You raise some very good questions.

Why is it that if we are sick we have to pay?

Sickness is no one's fault. Do you ever wonder about that too?

Don't have health insurance, but when I get real sick I could not afford to go to the hospital. But is that my fault? No

The mental healthcare system in this country is horribly broken. Jails are now one of the default establishments for dealing with a large percentage of mentally ill individuals in the US due to the cost of placing them in proper treatment facilities where they can get the help they need to get better.

With that auto-pay thing, was that $25 each month in addition to the $75 per session? Or was it some kind of arrangement where you just paid the $25 each month and that was meant to cover any sessions you ended up needing to go to in a given month?

Why does it have to be so insanely difficult for the poor to get affordable treatment/therapy in this country?

I certainly hope that there are qualified doctors that would be willing to provide services for little or no charge. Unfortunately, from everything I have learned and experienced (including from family members seeking/getting therapy for their own issues) that seems like a bit much to hope for. The state I live in has an extremely bad history when it comes to helping residents with disabilities and such.

Due to having no borders that touch other states we have a higher cost of living since it costs more to ship things here. As if that factor didn't add enough to the cost of things like doctors/therapy, a recent (former) governor cut funding to assistance programs that help the disabled afford things like therapy and meds by about 2/3 and refused to accept federal money being given out freely to states to help cover the costs of such programs. As a result of this many (if not most) of said programs/services ended up being forced to shut down.

On top of that the current governor refuses to expand Medicaid to cover the residents who can't afford insurance. Although, even with coverage from Medicaid most of the therapists where I live apparently won't accept it since it doesn't pay them enough.

I get the feeling that if the therapists here aren't willing to accomodate clients with Medicaid (where the therapists would at least be getting some money) they probably wouldn't want to lower their sliding-scale fee low enough to accomodate someone who can barely afford to pay $40-50 per month (and that's pushing it for me given my income and expenses) for therapy sessions.

Especially when the mental health services in this state are already overburdened to the point of bursting at the seams. There was even an article in the news today about how bad the problem is being found to be by investigations into the subject.

I just want to get a better picture of how low of a price I can realistically expect to get thru a sliding-scale fee (while also factoring in these other issues) so that I can try to plan my finances around that accordingly and eventually get help.

Currently, I pay 60$ a session. It was 40$, but they went up. I only get therapy biweekly due to cost.

I could get treated for less through the county, but I'm seeing a trauma specialist. The cost seems worth it.

Here's some info on mental health and care one of the members of the BP board researched that might be of some help

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Bipolar_Disorder/advice/8224882-advice-link-free-health/page-14

@SunCloudJD:

Thanks for the link. I checked through each of the pages of that discussion and the few resources listed that would be applicable and available in my state are ones I have already looked into. So unfortunately there wasn't any information there that was new or useful in my situation.

Have you asked for a referral to a social worker Sleep??... They are usually the ones who are aware of what helps available for patients... Your doc can refer you

I've found really good therapists don't have to be doctors either... Many have Masters degrees and you'd pay less then a PHD

There may be groups that meet as well that can be very supportive... You can look that up online and potentially other members might be able to advise you

@SunCloudJD:

The courts in this state have all but ruled the social services in the state to be crimminally incompetent. That's how bad it is here. My parents have also had a horrible time dealing with the state just trying to get basic assistance for my brother over the years.

As for doctors, I don't feel like it would be in my best interest to go with a therapist/counselor who isn't a qualified doctor. I'm try to find treatment for depression, emotional/psychological abuse and attachment style issues in addition to the PTSD.

One of the last things I need right now is to be getting treatment from someone who isn't knowledgable about and qualified to treat sensitive issues like these.

I'm so sorry that it's so bad where you are....I hope you can find some good help... big hug for you and a blessing...x

It is ridiculous that it is this much trouble to get treatment for mental health problems in this country. If a person has mental health issues they're told to get treatment, but many times if they can't afford it they're turned away and treated like trash. Then if their problem gets really bad they're virtually vilified by much of society for not getting treatment that they couldn't even afford.

This is the PTSD resources in US... Sorry if I'm giving you info you already have and you're right there should be decent treatment...x

http://www.ptsdassociation.com/ptsd-resources.php