Sanity is Expensive

I’ve had a lot on my plate lately and each and every day it seems my patience (and anxiety level) is tested ...again. Since I seem to forever be at an impasse in this thing called “life” I thought it might be a good idea to give my therapist a call and have another session with her.

Me and “Dr. A”

I first contacted “Dr. A” while my mother was dying more than two years ago. Not only did I have to deal with my mother dying, I was worried about my elderly (and seriously hearing impaired father) taking care of her more than seven hours away from where I live. Mix in a very stressful job in one of the worst economies this country has seen since the Great Depression and the fact that I was single and worried that I’d be single for the rest of my life, meeting “Dr. A” really helped me make sense of it all. She helped me through the death or my mother and my father and helped me well, attempt to stay sane.

What to Do When Dr. A Goes Away

Fast forward to the present day, and I find myself needing to talk to her again to sort some things out (I won’t go into personal things now but I’ll just say that I really need to speak to an objective third party before I go postal…).

So I call her and there’s no answer. I email her, only to get a bounce back reply saying she closed up shop.

Just like that.

No notice.

No referral.

No more prescription refills.

I couldn’t believe it. The woman just shut down her practice without letting her patients know. What was I supposed to do now?

Shopping Around for Sanity

After I come to terms with the fact that “Dr. A” has gone away, I decide to take action. I called my cut-rate insurance to see what type of mental health counseling they cover, figuring they have to cover something, right?

Wrong.

The nice lady on the phone referred me to a few therapists-- all of whom are “out-of-network” which translates to: out-of-pocket. Not exactly what you are looking for when you are stressed to the max and looking for a new job. Regardless, I still call around to see who was accepting new patients and how much each visit will cost me.

Sanity is Expensive

Boy, was I in for a shocker.

Every therapist I called wanted $300+ for the initial consultation and $150+ for follow-up visits. Honestly, when I was done making my calls, I almost started to cry. I don’t think my surgeon charges that! And frankly, he deserves every cent he can get out of me!

I just can’t bring myself to pay that much for someone to listen to my problems. I think I would become even more stressed out and just plain pissed off that I was walking out of an office where it cost more than $300 just to get to know me and my problems (I may have problems and maybe stressed out at the moment, but I am by no means, functionally retarded. Anyone who pays that much to have a stranger listen to them must be...)

Identifying with the Criminally Insane

I can now see why people drink too much and shoot up offices. And you know what? I might just go buy a gun and join them.

Ok, I'm not really a violent person and I don’t necessarily agree with murdering random individuals at a former place of employment, but ... I can definitely identify where they are coming from. I’m pretty sure these folks didn’t have the out-of-pocket $300 to cover therapy either.

And it makes me sick (pardon the really bad play on words here) that our government is screwing around with health care. They can sit there and debate it for years to come ... and I’m sure they will.

After all, it doesn’t matter to them—-they can afford to.