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Comment by com2kid | Hacker News Reader

> Is this a better price than a licensed therapist? Yes

Good luck finding a licensed therapist who has bookings or availability. In Seattle I have had almost 0 luck over multiple years, and I have talked to many other people who have had the exact same amount of luck. The very few therapists around here who do specialize in ADHD either specialize in children, or they are so booked up they don't even bother with a wait list.

Mind you this is for cash payments, if you want insurance to cover care you are completely out of luck no matter how good your insurance is.

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Yup, it's a clear giant flashing sign that the market is fully broken that we (with our employers) are all paying ~$25,000+ per adult for health insurance, and cannot find mental health providers who are interested in taking said insurance.

• Big shortage of providers

• Providers see taking insurance is like pulling teeth because they never want to pay and why should they because they can get a full appointment book from cash patients alone, due to the shortage.

So things like therapy become completely out of reach unless you're very wealthy, or if you've gotten to the point that you are desperate to go into ruinous debt, trading one problem for another one.

> it's a clear giant flashing sign that the market is fully broken

If so many people need mental health treatment, then I think it's a more gigantic sign that our society is absolutely toxic and FUBAR.

Yup, all we hear about constantly from politicians is that there’s a mental health crisis. Every time there’s a mass shooting, they blame mental health. Okay, fine, we all agree this is a problem, so why can’t I find a therapist? Why can’t my bipolar 1 ex wife find a psychiatrist? She’s batshit manic right now telling the cops I’m breaking into her apartment stealing antique doll dresses for crying out loud. How does she get help? She has to go to the ER and get hospitalized if she wants any attention, but those stays cost $30,000 typically in my experience. She’s had several.

Sorry about the rant…

So yeah, there’s a fucking mental health crisis and no one seems to want to do anything about it.

I'm super sorry to hear about your ex wife. I have someone close to me in the same situation and we've also been battling it for our whole lives. No need to apologize for the rant, I'm also here being mad for you (for us)!!

Well you’re doing something at least. I’m trying to get my adhd diagnosed after my mom refused when I was a kid, and I’ve been self medicating my whole life with caffeine and weed, unaware I even could have this disorder.

I thought it was just being a hyperactive kid — that wasn’t me. But then I learned about all the symptoms as an adult. Yup, I’ve got ‘em all, like friggen ash catchem. I feel like a lot of adults failed me here but I’m not blaming anyone, even my mom. She had the best intentions but didn’t trust the “medical industrial complex” as she called it.

Somehow I’ve managed all this time by placing myself in environments where my executive function isn’t impaired (I dunno if that’s even the correct terminology), but now I’m in a job where I can barely function leading people to get upset with me, and I don’t know what to do. I’ve been trying to get a diagnosis for over a year, and fiiiiiinally I have something on the books for November. It’ll be over $1000 out of pocket and I have excellent insurance. Top notch.

Anyway, this is just to say keep fighting the good fight. Don’t know if I’ll use your service but I’ll consider it after I get my diagnosis.

Sweet summer child. Insurance will pay for it. You just have to spend $5000 of your time nagging them.

> I’ve been self medicating my whole life with caffeine and weed

As someone that has been treated for over a decade, I swear this combo is perhaps better than the treatments. Not initially, for there is a "honeymoon" period of course, but definitely over the longer term.

I'd go back to the combo if it weren't for the legal and social issues that come with it.

Do not let me discourage you by any means. I am just some random person with an n=1 experience. I truly hope you get the help you need, and that you find something that works even better.

Thanks for validating that this is indeed a combo that works for people suffering from this. Weed was the only way I got through my doctorate, I would have never been able to write my dissertation sober.

I’ve quit weed more or less (became a daily thing, now just occasionally). Today what I’m doing is exercising (a lot) and this is really helping me. But I do go back to the weed pen every now and then, and there’s nothing that makes me feel more focused and capable than that first hit (is that how normal people feel all the time?).

But the problem I have with it is it plugs me up and I also am driven to eat like shit. So I’ve gotta figure out the right balance still.

Honestly this is one of those times when ranting is wholly appropriate.

All I could think while looking for a little mental health support this past year as a relatively wealthy and high functioning person was "god, what in the actual hell do people who are a lot sicker and a lot poorer than me do?". Of course the tragic answer is "things just go really badly for them".

Because the AMA want to protect doctor salaries, so they won't let doctors immigrate from other countries and practice here, as if there's anything worse about the training in Europe.

Thank you for this. Many of our members have the exact experience you're talking about here. Many therapists go as far as saying they specialize with ADHD when they in fact don't. For those who do specialize in ADHD, it's far and few between—with waitlists out the door. Additionally, therapy is addressing different but sometimes overlapping space we are—we are forward-looking, action-oriented coaching (e.g. reaching goals and how you set up your life for it) and we don't do therapy (more backwards looking, unpacking, talking, etc.)

A therapist friend recommended I use https://psychologytoday.com/us/ to search.

I had reasonable lucky but ymmv.

Not affiliated/etc.

I've had success with Psychology Today search in the Seattle area --- if a provider is full or has no openings, ask if they know anyone who is not. That has also helped me!

Yeah, and if you do manage to jam your foot in the door at one of those places they just look at you sideways.

Yep. I did find a therapist that I really like, but I had to give up on the idea of using insurance.

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