How to cope when professional help is not possible

[CynfullySad]

Hello all,

I am new to this forum and found it when I ended up on the web desperately searching for resources to help me deal with my illness (C-PTSD, Depression, plus FMS/CFS) on my own.

I am SO sick, and for weeks I have been trying to find either an inpatient program (my 1st preference) or a therapy program that I can afford. Today my husband took the day off from work & spent hours on the phone with our insurance co. & many different pdocs, mental health facilities, & financial institutions & the end result is that no matter what we try to come up with, we cannot afford even outpatient therapy for me.

I am under the care of a psychiatrist, but that is for meds only and the meds are only helping some of my symptoms, not addressing the underlying long-term trauma issues that I have. My life is currently at a complete stop - I am almost totally non-functioning at this point and I am miserable.

Through some short-term psychotherapy I received several years ago (along w/several group therapy sessions), I know some of the things that I need to do in order to begin to heal - journaling, re-experiencing or allowing myself to actually FEEL my emotions about my memories, art therapy, etc. But every time I try to work with my memories & the associated emotions (even small sessions at a time), I suffer serious emotional & physical repercussions for as much as days afterwards, i.e., I crash.

(Just a note - my husband is my only source of support - we have no friends or family nearby that can help me & we have extremely limited community svcs where we live. Also, to complicate matters further, there is still trauma going on in my life - recent death of 2 beloved cats, a terminally ill parent...)


So here is my question - are there self-help resources out there that I can use to do this on my own, since I have no other choice at this point? I am desperate to move forward.. but clueless as to how to do this w/out professional help.

Any suggestions - books, websites, forums, ANYTHING - that might enable me to help myself heal would be greatly appreciated.

Frustrated,

Cynfully Sad (Cyn)

 

[ladylore]

Hi Cynfullysad,

First I want to welcome you to Psychlinks. :welcome2:

While I was reading your post I could understand why you feel so frustrated. I will do a search and see what I can come up with for you, as in resources. Hopefully others in the forum may have a few ideas too.

One question I do have - would your psychiatrist be willing to refer you to another psychiatrist who does counselling? Its a thought.

Glad you found us.

 

[Halo]

Hi Cyn and first of all Welcome to Psychlinks :welcome2:

I can only imagine what it must be like to desperately want the help to get better but be unable to get it. It must be frustrating for sure. You say that you are seeing a Psychiatrist for medication only but I wonder if you have asked him/her whether they know of any resources that may be available in your area that you haven't thought of already.

I also see from your location that you are in Tampa Bay, FL. I will also do a search and see what I can come up with and hopefully post some useful information and resources that may help.

As for suggestions of books, websites or forums, I am sorry that I don't have any to offer right now but if I think of any I will let you know.

In any event, I am glad that you decided to join us and I hope to see you around the forum :wave:

 

[ladylore]

I found a couple of resources for you. If you haven't checked them out already you may want to give these a try.

find-a-therapist.com

whitfordthomasgroup.com sliding scale

 

[Daniel E.]

Two non-profit, community-based mental health centers in Tampa Bay or at least Tampa are listed here:

Florida Health Partners, Inc.

Such non-profit places seem likely to offer sliding scales and/or lower rates.

 

[Halo]

Here are a couple more resources that I found in your area:

Change is Good

Tampa Bay Academy

Cheer Counselling Mental Health

 

[CynfullySad]

Thank you SO MUCH to LadyLore, Halo & Daniel for all of your fast responses.

Unfortunately, some of these places are just too far away for me to drive (I am limited by the pain & exhaustion I suffer from the fibromyalgia & chronic fatigue), OR, in most of these cases, we have already checked with them & since we have United insurance our co-pay would be $50 (upfront) each time I would attend a session.. which we simply cannot afford at this time. Prior to March of this year the co-pay was $30 dollars & we may have been able to swing that, but $50 each time I go is just too much (I know $20 diff doesn't seem like much, but that is $80 dollars a month that we just don't have that doesn't need to go for gas, bills, etc... ).

We were hoping that we could get help from SS Disability or SSI, but I have not worked in so long that I don't qualify for SSD & my husband makes just $600 dollars a month too much for us to get any help through SSI.

We have wracked our brains & called every listing we could find on the web & in the phone book & have been able to come up with no solutions. This is just adding to my stress & I am struggling more now than I ever have in my life.

That's why I was asking about self-help stuff - I don't know what else to do.

Thanks again for your suggestions & support.

CynfullySad (Cyn)

 

[Into The Light]

i have no idea if this makes any sense or not, but what if your husband made $600 less a month? would it get you ahead overall by qualifying for SSI and getting the help?

 

[CynfullySad]

Well, IntoTheLight, it was a good idea & it did make sense to me, so I went to the Florida SSI web page & looked at what they would pay me per month if I did qualify... only $637... so that means we would only gain $37 dollars a month if my husband dropped his pay... not enough to cover even one visit...

