I Wish My Son’s Mental Illness Was More Like Autism
Children with chronic, complex mental illnesses deserve the same destigmatizing as ASD
The double doors of the clinic automatically opened when I walked towards them. Welcoming me into the sterile, neutral-toned, overly grey medical building. I noticed the check-in desk to the left. Living in Seattle for only three weeks, one of my first tasks after moving three thousand miles away was getting my son’s psychiatric medications prescribed by a new provider in Seattle.
Ending up in this magic appointment was a matter of getting onto a waiting list with one hour's notice. Not much prep time for my son, Dominic. Before I moved, I asked Dominic’s psychiatrist to send his records to Seattle Children’s Hospital. Someone at the hospital saw his diagnosis and sent his future care to their Children’s Autism Center.
At that moment I didn’t care. We had an appointment with a psychiatrist. Dom’s medications were thousands of dollars a month. I just needed a doctor willing to see Dominic, and hopefully, prescribe his current medications before he ran out.
I was obviously nervous. Dominic was on a cocktail of medications for his mental health. Previous psychiatric evaluations were clear and concise about Dominic’s often extreme behaviors…
