Discussion Has anyone tried paid (private) psych?

[Suicidebydeath]

Has anyone tried psych where you had to pay for it? I come from a country where it's free, but it's always been far more harmful than anything. Maybe I'm just unlucky there, I'm sure some people benefitted from it here.

I feel like personally paying for it wouldn't even be that helpful now since I had to do all "recovery" on my own anyway.

 

[pompompurin]

I'm not speaking from my own experience but from experience of my best friend. He said that going private was one of the best decisions he made, people were really trying to help him there and weren't treating him like a chore and I guess he benefited from that cuz he feels a lot better now from what I've seen.

 

[reallysleepy]

I'm from a country where it's also free but there are way less free psychiatrists to choose from so it's a lot harder to find a good one. I personally pay one that is really good and I found him from recommendations of other people, it's still hard to find a good psychiatrist but way easier that going through the public system.

 

[NumbItAll]

I think it is always better to pay out of pocket for someone you can trust if you have the means because there are so many shitty professionals out there. That being said, I did that with therapy, and although the experience was solid overall, not much really changed with my life. I did it with psychiatry and had utterly catastrophic results (I now really hate the medical model of diagnose --> drugs drugs drugs). I think it is possible to benefit if someone can help you work through problems and improve your life situation, but I guess that also depends a lot on the nature of the problems. Most important thing is to advocate for yourself and remember that you are a client, not a patient (just my opinion).

 

[wannabeneet]

Parents are rich and mom is a doctor so I went to bougie place. But that took literal years and like my 5th provider to find. if ur in western wa, i can recommend the one that worked or ask ur friend if u want that help. but imo, the two private therapists and psychs helped but it was temporary and now 4 years later it's stopped working. also convincing family or whoever else to afford good ones is difficult and $$$.

 

[Hollowman]

It doesn't matter, none of them know what they're doing, their field is still in it's infancy unfortunately.

 

[UsagiDrop]

He said that going private was one of the best decisions he made, people were really trying to help him there and weren't treating him like a chore and I guess he benefited from that cuz he feels a lot better now from what I've seen.

I'm going to second this. It's really sad, but the way that professionals are treated by their higher ups really plays a role in how they treat you. Public service jobs seem to be really stressful for them, so they really do end up treating you like a number or a chore. That's not to excuse them but it's an understandable explanation; their plates are full, too. However, the people that work privately seem to be less overworked, and more flexible with what they do, which means that a lot of them will actually have the capacity to treat their clients with integrity and care. Private is more of a personal experience, and public is a game that seems rigged to give the worse possible experience to people. It's unfortunate that this is the most accessible option and will be the thing putting a bad taste in our mouths.

I really did enjoy my time working with a private psychiatrist and I had a positive experience that I'm grateful for. No, I didn't feel safe sharing a lot, but I felt safer in the room with my psychiatrist than I did with the vast majority of other people, including the public therapists and counselors I saw. I had someone to listen to me, to take me seriously, to reassure me that I wasn't alone or hopeless, and to evaluate my actions and moods objectively and critically. I finally received a diagnosis while I worked with them, went on meds, and worked on coping strategies that I still use today. Those help me a lot and I would be so much worse off without it, I wouldn't even be aware of myself if I never went, so I'm glad that I gave it a try even if I was turned off by other professionals and even if it was expensive. Unfortunately I didn't continue to go, but if I survive long enough to be able to do so again, I'm definitely going to be going with private services.

It sucks that the less accessible option seems to be the better but that's how it is on this bitch of an earth, for some reason.

 

[MyLifeisHell]

In America nothing is completely free but there are options that don't take insurance and can be very expensive. Let's just say that doesn't always translate necessarily to quality.