Thanks for the suggestion, though.. it was a good thought. (I like your style - you think outside the box & that's what I'm hoping for.. :dimples.

CynfullySay (Cyn)

 

[Daniel E.]

We were hoping that we could get help from SS Disability or SSI, but I have not worked in so long that I don't qualify for SSD & my husband makes just $600 dollars a month too much for us to get any help through SSI.

You may still quality for food stamps and Medicaid:

The Florida Department of Children and Families

However, I guess you have already looked into that.

 

[CynfullySad]

Hey Daniel,

Nix on the Medicaid because we already have private insurance... and even if I dropped that Medicaid wouldn't cover very much of my drug costs.. mainly because most of my scripts are for 'off-label' use. Apparently Medicaid has rules about that.

For food stamps, the same income requirements apply as for SSI, so my husband's income would disqualify us from that.

Keep the suggestions coming though, guys! Maybe someone will eventually figure something out that will help.

I really think though that as far as resources for help (professional & financial) my husband covered everything under the sun we could think of...

What I need now is suggestions for how to cope with this illness & find a way to start healing on my own. It is definitely NOT what I want, but we are stuck between a rock & a hard place (make too much, don't make enough -.- ).

Doing this on my own scares me to death because of what's happened when I've 'opened that closest door' before, but I can't go on living like this & I don't see any other choices.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions,

CynfullySad (Cyn)

 

[Daniel E.]

Nix on the Medicaid because we already have private insurance...

You may be denied for Medicaid, anyway, if their burden of proof is that of the Social Security Administration, which denies most claims. Having said that, you can certainly use both Medicaid and private insurance, with Medicaid being used to pay for things that your private insurance will not. For example, if you had Medicaid, you could go to a non-profit community mental health center with a deductible of only a few dollars.

UPDATE: What will probably put the Medicaid issue to rest:

Medically Needy - Provides Medicaid for persons with high medical bills but who are not eligible for Medicaid because their income or assets are too high. Those enrolled in this program must incur a certain amount of medical bills each month, which is known as share of cost. This amount is based on income and household size. Once the share of cost is reached, the DCF can approve Medicaid benefits for the remainder of that month only. Medicaid does not cover the costs of prescription drugs for Medicare recipients who must now use the Medicare Part D prescription coverage.

Understanding Medicaid Programs

So, regarding self-help until you can see a therapist, there are online CBT-based programs/modules that are free and government-supported (from various countries), e.g.:

Online CBT - Psychlinks Psychology Self-Help & Mental Health Support Forum

But, as Halo states in that thread:

I would hope that you have a really good support system in place prior to beginning the exercises. I say this because I know for myself that doing some cbt exercises in my own therapy that overwhelming thoughts and feelings have come up and it was good to have my therapist there to talk to about them.

This wasn't an issue for my pretty standard depression, but with issues like PTSD, it certainly can be. I guess it all depends on the type of exercises that are involved.
As you may have seen, there are some exercises and readings here:

Resources, Self-Help Exercises, Readings - Psychlinks Psychology Self-Help & Mental Health Support Forum

A good book in many libraries is by David Burns:

Amazon.com: The Feeling Good Handbook: David D. Burns: Books

David Burns has been mentioned often in this forum:

Bibliotherapy: Reading Your Way to Mental Health - Psychlinks Psychology Self-Help & Mental Health Support Forum

site: psychlinks.ca david burns - Google Search

 

[ladylore]

I came across this website. It specifically deals with PTSD, even list a chat site for those people with PTSD. It looked interesting so you may want to check it out Cynfully.

Support For Hope

 

[Banned]

Hi Cynfully,

Welcome to Psychlinks. I'm sorry to hear of your frustration. I know how difficult it can be to find help when you want to get better.

You said in one of your posts that you would have to pay $50 up front, which is $20 more per visit than it used to be, which is an extra $80 per month that you just don't have. I understand because I live paycheque to paycheque as well and just scrape by every month, usually incurring more debt. Anyway, there is no rule that says you must attend once a week. Based on your figures, that's assuming you went every week. What if you went every two weeks - that would be $100 month/total and would definitely be better than nothing at this point. In time you may be able to afford a third vist each month but something to get you started is better than nothing. Just a suggestion because I don't think you need to go with an all-or-nothing route.

Take care.

 

[Into The Light]

could your husband ask for a raise? i'm thinking along the lines of what bg was suggesting to - it may not cover weekly sessions, but something.

i have no idea what kind of job he's in, but let's say he got a raise of $ 0.30/hr, that would be 0.30 * 40 * 4 = $ 48 / month. play around with the numbers, see what's realistic that he might be able to ask for in a raise, and see where you end up.

do you have friends or family you could ask for help from?

also, i would really encourage you to call around and ask up front if there's a sliding scale available due to your income. explain that you are in dire need. i've found that making your case sometimes can help in getting the help you need.