you get transferred to another facility that has what you need.
Gotta pay more taxes to make it work though. I’m low income so I can’t pay for lots of stuff, including additional medical insurance, but I don’t have to worry about it because it’s paid for by taxpayers, and I can make those contributions through paying my own tax when I have the income to do so.
Not to stir political pots, just thankful for universal health care!
If you need mental health care / a psychiatrist here in Germany you have to wait half a year or more for an appointment. Often you don’t even get someone on the phone to talk to. It’s a shame 
It’s about the same wait time for a psychiatrist here, if it’s not an emergency with someone put in immediate danger. In that case you can be seen by a psychiatrist at the hospital promptly. Thankfully other mental health care is faster here. I’ve used free walk in counseling a few times, even.
I think the cost of treatment is fucking ridiculous. And these ritzy places like Malibu Passages is a joke. That’s just a detox vacation for the wealthy. It’s NOT reality. It only bleeds into falsehoods. Treatment is about getting real with yourself and not sugar coating it. I wish there were more IOP facilities for low income folks.
It’s a touchy subject! I hear people all the time on here state, how they would never go to AA because “insert reason here”, however it’s full of people that overcame the most depressive periods of life who can truly help. It’s fantastic counseling all for free.
I’m totally against the pill “cure all” solution for mental health, I mean there are situations which it may be necessary. I remember teachers and educators telling me my 5 yr old needed ratalin or ADHD medicine so he could behave in school. Really??? Of course I never listened and just disciplined my child, and now he’s in his third year of college, all without medication.
Personally, I find this loving community as the best therapy I can ask for. The level of knowledge, insight and experience I gain from members is priceless! I don’t need to spend $100 an hour for someone to tell me I don’t need to drink… I already know that, and all the people here support me in that endeavor.