Physical & Emotional Abuse Support Group
Abuse is a general term for the treatment of someone that causes some kind of harm (to the abused person, to the abusers themselves, or to someone else) that is unlawful or wrongful. No one deserves abuse, period. Abuse can be emotional, physical, or sexual.
I've been looking around and doing research for a while now on what types of help are potentially available to me when I can finally seek treatment/therapy. So far it's not looking promising (in terms of what I would be able to actually afford).
On my current level of income and with the insurance policy I have it seems that at best I would only be able to afford about half an hour to an hour of therapy/counseling each month.
Part of the cost problem is that the cost-of-living where I live is high. Another part of the problem is that one of our previous governors (a few years back) refused to accept federal handouts meant to help those with disabilities/mental health issues. The governor said they wouldn't accept the money for our state saying something along the lines of, "we'll take care if our own." Shortly after that they cut state funding for helping those with disabilities/mental health problems by around 2/3 if I recall correctly.(A bunch of state programs that were providing the free or low cost assistance shut down from that.)
It also doesn't help much that every shelter in the city is constantly full beyond capacity (it's been a known problem for many years here).
Before anyone suggests it, Medicaid/Medicare are also not viable options for me for two reasons: despite having a low enough income for it I couldn't get it if I wanted due to the current governor refusing to allow any new applications to be approved since he refuses to raise the cap on how many state residents can be enrolled in it at a time (again refusing federal money to help pay for it). The other reason is that apparently none of the therapists in my city will accept it due to various reasons. So even if I had it it wouldn't do me much good.
Most of the "free" helplines that I've come across so far seem to just be services for helping you find one of the clinics/offices in your area so you can meet with them to discuss treatment options and what they'll cost.
Right now I'm at a loss as to how to get affordable treatment. How am I supposed to get help/treatment if I can't afford it even with insurance?
Does anyone here have any advice or insight on how to work around this problem? Has anyone here had to deal with this type of problem?
On my current level of income and with the insurance policy I have it seems that at best I would only be able to afford about half an hour to an hour of therapy/counseling each month.
Part of the cost problem is that the cost-of-living where I live is high. Another part of the problem is that one of our previous governors (a few years back) refused to accept federal handouts meant to help those with disabilities/mental health issues. The governor said they wouldn't accept the money for our state saying something along the lines of, "we'll take care if our own." Shortly after that they cut state funding for helping those with disabilities/mental health problems by around 2/3 if I recall correctly.(A bunch of state programs that were providing the free or low cost assistance shut down from that.)
It also doesn't help much that every shelter in the city is constantly full beyond capacity (it's been a known problem for many years here).
Before anyone suggests it, Medicaid/Medicare are also not viable options for me for two reasons: despite having a low enough income for it I couldn't get it if I wanted due to the current governor refusing to allow any new applications to be approved since he refuses to raise the cap on how many state residents can be enrolled in it at a time (again refusing federal money to help pay for it). The other reason is that apparently none of the therapists in my city will accept it due to various reasons. So even if I had it it wouldn't do me much good.
Most of the "free" helplines that I've come across so far seem to just be services for helping you find one of the clinics/offices in your area so you can meet with them to discuss treatment options and what they'll cost.
Right now I'm at a loss as to how to get affordable treatment. How am I supposed to get help/treatment if I can't afford it even with insurance?
Does anyone here have any advice or insight on how to work around this problem? Has anyone here had to deal with this type of problem?
I find politics distasteful
so I forgot the states that
chose to take the partisan
position. Thanks for the link.
And yes . . . . . inquire about
sliding scales!!!!!!!
@gigglemon:
I've already gone through all the self help materials I could find. I ended up joining DS for support because the problems I have been facing due to many years of psychological/emotional abuse had reached a point where my mental health was quickly deteriorating. Before joing this site it had gotten bad enough that I was suffering from frequent audio/visial hallucinations.
For a while these problems diminished greatly in the time I have been on here. Unfortunately, things have begun to go downhill for me again, which is a big part of the reason I am getting frustrated at how difficult it is to find the help I require (at a price I can actually afford).
This time around though, the symptoms are much more painful and frequently mildy disorienting.
@everyone else:
It seems that my income level is just too low for sliding scale in this state. My only option would be to stash away a liitle of my income every month for the next few years and hope a doctor would be willing to do a sliding scale cost with what I saved up. Unfortunately, the way things are going I'm not sure I would be able to last that long.
I'm sorry, but I don't understand
what you mean by this. "Sliding
scale fees" are for people with
low income/resources. If there's
no income or resources, then
there are programs for people
with no income or resources.
If you PM me the state where
you live, I'll do some research
and see if there's any way for
you to plug in somewhere or
somehow, and get the help
you need.
If you need meds, it might be possible to do this through a regular physician. If it is therapy, I know your predicament. It is so difficult and I am sorry you find yourself in it. It is true that a lot of therapists do not accept insurance. Have you thought of seeing a Clinical Social worker (they might be cheaper than a psychologist) and might accept insurance with a lower co-pay? Just thinking. You have probably already checked this out,though. Lots of times people advise this or that, not realizing that actually getting the service is a lot harder than it looks. I really feel for you.
There is another option which may or may not help ... free groups that meet at NAMI www.nami.org/ or 12 step programs such as AA and Alanon. Although they are mean to treat alchholics and their families, you would be surprised how many people get a lot of help just being in a group and talking about their issues. After all, these meeetings don't solely focus on alcochol or being related to one (Alanon) but to problems of living.
Just a few thoughts.
I only earn a few hundred a month. The only reason I am able to afford the cheapest available insurance plan is that residents of my state are paid yearly dividends of oil revenue in the state to help offset the higher cost of living here. Add to this the fact that I'll have to factor in the costs of moving out and into a place of my own (or more realistcally a shared appartment) before I can start seeing a therapist and I am left with practically no money for therapy/counseling. Even if I only had to pay the deductible on my insurance it would be pushing it.
That places me in the category of having (basically) no oncome or resources for therapy. And as I mentioned before, there used to be all sorts of programs designed to help with things like these, but most of them seemed to get shut down when the state cut funding to them. What's left (that I know of) don't exactly seem enticing. They actually seem downright depressing given the requirements some of them have. Like not being allowed to have a job or other source of income and having to live in poverty or they won't give you any money to help you out. (Things like that).
I've looking for a new job that will enable me to afford treatment, but it's been slow going.
@missive:
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into the clinical social worker thing and see if that turns up anything useful. Also, my insurance should actually cover meds pretty well as long as it isn't too many different meds at obce (since then the cost would start to pile up a bit too much).
As for the support groups though, I'm not that joining even more support groups would really help me out given the situation with my problems. What I need right now is to be seeing a trained/ licensed therapist who knows how to to treat victims of psychological/emotional abuse, PTSD and preferably also adult attactment style problems.