Why Mental Health Should be Covered
Health insurance should be available, regardless of income for all people. That’s what I believe, but I want to tell you a little bit about me and how I got to where I am today. And if it weren’t for insurance covering some of the services I needed I would not be here. I was born November 13, 1986 and was developmentally delayed. I was not walking or talking at 20 months. So, my parents took me to get evaluated at 22 months, the team told my parents that I’d never have above 70 IQ. So, I was enrolled in physical, speech, and occupational therapy. Evaluations were done periodically to track my progress and was in special ed on and off until high school. In middle school I was diagnosed with written expressive disorder. At 24 I was diagnosed schizoaffective disorder, and am just now at a point where I can do ok in school and am getting my BS in general studies concentration humanities. I also plan to get my Master’s in Social Work.
There was evidence that I knew what was going on at an early age, but could not figure out how to get the words out, I still have this problem to this day, though nowhere near as bad. My mother tells a story of how I communicated at the 22 month evaluation. The examiners began the physical evaluation and in the middle of the examination, my mother told the examiners:
“Oh, she wants her pants pulled down”
And they responded “How do you know?”
“She’s going like this,” tugs downward at her own waist band.
I knew I was in an examination and I was also a cooperative child. So, I did have my own way of communicating but not in the way most of the world understood, so I would have to learn how to communicate like the rest of the world.
In Chapel Hill, North Carolina I, could not get services unless I was coded with some actual disease but there wasn’t an obvious one; just global delays; I did not fit neatly into a box. I did have a slight tremor so they coded me as having cerebral palsy, I don’t have cerebral palsy. I still have that slight tremor to this day; we don’t know what causes it, but it’s there and barely noticeable. It becomes more noticeable when I’m tired, thirsty, hungry, or just don’t feel well. At three and a half I moved to Memphis and they would not provide services to sick kids only healthy kids with delays. It was the opposite from Chapel Hill, so I had to get re-evaluated in Memphis. I did not learn how to dress myself until sometime in first grade, because I have trouble with buttons. That was one of the things I worked on in occupational therapy. My fine motor skills are always gonna be at a slight deficit but I’ve learned to compensate.
I was given a designation of global delays with language and fine motor and continued with speech and occupational therapy through elementary school. I did not learn how to read until 2nd grade. Throughout elementary and middle school I had tutors for math and English and had individual education plans (IEP). Through all the special education, therapy’s and IEP’s I have learned how to compensate, and though I still have options to use some of the accommodations, I choose not to. One of my accommodations on my IEP was being allowed to take exams orally. I do not like drawing attention to myself so I never used that. I remember in school, some of my teachers would pull me aside after a written test, asked me some of the questions I missed and I would often get those questions correct and would get credit on the exam. I often felt embarrassed by all this because, I just wanted to be normal. Never mind the fact that I felt like it was cheating to use accommodations and still do to this day. People tell me it’s not cheating, because I know the stuff I just sometimes have trouble getting it out. Honestly it annoys me when people without a disability wants to be classified as having a disability, but I guess that’s a grass is greener on the other side type deal. I am happy to report I got As and Bs last semester, without using accommodations.
I had a lot of problems my first time around in college. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety my sophomore year, but it was not until I was 23 that a therapist asked if I heard voices. I answered yes, so she found a psychiatrist for me to see. I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, depressive subtype (later bipolar subtype) and treated with antipsychotics (ablify) and antidepressants. I’ve been on many antidepressants which never worked for me, but have successes with mood stabilizers. I tend to respond well to antipsychotics in general. So when they are working I go off meds thinking I don’t need them, even though off them I tend to get so paranoid that I can’t leave the house which in turn makes me depressed and suicidal. I ended up in the psych ward April 2011, because I was depressed with plans on killing myself within the next month. That night was my roommate’s birthday. I tried to get released by claiming “It’s my roommate’s birthday I have to go home and celebrate but I’ll be back tomorrow”. I truly believed I would’ve; especially because if I didn’t I’m sure my mom would’ve come up and dragged me back. So, the month before being admitted to the hospital I started believing that people were stealing my thoughts and selling them. Very scary, because you feel like you have no voice; you can’t express your ideas; and you know others are going to use them. After years of therapy, 3–4 rounds of in-patient programs and half-way houses, I was put on SSI disability. After many attempts to take college courses full or part time with modest success, I started back in college enrolled to get a BS. The first semester back in college I decided once again I didn’t need the medicines. I thought if I could prove to all that I can do fine without medications or therapy I could quit all this mental health stuff. I started out the semester very paranoid and made it to Thanksgiving. I finally called my mom one night crying; she took me to student counseling services and got me an appointment at Vanderbilt University where I got back on meds, and started outpatient therapy. I am now on a monthly injection of 400mg injection of Abilify Maintena, and 300 mg a day of lamictal. The injection is because apparently, it’s scary when I’m off my meds and most of the time I’ve gone off them I’ve either stopped functioning or worse ended up hospitalized.
Without insurance covering the services I needed for all these therapies and medicines, I would not be where I am today, getting my degree in general studies with high marks. With plans to go on and get my master’s in social work. I am confident that I will get my degree, become gainfully employed and go off of SSI. I am fortunate because my parents were able to financially and emotionally support me through these last 8 years. Not all people in my place have such support. It clearly is financially in the country’s best interest to provide mental health benefits. So please consider this in terms of the health care reform, why covering mental health is important.
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