Why is it so hard to contact a shrink?

[skygazer]

I dutifully went to the web page of my insurance provider and downloaded a list of people who accept my insurance. I've called all the ones in my immediate area (6 or 7) and NONE of them have office personnel to make appointments or answer the phone. It's just a voicemail and they'll "get back to" me.

This seems odd to me - what about the people who are unsure they need help, or have assertiveness issues or get tongue-tied when confronted with a message machine? Bob Newhart had a damn receptionist - why can't these people? Don't they need someone to file paperwork, submit insurance claims, etc.? :rant:

[BlueIris]

1. In my area, it's a combo of a lot of factors.

There's a MASSIVE shortage of qualified psychiatrists around here, first of all. Due to the fact that insurance providers haven't been covering mental health treatment in my state for many years, the few shrinks who are in private practice run on shoe string budgets and rarely even have support staff. What's most frustrating to me is finding someone even remotely interested in helping me with my relatively "mundane" problems (depression, anxiety, recovering from childhood trauma). The handful of psychiatrists in my city are almost wholly tasked with treating the criminally insane (full-on psycopaths, pedophiles, etc.) or those considered to have "more serious" mental health troubles with physiological components, like BPD, of which there are many in my town.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. I've only been to one

But from what I understand, most of them DON'T have personnel, usually due to the highly private nature of psychology. The mere presence of a receptionist can turn some people away from a psychologist, so most of them do the phone answering and scheduling themselves. They'll have someone outsourced off-site to do the paperwork.

[Shine]

3. Most of them work for themselves and are probably "in session"

Good luck, skygazer! Glad to hear you're giving therapy a shot.
:thumbsup:

:hug: :loveya:

[skygazer]

4. Thank you, my friend

I'm cautiously optimistic - there's just so much that's been so good about this that I decided I couldn't just leave if he was truly willing to make an effort. I know there are no guarantees but even if it doesn't work out, I'll know I tried everything before I let it go. :hug: