Let's Just Look The Other Way, Maybe It Will Go Away

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I have known for a long time that our mental health care system is screwed up, but this week really brought it home, on a very personal level. My 24 year old daughter has been saying that there is something wrong with her for a couple of months. She has had psych evaluations done by I don't know how many doctors over those couple of months. Each of them have told her, You are fine, you are still functioning. You go to school, you hold down a job, you pay your bills, there is nothing wrong with you. Go home. Now, you would think that a psychiatrist would be the last person to assume just because something looks "normal" on the outside, that there isn't something festering under the surface, wouldn't you? Tuesday night, my daughter went completely berserk, and tore her apartment apart,leaving her boyfriend wondering what the hell got into her. Then, she packed up her stuff and came to my house. Wednesday, her best friend went to her room to tell her she was leaving and she would talk to her later. Suddenly I see the friend rushing into the kitchen, where I was, with a look of terror on her face. My heart fell to the pit of my stomach. She said, You have to get her to the hospital, like NOW, she's overdosed! I don't think I even thought, I just reacted. We got her into the car, and headed for the hospital. It is only about a 5 minute drive from my house to the hospital, but I have to tell you, that 5 minutes was the same as hours at that point. On the way, my daughter kept saying, Mommy, I am sorry, I don't REALLY want to die, I just want somebody to help me. Mom! PLEASE don't let me die! Once we got her admitted, which was very quickly when I told them we had an overdose, I decided that she was not going to leave the hospital without someone giving her some information on where she could go for help. I expressed my anger over the whole situation to a nurse. She was very understanding, wrote up a report and put it into my daughter's chart. Then, she took the time to call a social worker and set up a time for her to come to the hospital and talk to B. Before her release, the social worker came in, talked to her, without lecturing her, gave her a few pages of resources, doctors who would see her on an outpatient basis, places that would help her financially, etc. And, told her that she could call her anytime she felt like she was losing. I asked the social worker, Why do people like my daughter have to go to these extremes to get the professionals in this field to pay attention? Her answer was, Most of them are in it for the money, not to actually help. I expressed my anger over this. She gave me a list of organizations that are advocates for mental health reform, etc. I don't really have a question for you to answer here, I am just letting off some steam here, I think. It just p1sses me off that those who take an oath to help people with mental problems, turn them away because there is nothing on the outside to indicate that they are screaming bloody murder on the inside, and because they can't afford to pay that doctor 10's of thousands of dollars for help.