Geri Clark

There's a lot of complicating factors with psychiatric medications, one of which is the side effects are undesirable. And my son really didn't like the way the lithium made him feel. But also, that family doctor was not the right person to do all of the follow-through care. So we transferred to a psychiatric nurse practitioner who was kind of at the end of her career and not terribly invested.

There's a lot of complicating factors with psychiatric medications, one of which is the side effects are undesirable. And my son really didn't like the way the lithium made him feel. But also, that family doctor was not the right person to do all of the follow-through care. So we transferred to a psychiatric nurse practitioner who was kind of at the end of her career and not terribly invested.

One aspect of the severe mental illness treatment system that the general public is probably not aware of is that insurance companies will often give you a list of providers in your network area that do the type of treatment that you're looking for.

One aspect of the severe mental illness treatment system that the general public is probably not aware of is that insurance companies will often give you a list of providers in your network area that do the type of treatment that you're looking for.

One aspect of the severe mental illness treatment system that the general public is probably not aware of is that insurance companies will often give you a list of providers in your network area that do the type of treatment that you're looking for.

In psychiatry, those lists are often full of providers who are no longer taking new patients, won't take the diagnosis code, won't treat someone with a very severe condition. So those lists are referred to as ghost networks. And the ghost network that I got from our insurance company had about 30 names on it, and none of them would take my stuff.

In psychiatry, those lists are often full of providers who are no longer taking new patients, won't take the diagnosis code, won't treat someone with a very severe condition. So those lists are referred to as ghost networks. And the ghost network that I got from our insurance company had about 30 names on it, and none of them would take my stuff.

In psychiatry, those lists are often full of providers who are no longer taking new patients, won't take the diagnosis code, won't treat someone with a very severe condition. So those lists are referred to as ghost networks. And the ghost network that I got from our insurance company had about 30 names on it, and none of them would take my stuff.

That's a really good question because I don't know that the diagnosing in the psychiatric world is all that sophisticated. My son's thoughts and speech were all over the place. When he went in to talk with our family practice doctor that very first time, he was just all over the place in what he was talking about.

That's a really good question because I don't know that the diagnosing in the psychiatric world is all that sophisticated. My son's thoughts and speech were all over the place. When he went in to talk with our family practice doctor that very first time, he was just all over the place in what he was talking about.

That's a really good question because I don't know that the diagnosing in the psychiatric world is all that sophisticated. My son's thoughts and speech were all over the place. When he went in to talk with our family practice doctor that very first time, he was just all over the place in what he was talking about.

And he was making connections between random things that really didn't make sense if you were listening for understanding. So she was able to explain to both of us that he seemed to be having a flight of ideas. Another term for that is word salad. She didn't use that term in the moment, but I learned that term later. So his speech was quite manic.

And he was making connections between random things that really didn't make sense if you were listening for understanding. So she was able to explain to both of us that he seemed to be having a flight of ideas. Another term for that is word salad. She didn't use that term in the moment, but I learned that term later. So his speech was quite manic.

And he was making connections between random things that really didn't make sense if you were listening for understanding. So she was able to explain to both of us that he seemed to be having a flight of ideas. Another term for that is word salad. She didn't use that term in the moment, but I learned that term later. So his speech was quite manic.

It wasn't that hard to figure out what was going on.

It wasn't that hard to figure out what was going on.

It wasn't that hard to figure out what was going on.

Well, we worked with the psychiatric nurse practitioner for a while, but my son's commitment to taking his medication was limited by the undesirable side effects, but also by a symptom of illness that I didn't understand at the time, but I have since learned is referred to as anosognosia. And this is a really important term to understand.

Well, we worked with the psychiatric nurse practitioner for a while, but my son's commitment to taking his medication was limited by the undesirable side effects, but also by a symptom of illness that I didn't understand at the time, but I have since learned is referred to as anosognosia. And this is a really important term to understand.

Well, we worked with the psychiatric nurse practitioner for a while, but my son's commitment to taking his medication was limited by the undesirable side effects, but also by a symptom of illness that I didn't understand at the time, but I have since learned is referred to as anosognosia. And this is a really important term to understand.