Insanity Descent

We Need Better Mental Screening

Okay. The psych community as a whole is seriously flawed in many ways {as much as they'd like to think they're not super flawed, they are} but right now I'm just gonna talk about their horrible process of screening for mental illness.

I understand that you can't really screen for EVERY single mental illness since there's just too many, but I do think they should screen better for mental illness. Whenever I see a new therapist, even though I've had 2 separate people diagnose me with bipolar I with psychotic features {one even from their own fucking agency} they put me through this shitty screening process that takes like 4-6 hours {I'm not exaggerating, they'll usually do these appointments in the afternoon and it's done by like 6 PM} and it accomplishes nothing. It's protocol so even with a diagnosis I can't skip it, which I understand. The material in it though seriously needs to be changed.

They only screen for depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, and they BRIEFLY delve into anorexia. That's... really not a lot of coverage. The majority of the appointment is passing paperwork that has nothing to do with the screenings, so I think they should separate this appointment into 2 different ones: one for paperwork and the other for screenings. I understand the screenings are also part of their paperwork, but they need to do more screenings and since these appointments are already so long due to unrelated paperwork, I think it should be put into two appointments so they can do more screenings without making it a like... 8 hour appointment or something. I can't think of anyone who'd want to sit through an 8 hour appointment. Already, 4 hours is REALLY long.

How do they screen? Well, they give you these little surveys with each paper screening for a different illness. On the PTSD screening there's two sides, one asking if you've experienced any traumatic event {they have a huge checklist of traumas and then they have an option for something they didn't list} and then it tells you that if any of the boxes are filled in to turn it over and do the back, which has questions related to PTSD like if you've felt on edge for the past month.

The rest of the screenings are just one page and ask you questions related to the specific illness. For example, the anxiety test might ask for the past 6 months if you've felt really fidgety or had lots of stomach problems and the depression one might ask for the past 2 weeks if you've felt really sad and empty. At the bottom they then ask how much the symptoms have caused problems in your daily functioning, but they basically ignore whatever you answer there.

I remember at my last screening I apparently scored in the highest possible category for anxiety {based on your score they categorize it between no illness, mild severity, moderate severity, and severe}, but even though I scored so high on my anxiety screening I answered that it didn't really bother me because it didn't. My therapist didn't care though and gave me anxiety counseling for an illness I didn't even have. Yes, I worry a lot, but it doesn't usually bother me. If it is bothering me, it's not anxiety, it's paranoia.

How do I know it's not anxiety? Because the fears that bother me aren't based on what's going on in my life, they're more delusional-like fears {like fearing that I'm being followed everywhere or that someone might be reading my thoughts- another common one I have is that all my online friends are actually just my dad or someone else I know IRL with like 20 accounts}. I know it's not real so it's not a delusion, but the idea scares me so it's paranoia. Thoughts I have that are grounded in reality {like fearing I might fail an upcoming test} that give me anxiety do make it a little difficult for me, but despite me experiencing them so chronically I have really good coping strategies in place so they just don't get to me that much. I don't have an anxiety disorder, I have paranoia as a symptom of my bipolar.

I also scored moderate {just a couple points from severe} on my PTSD test too even though I answered it doesn't bother me at all whatsoever. Yes, I think about my rape a lot- actually, the event VERY frequently crosses my mind, but it doesn't bring me anxiety to remember it. Actually, sometimes I start making jokes about it and laughing my ass off from my own jokes. It's not done as a coping mechanism, I just laugh at everything and anything I can. Doesn't mean I find it funny or I'm trying to cope with it, I'm just making a joke. Part of PTSD is that the event frequently replays in your head, but the most important part is that remembering it gives you REALLY great agitation. Clearly if I'm comfortable enough to say, "Haha virginity go brrrr," I don't think I'm really traumatized by it anymore. There was a point in time I was, but not anymore.