Psychiatrists to brand grief lasting longer than two weeks a mental illness

[politicat]

91. There is a (not great) reason for this...

The American insurance industry requires coding to get treatment paid for. We shrinks have to eat, too.

Remember the Death Panel stuff, how Medicare made a code so doctors could actually get paid for having the end of life discussion? This is the same concept. We have to have something to put on the paperwork.

When a patient comes in after a death and can't sleep or is self-isolating or is having suicidal ideation or just needs to talk to an ally who is uninvolved in the family dynamics, waiting two months can be way, way too long.

Remember: psychologists do NOT have a prescription pad. We often work with psychiatrists (who do have prescribing privileges) but we are not giving out drugs. Our job is a lot more like a coach, sympathetic bartender, rehearsal coach and strategist. Often, when a patient is grieving, what zie needs is practical help -- how to handle other family members who are fighting over inheritance, or how to talk to the children left behind, or how to manage what used to be a two adult household on half the person hours.

I HATE the fact that everything has to be a syndrome or a disorder before the insurance companies will cough up their pittance, but I'm trying to help people, not running those damned corporations. Want to fix it? Fix the insurance industry and let me do my work instead of the freakin' paperwork.