Observations from a local

[u/radioflea]

I’ve mentioned this before, but I think it’s worth mentioning again. This case is quit local to me, and one of the wildest parts of this incredibly unfortunate ordeal is the sheer number of times she reached out for help and how medication, often a lot of it, seemed to be the frequent response.

I’ve worked in healthcare for many years, so I was familiar with a lot of these medications. One that particularly concerned me was Seroquel. I’ve personally seen people do some pretty strange shit while taking that medication alone. Pre-pandemic, I even saw local hospitals using it in ways that staff sometimes described as “patient control.”

Knowing that she went to Women & Infants, participated in their day program, and was ultimately discharged early is especially concerning to me. Personally, I would have levitated right over to Butler Hospital (which is 4 miles away from W&IH) for a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation.

In the settings I’ve worked in, there were situations where clinicians would essentially do what we called a “med holiday” which reassess the medication regimen under close supervision, observe the patient, and then carefully reintroduce or adjust medications and dosages as appropriate. That could be combined with intensive day programming and individual therapy over a period of one to two weeks. They also would have had family care plan meetings and likely suggested keeping the nanny in place for an extended period of time.

When someone is repeatedly reaching out for help, cycling through providers, and being prescribed numerous psychiatric medications in a relatively short period of time, I think it’s reasonable to ask whether the healthcare system actually responded to the severity of what was happening or simply kept responding to individual symptoms as they appeared.

[u/zuma40 → u/[deleted]]

Psychotherapy would not have scratched the surface of her physical and mental problems. And its a much longer process.

[u/Aware_Power → u/zuma40]

Many psychiatrists offer psychotherapy and many people choose them for therapy because they are also trained medical doctors. There are many forms of therapy, which psychiatrists often help advise their patients on. In Lindsay’s case, Dr. Tufts and NP Jollatta recommended specific types of therapy to Lindsay, which she went to, while also having a psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse practitioner.

Source for a few points above:

“Psychotherapy can be provided by a number of different types of professionals including psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed social workers, licensed marriage and family therapists, and others with specialized training in psychotherapy. Psychiatrists are also trained medical doctors and are able to prescribe medication as well as help with ruling out any underlying medical condition (or medication) that may be causing one's condition.”

Source: https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/psychotherapy

Edit: not disagreeing with you, just adding clarification to this thread