Wed Jan 30, 2019, 02:48 AM

Kansas Cost-Cutting Forced Kids Who Need Urgent Psych Care Onto Waitlists

Nicole Nesmith’s voice shakes a little when she recalls the night her child, Phoenix, revealed a painful secret.

“Phoenix got really quiet and was like, ‘I have something to tell you and I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I’ve been cutting for about a month now.’”

Nesmith was working on a social work degree, so she was familiar with self-harming — she just hadn’t expected to deal with it so close to home.

Phoenix’s confession started a cycle familiar to families who have kids with severe mental illness — therapy, crisis hospitalizations, medication, more therapy, new meds when the old ones stopped working well, more hospitalizations.

Read more: https://www.kcur.org/post/kansas-cost-cutting-forced-kids-who-need-urgent-psych-care-waitlists#stream/0

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2 replies	Author	Time	Post
Kansas Cost-Cutting Forced Kids Who Need Urgent Psych Care Onto Waitlists (Original post)	TexasTowelie	Jan 2019	OP
I've been that mother before	Sucha NastyWoman	Jan 2019	#1
Does 'cutting' really constitute a 'severe mental illness', though? Not meaning to downplay it ...	mr_lebowski	Jan 2019	#2

Response to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Wed Jan 30, 2019, 03:11 AM

Sucha NastyWoman (683 posts)

1. I've been that mother before

And the hopelessness of the situation can be paralyzing.

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Response to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Wed Jan 30, 2019, 03:37 AM

mr_lebowski (10,673 posts)

2. Does 'cutting' really constitute a 'severe mental illness', though? Not meaning to downplay it ...

But I almost wonder whether treating it like it is ...couldn't do more harm than good in some cases. Especially if the 'cycle' being described is truly a common one, with all these medical/psych interventions.

Not a Doctor, of course, and certainly not giving medical advice ... but ... kids engage in all manner of odd things from the standpoint of adults ... and I'd imagine that in a fair number of cases ... what looks like 'crazy' ... it's actually nothing of the sort.

That all being said ... our 'national health-care system' needs to stand at the ready when needed, and not just fob our kids off.

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