Mellow's Corner

I’m finally emptying my dockett of things to do with the quickly approaching end of the semester. Yesterday was a CRAZY day. I’ve been a little under the weather since I went on my first golf outing Thursday. It was nice, but not quite nice enough for my sinuses. I did terrible, but I eventually got warmed and loosened up enough to be moderately crappy (as opposed to absolutely crappy). Anyways, so I worked later Thursday night, and all day Friday, but I must have got enough sleep Friday night because I wasn’t very sick or tired Saturday morning when I woke up.

Saturday, I went early to take a free practice NCLEX through Kaplan. I did terribly which means I’ll really have to step my game up for the next few months. Psych class just really makes me feel unmotivated. I know in my head I need to study more for this class, but I can’t focus on it. Maybe I’ll grab some coffee and sit somewhere and study this week.

So after that test, I went to my uncle’s to get my brakes fixed. I had to replace the pads, the rotors and something was screwed up with my suspension. All in all, the damage was like $255. Not too bad, but still, it hurts. While I was over there, my Uncle was trying to hook me up with his neighbor… like hardcore trying to hook me up. She’s a very nice girl, going to school, loves God, sings for several churches, serves the elderly; but I’m not ready for a relationship yet. I’ve gotta finish school and get ready for the path God has for me. We traded numbers so I’m going to have to tell her that today.

After getting my truck fixed up all nice and purty, I had work. They had been busy all day, but when I got there, it wasn’t that bad. It was a little busy for a Saturday I guess. Lisa will get the lead tech position now that Aubray is gone (his last day was Friday :C ). I asked about it, but it was a pretty major commitment and I’m only going to be there till July. Lisa will prolly be with CVS for another couple years I bet.

After that exhausting day, I came home and slept. Nobody’s going to church with me this morning and I’m on the greeting team. Today, I’ll meet with a friend for lunch, possibly go to a funeral home with my mom for my grandma’s boyfriend’s son’s viewing, and probably go to a concert tonight at the vollrath tavern (a friend is playing a show tonight).

To do: tag my song blog posts for search-ability, empty my deviantart read queue, finish my psych journal, go to two group meetings, post tumblr journal, post audiobook review, clean my room.

See you folks!

tejinastoybox:

Drop a link in my Ask box and I’ll go down the list I only do a shop feature a week so it may be a while until I get to yours, but all messages will be read and I will try to hit every shop suggested in a post.  

All that I ask is that your shop is geared for general audiences.  If you think your grandmother or parents will be ashamed at the shop then don’t suggest it.  

My list for shop owners I’m friends with is slowly dwindling so thought I’d open it up to the masses.

I’ve had these ideas floating around for a couple years regarding psychiatric healthcare in the US. I’ll start off with presenting the problems from differing angles and I might give a couple ideas at the end.

Everybody has at least some interest in the psychiatric field. Something innate to our existence wonders about how our minds work and what makes us think the way we do. We wonder what makes people “go crazy” and “lose their mind.” However, the deeper we delve into abnormal psychology, the shine quickly wears off.

We see people who repeat phrases, prefer being socially isolated, talk excessively about things that make little to no sense, people who want to hurt themselves, who want to hurt others, people who obsess over little things or people who think the world is literally going to end because of our cell phones, people who are stuck on one thing without remedy. These are people for whom there is no quick easy cure. These people are often court ordered to pursue treatment for at least a short amount of time. Much of this population is not capable of carrying on a job even when on long term medication regiments. It is unbelievably common for these patients to dislike and discontinue their medications, and tend to be a part of the psychiatric healthcare cycle for the rest of their lives. That cycle consists of experiencing severe symptoms, going to the er (willingly or by forced committal), being transferred to a psychiatric unit, discharge, cessation of treatment; and then the cycle repeats. Sometimes patients will be discharged to a long term psychiatric facility rather than home, but they will eventually be discharged from there as well.

Now, obviously, not having a grasp on reality is terrible; that’s why there’s many treatment options out there. However, when the patients refuse the treatments that have been discovered, the fault seems to be with the will of the patients. I want to make it clear right here and now, this is not a profile of every person who has been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. Many psychiatric patients do accept and willfully continue treatment and go on to live normal lives. This population is not a part of the problem.

The problem is the population that refuses and will not tolerate treatment. They take medication for a little while and then stop only to be put back through the system. As I stated before, these people are not capable of carrying on jobs and therefore are entirely dependent on others for their money. Some have strong family support; most, do not.

This population is financially sustained by you and I—taxpayers. We don’t have a choice on who and how to support. Our support comes directly out of our tax money funneled through Medicaid and Medicare. It’s a sort of joke amongst healthcare workers that we are financially supporting for our patients’ stay when they do something wasteful; that is, we are paying for their hospital stay, medications, transport, and post-hospital care. Post-hospital care is where patients receive disability money every month ($600) from the government that they can choose to spend on rent and food, clothes and cigarettes, or alcohol and drugs—unbelievably often these patients aren’t financially responsible. These patients have very low copays ($3-5) through Medicaid or hospital insurance for their outrageously expensive medication ($1,000 for a month supply is not uncommon without insurance) for which they then claim they don’t have the money.

To boil the problem down to a sentence is a little difficult, but here goes: “Financially supporting non-compliant psychiatric patients through medicaid and other government aid is not helping cure or treat them and thusly causes a fruitless financial strain on American taxpayers.” As difficult as it is to point the problem out, it’s even more difficult to come up with a solution.

I’ve spent years contemplating a possible solution to this problem without any significant success. The options I’ve come up with all have major flaws. I’ll present them in order to help give ideas and get feedback.

1. Make suicide legal. This could be very beneficial. The people that actually want to die and don’t want to continue treatment should be allowed to kill themselves in a way that is non-traumatic to their loved ones. This prevents them from being a financial burden to taxpayers and gives them what they want: relief from their chronic, incurable disease that they won’t continue treatment for in the form of death. The declaration of independence states that it is “self evident” that we as human beings are entitled to “certain unalienable rights that amongst these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” That of course implies that we ought to have a choice—our lives are our own. This also should make sure that the patients who don’t want to commit suicide actively pursue treatment.

This problem of course has many flaws. The initial pandemonium caused by massive amounts of people committing suicide is the most obvious drawback. The pain and mourning felt by the family members could significantly affect their lives, American business, and our culture as a whole. The integrity of popular or government support for mental illness might crumble altogether leaving a significant population without any support. The number of murders that are meant to look like suicides would likely increase. Not every psychiatric patient (not even a majority) are suicidal; so this solution will not wholly take care of the problem.

2. Make more rules. The major pro here is that it’s the safest option. It ensures that little changes are made progressively to slowly enact a larger change. It is possible to effect more specific changes and adapt rules to correctly govern specific circumstances.

Obviously, this process will be as flawed as our government. It will be slow and difficult to fully enact. It means our government will get bigger and more involved in our lives. The process to enact it will have further implications based on selfish political interests and will progress as quickly as public opinion and interest. This will take a lot of time and energy to try to work through all the cases and facts and figures to come up with something that might work. The interest and endurance a congressman would have to display is a little unrealistic.

3. Cut off government psychiatric support. This directly cuts off the financial responsibility of taxpayers to all psychiatric patients. This enables us to invest our money into whatever psychiatric service we feel like (any or none). The degree to which the government cuts off aid in this scenario is somewhat loose, but it will be difficult to truly assess the effects without a significant change.

The con is that we essentially throw out the baby with the bathwater. The patients who do need help and are compliant with their medication and treatment will have much more difficulty acquiring aid. These patients may lose all support.


To sum all this racket up, I have not come to a great solution to this problem, but the problem is still there. I’d like your ideas. What do you think could fix this issue?

Hey, wow, I’d like to welcome all of my new followers/friends. Thank you for taking an interest in my life and what I have to say.

This week has been so unproductive! On one hand: I’ve got 100% up to date on the pieces I’ve needed to read for my literature group, which involves reading and understanding, voting, and providing feedback when asked. I’m so glad for the friends I’ve made through that group. Truly great people! On the other hand: I’ve destroyed hours upon hours playing Borderlands. I have a level 31 soldier that I have been using with my buddy Mike and a level 10 (or 11?) berserker who I’ve been leveling by myself and plan to use with somebody sometime. My gamertag is “mellow ghost” if you wanna play anything.

I know in this post it seems that I’ve been half way productive and halfway not, but time proportionately, I think I’ve spent way more time playing games. I need to find something better to do with my hands…

Well, I’m getting ready to eat a great smelling meal my sister just finished making and then go to work tonight. Thanks again, and have a great night!

I’ve had this idea in my mind that’s waxed and waned for some time now. I want to put it into writing. I want to travel. Travel nursing is a sweet gig and if I can get into it straight out of school, I might do that for a LOOOONG time. I’m going to document my travel list here. I might add to it from time to time. These are in no particular order.

1. Experience a Finnish sauna (I hear they’re great!).
2. New Years Eve at Time’s Square.
3. Watch a play at the Sydney Opera House.
4. Find record of my great great grandpa in Sicily
5. Tour Tunisia
6. Drink in an Irish Pub
7. Ride a double decker bus in England
8. Try an Italian pizza
9. Stand on the great wall of China
10. Explore Jerusalem
11. Watch a Hawaiian sunset
12. Go surfing in California
13. Have dinner in the space needle
14. Eat fresh sea food in Maine
15. Get gas at a Texaco (western US)
16. Ride a bullet train in Japan

Like I said, I’ll probably add more to this list as time goes on, but let me know if you have any suggestions.