Posts by dustytrucker02

By the way, there’s an creative art project (which debuted last year at the Avant-Garde Minds & Bodies festival) aimed at destigmatizing mental illness. If anyone wants to get involved, you can head to the link under the stickers section, download the PDFs, and print them out as stickers to put up around town. They have both American and English versions available.

gentlesailor25 said:Well, let them "evaluate" you then.🤣

I mean, how is a doctor even supposed to come up with a diagnosis if you don't actually tell them how you're feeling and all that?🤷
I guess you're probably expected to know what to say and what to keep to yourself, right?

Of course I agreed. But then it started—"Oh, we don't have a psychiatrist available this week." So I asked, "Fine, when can I come in next week?" And they just keep saying, "Maybe try somewhere else instead." It’s the same runaround every single time. Honestly, there's no point now anyway; I lost my job because of my "condition" (I was upfront with my employer about why I couldn't get a medical certificate immediately), so there's nobody left to cover my sick leave. My boss's reaction was basically: "You need to work with paperwork, not people—especially since you handle money. What if you say something rude to a client? It's bad for business; we'd always need someone watching over you..." Lesson learned: if you suffer from depression, you're apparently aggressive toward people and prone to burning through cash for fun. Pure primitive thinking.😲
And considering the federal government just signed that resolution on mental health protections two months ago, I am very curious to see when or if they actually intend to implement any of it.

Michelle Evans said:Private doctors issue prescriptions just like anyone else, so you can pick up your meds at any pharmacy. The real difference is that you're paying the full retail price instead of getting an insurance co-pay. Usually, people go that route if they want to keep things off their official medical record and have the extra cash to spare...

A primary care physician will write the prescription based on a specialist's findings if you'd rather not pay the full out-of-pocket cost.

Is there really no way for a general practitioner to provide a certification based on a specialist's recommendation? Calling it "we don't have that specialist" sounds like a pretty ridiculous excuse...🙄

how am I considered unfit for work if I have a condition that I manage with regular medication? That can't possibly be legal...

You can definitely be deemed unable to work due to certain diagnoses regardless of your treatment plan—whether it's psychiatric or physical—depending entirely on the nature of the job. For instance, someone with epilepsy shouldn't be driving a truck, or a recovering alcoholic shouldn't be in air traffic control...
I assume your specific situation doesn't involve those kinds of high-stakes roles, but just for the sake of clarity, it is possible...

No, because they can just claim they don't trust my own psychiatrist's assessment.

Michelle Evans said:Private doctors issue prescriptions just like anyone else, so you can pick up your meds at any pharmacy. The real difference is that you're paying the full retail price instead of getting an insurance co-pay. Usually, people go that route if they want to keep things off their official medical record and have the extra cash to spare...

A primary care physician will write the prescription based on a specialist's findings if you'd rather not pay the full out-of-pocket cost.

Is there really no way for a general practitioner to provide a certification based on a specialist's recommendation? Calling it "we don't have that specialist" sounds like a pretty ridiculous excuse...🙄

how am I considered unfit for work if I have a condition that I manage with regular medication? That can't possibly be legal...

You can definitely be deemed unable to work due to certain diagnoses regardless of your treatment plan—whether it's psychiatric or physical—depending entirely on the nature of the job. For instance, someone with epilepsy shouldn't be driving a truck, or a recovering alcoholic shouldn't be in air traffic control...
I assume your specific situation doesn't involve those kinds of high-stakes roles, but just for the sake of clarity, it is possible...

The most frustrating part is that I am more than capable of working. I love interacting with people, I'm responsible, and I've never had a single complaint about my performance. I haven't even taken a single day of sick leave or vacation yet. But obviously, that doesn't matter here.🙄
For the record, the job was at a retail gallery.

gentlesailor25 said:It just occurred to me... does your doctor even know about the F-diagnosis, assuming your psychiatrist is running a private practice?
In other words, it feels like the only people left without any actual protection are the ones who can't afford to pay for a private specialist.🤷

It’s honestly pretty grim...😲

I don't think it matters whether the psychiatrist is in private practice or not. As far as I know, all the prescriptions come through your primary care physician anyway. Even though my GP is incredibly kind and wrote the certification as leniently as possible, that "F" still screams off the page.

