Hey, everybody! Happy Thursday!
And since it's Thursday here, that means I'm doing an FAQ video.
And I know many of you have sent me wonderful media, things to talk about,
so don't worry, I will get to those.
I haven't had time because I spend time reading your comments,
and reading your questions and answering them.
So, -oh, and Sean and I are going with the green.
That second one right there,
we're gonna go with that color.
It's actually sitting on the floor right here.
I just picked it up today.
So that will be our craft project this weekend.
gasp
But that why I got extra drop cloths, am I right?
Okay. Painter's joke. Haha, I'm not really a painter.
Okay. So I have two questions. First question is,
"So I've been battling depression for years now.
One of my worst moments was, -were, the last two years.
I have worked -and still am working really hard
to get better and as a result, I'm in a better place now.
But I feel as though because of my depression,
my dyslexia has gotten worse,
and my ability to understand text is not as good as it used to.
I did stop reading as much as I used to as a result of my depression though.
I wanted to know if this has anything to do with my depression.
Thank you."
Now, first of all, I want to acknowledge the fact that
things that we used to enjoy, like reading it sounds like,
we don't enjoy anymore when we're depressed
or we don't have the energy to do it
so stuff like that can definitely effect it. Like the fact that
you weren't reading as much because of your depression.
So I want to acknowledge that.
However, there is a symptom of depression that people forget to talk about.
They forget to mention. It lead a lot of people to be undiagnosed,
even though they are struggling with depression,
and it leads people who have maybe relapsed in their depression,
not get help as quickly as maybe they should have
and they may stay depressed longer until it comes up in another way
where it's -they don't enjoy other things,
or they're really irritable, or, they just feel really lethargic all the time.
It could be any of those.
Those are more common. Those are things that we know about,
that professionals talk about and that -in the media,
we're aware, and we're like, "Oh, I may be depressed."
However, the one symptom that we forget
is concentration difficulties.
It's a very common symptom of depression,
and it's something that a lot of people struggle with
and that is why, for any of you students out there,
it can make school really hard, not only because
we don't have the energy, am I right?
And we don't have any motivation to do anything.
But it's also, secondly, very difficult for us to remember things,
to focus, to read all of the pages that we're supposed to,
and to retain all of the information
because we really struggle to concentrate.
So my guess would be...
filler
that it's due to your concentration difficulties.
That it's making your dyslexia worse. It's harder for you to focus.
Because I know, -now I do not specialize
in working with people with dyslexia.
However, I know that it can be really difficult when
we have to concentrate a lot when we're trying to
work through it and -reading more, practicing,
and all the stuff that goes along with our recovery from that.
So that would be my guess, that it is concentration difficulties.
So I would bring it up with your doctor,
tell them you think it's part of your depression,
and get some more support!
Okay. Question number two,
"Hey, Katie. I was wondering if you could explain more what AMA is.
I want to leave treatment but if I did, I would have to leave AMA."
Now, AMA is "against medical advice". Okay?
"I have heard that if you do, -that if I do
if I need treatment in the future, I might not be able to
get covered by my insurance. Is this true?
What are the good and bad aspects of leaving AMA?
And is leaving AMA ever a good thing?"
I thought this was interesting. I have never, ever,
talked about AMA
and it's something that I've had clients do
when I used to work in in-patient because for many of you who aren't aware,
if you go into in-patient treatment, as long as you're not in a hospital
and you're not on a 72-hour hold,
you can leave whenever!
Like I could walk into a hospital for my broken leg
and then, when the doctor's like, "Well we should probably
keep you for a couple days."
And I'm like, "Peace, I'm out," then I left AMA because he's like,
"Uh, you shouldn't put any weight on that, what are you doing? Ah!!"
And I'm just like, "Psh, I'm out."
So we can leave whenever we want.
However, it does go on our record. It's something that is
reported to our health insurance.
And oftentimes -now I don't know how many -I'm pretty sure...
no health insurance would say that they do this,
may be something that's unethical possibly.
But I know, that if they're aware that you are a flight risk,
they may not cover a certain level of treatment,
they may force you to be in one where you're held,
or they may have you sign other waivers,
or certain treatment centers may take someone else over you,
and I'm not sure, all of the legality,
and all of the ethical stuff involved in this.
However, I do know what goes on your record
and I can at sometimes and at some point in your treatment
affect the coverage and the help that you are able to get because
they want to make sure that if they're paying for you,
you are actually going to stay until you're ready to leave.
Now, is it ever a good thing? Could it ever be something that is good?
The only time I would ever say that AMA is fine is like,
okay, so if I took a medication that was prescribed by my doctor
and I had an adverse reaction to it,
I went into some kind of brief psychotic state,
and then, so Sean's like, "Holy sh*t!"
and he takes me to the hospital and he's like, "What's happening?"
and then they're like, "We wanna keep you for another day, for observation."
and I'm like, "Dude, I gotta go. I have patients
and I have sh*t I gotta do, I can't stay,"
I may leave AMA because it was something like I didn't have control over
and now I'm fine, and they've assessed me already,
and I'm good, they just wanna keep me longer, and I have a plane to catch,
I don't know. There may be reasons other than the regular
-that makes AMA okay.
But it's only something that I would tell people to do
if the treatment provided to them is not what they need
or the people that are providing them treatment aren't helpful
or it's actually more triggering, or you feel like you're getting worse,
then that would maybe be something where I think,
"Okay, maybe it's okay. Maybe it's something we can consider."
But I would always try all roots first.
I would talk to your therapist, talk to the treatment team,
I'd tell them how upset you are
because we all deserve to get the proper treatment and care that we need.
We all deserve that. And we all need to find places
where we can get the help we need so we can heal and we can recover.
And the reason AMA is a thing is because as a clinician,
if you left without me saying it was okay that would be my ass on the line
because it would be like, "Why let her go?"
and then who knows what happened and so
I have to say, "No, she left against medical advice,
she left without me saying it was okay."
And, so that's why that exists.
But please, usually -I'd say 90% of the time,
most health care professionals want what's best for you.
That's why they got into what they're doing.
It's not like, you know, us therapists make gazillions of dollars
or, you know, people that work in hospitals
like I used to work in a hospital all the time and
we're there because we want to help you,
we're there because we want to make sure you get the help that you need
so I would encourage all of you to stay until they say "You're okay to go,
and that everything is good and they have a discharge plan
and all of that set up for you
because that's why you're here, and that's why you went in-patient in the first place
is to get the help that you need, so let them give it to you.
Okay?
If anybody has experienced, let me know below.
And if you like the FAQs, give it a thumbs up!
And I will see you all on -Oh!
I have a surprise video coming out
so make sure you subscribe or you'll miss it!
But otherwise, I'll see you on Monday.
If you don't subscribe, you wont know when that other video comes up!
Okay, bye!
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