Posted by RealMe on August 28, 2007, at 20:52:30
In reply to Re: Pseudo-neurotic Schizophrenia » RealMe, posted by Quintal on August 28, 2007, at 6:09:47
Well first of all Menninger's is not what it used to be. It was located in Topeka, Kansas for years back to it's beginnings when a father and two sons opened the clinic, Drs. C.F. and sons Karl and Will Menninger. They became famous over time as an excellent private psychiatric hospital, and movie stars and the rich used to go there for extended treatment. By the 60's it was still pretty much the same people who could afford to go there for long term treatment, but some with insurance were also going there as patients. This continued into the 1970's and 1980's. I was there as a patient in the early 80's and no I am not rich; I had a million dollar policy for mental health treatent. When I was there as a postdoc in the 90's, Menninger's was ranked as the number one psychiatric program in the country. I think after they moved to Houston, they fell pretty far in the rankings, and they are now around #6 in the country, I think. It's not the same hospital though. No more long term inpatient treatment.
I am really sorry to hear there is no one in your area to see for therapy. How far would you have to travel to get to see a good therapist? As far as meds and all are concerned, can you go to separate doctors for the psych meds and the physical meds? That way maybe the doctor doesn't have to know about the psych meds right away. Of course that means the person prescribing the psych meds would need to know about the other meds so that you weren't mixing things that should not be mixed.
As far as my therapy went, yes I made huge strides there. I became more neurotic ha, ha. Well that has been better than the way I was. So now neither my therapist at Menninger's when I left, my last therapist, or my current therapist--none of them think I have a personality disorder now. I guess that is a plus. Funny you should mention Parnate, though, as that is what worked for me at Menninger's as a med. I was also on Lithium. Now I am on Parnate, and my last therapist wanted me to try Nardil and Lithium as Parnate wasn't working for me this time. However, since the ECT, I am again using Parnate, and I think it is working. Who knows. I wonder what would happen if I d/c's it. I don't think I will, though as my therapist says we have some hard times ahead when it will be true for a time that what happens in therapy will bleed out into my life after I leave.
If I were you I don't know if I would try to diagnose myself from the books. I used to try to do that when I just did not know what was wrong with me. This is when I was in my later teens and early 20's. I decided I was schizophrenic, and I got a big laugh from my doctor at Menninger's about that one as apparently some doctor prior to Menningers said just that. So, you can always find some doctor to give you a diagnosis of some sort.
If you really want to know your diagnosis, then I recommend going to some place like Menninger's for an outpatient evaluation. When I was working there, these evaluations took around one week and involved a complete work up including medical, psychiatric, psych testing, meetings with a social worker and family,etc. And then a consultant works with the team to come up with an understanding of the patient and what that person needs in terms of treatment. If you have insurance, I would say go for it and get the stupid doctor you refered to to make a referral.
RealMe
(OzLand)
poster:RealMe
thread:779140
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20070822/msgs/779403.html