I have no intention of backing down. My thought was to reach out to an advocacy group or a federal agency dedicated to protecting mental health patients, but it feels like there's nothing substantial out there. There’s NAMI, but their influence seems negligible, and then there’s the state oversight commission, whose entire mandate consists of checking psychiatric hospital conditions once a year. As if that’s sufficient protection. Honestly, the inertia in this field doesn't surprise me; nobody wants to touch such delicate subjects, especially when it starts uncovering contradictions regarding veteran employment incentives and similar issues.
It crossed my mind to decorate the city with posters: a photo, a name, years of service, a diagnosis code—something like, "unfit for work?" But that would require a level of commitment I'm simply not prepared to undertake. Still, it isn't fair. There are countless people who are far more incompetent, people who are just lazy, perform poorly, and abuse sick leave to collect a paycheck for failing at their jobs. It's pathetic.

gentleraven90 said:Did you end up telling them about your F diagnosis or what?

I didn't tell them, but before you can even get an appointment, you have to bring a clearance from your doctor stating whether you have any underlying conditions or a clean bill of health.

Jeremy Alvarez5 said:1. The mindset aspect—you know, how someone struggling with mental health might fall into these harmful thought patterns, which then trickles down into their psychological state and eventually even physical health; though I guess it works both ways too...

2. The social side of things. It’s interesting how public perception of mental illness just kind of swings back and forth depending on how much media attention certain extreme cases get during some weekend news cycle or when Hollywood decides to use a condition as a plot device. Once someone is labeled as having a specific issue, all that info floating around the scene starts to shape how everyone—from their inner circle to the general public—views them, regardless of what they're actually going through...

3. The professional sphere. On one hand, you have pharmaceutical companies setting up all these rules to protect themselves from liability, and on the other, there are plenty of jobs where you basically need a psychologist or psychiatrist to sign off on whether you're actually fit for the role or if you can handle the pressure.

I suppose there's a potential upside here. If a person can finally wrap their head around why they feel the way they do, or if they learn to recognize those red flags before they hit a breaking point, they might build up a sort of "immunity." Like, maybe they could develop better self-control or gain enough insight to actually help out friends or family members who end up facing similar struggles later on...

4. Finally, I honestly feel like psychology and psychiatry still don't have a full grasp on all these moving parts and how to actually resolve them. That might be why people talk about certain conditions being "incurable," when really we're just stuck using limited ways to manage them. I mean, some part of the "disability" might actually come from the people who are supposed to be helping—whether it's family, therapists, doctors, clergy, or even spiritual healers—if they use the wrong approach. They might help to a degree, but sometimes they might actually make things worse. This is especially tricky because of how much influence the media and entertainment have; since those sources carry so much authority, it's way harder to spot the misconceptions. It creates this situation where a person's actual, valid understanding of themselves gets swept under the rug along with all the more irrational stuff...

I actually intended to start a new thread, but since dustytrucker02 brought it up, I hadn't fully realized the extent to which mental health stigma still dominates the American workforce. Apparently, the trend is actually increasing.

Basically, I was offered a job where the owner requested—and quite frankly, had every right to request—a medical clearance from an occupational health specialist. I naively assumed this would just be a standard physical where you get a basic sign-off, but it turns out that because of my "F-code" diagnosis, I can't get cleared for work. I've approached five different occupational doctors, and they all just redirected me elsewhere, claiming that "oversight on F-diagnoses has been tightened" and that they "don't have the necessary specialists on staff."🤷
As if I'm some medical anomaly that requires an entire board of experts just to study me.
In what way am I unfit for work if I'm managing my condition with regular medication? This feels completely illegal.🙂
Anyone else dealt with this?