topic Re: Constant rejection due to case complexity in Treatments, health professionals and therapies

Constant rejection due to case complexity

keegs — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 02:00:10 GMT

I entered the public system for psychiatric treatment around 7–8 years ago; Worked with multiple teams, many different mental health professionals, trialled many medications, as well as treatments both inpatient and out.

I have always been open about my struggles with not being heard or understood and how I felt like nothing was working. After my most recent public psychologist cut off my access to emergency admissions, I decided that was enough, and I left public treatment.

Prior to discharge, I had been told by hospital staff and drs multiple times that there is nothing more the public system can provide, and I would be better off going private. So I did.

I have had to sacrifice a large sum of my disability pension to fund my private healthcare, and despite many months of trying, we have yet to get anything out of it. We have applied for both inpatient programs and psychiatrists through referral, all over the state, even trying outer state telehealth, but to no avail. Every single application and referral has been rejected due to the "complexity of my case."

I recently received the news from my GP that she has no choice but to refer me back to the public treatment team if I want to persist with treatment, and I am distraught.

After being transferred to the youth treatment team from the intensive adolescent team, I was only ever allowed to see one clinician — the head psychologist — who i did not get along with whatsoever. He was horrible to me. Would not listen, triggered multiple crises and episodes, and was frankly quite neglectful.

I am quite honestly terrified of having to re-engage with them, but I have no choice if I want to continue treatment. We can't even just adjust my medication and hope that, along with low intensity psychotherapy, is enough to keep me stable because we need a psychiatrist for that.

I feel so alone in this. I'm always seeing people succeed with treatment, even my best friend; who has just gotten into one of the top psychiatrists in the state.

I feel like an absolute lost cause at this point. Too chronic for public, too complex for private; what else is there?

Re: Constant rejection due to case complexity

krf2813 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 03:17:52 GMT

I absolutely hate the public mental health system. I can't afford private so I've solely dealt with public, and the very few times I'd interacted with the hospital they basically informed me that they can't really do much for me (you either get admitted and they just babysit you - no psychologists in the psych wards, or they refer you to other community services - and good luck in getting referred to an actually decent one, whose funding isn't being cut by the new PHN funding restructure).

I was also let down by the public health system as I was only diagnosed with BPD at the age of 33 - due to a lack of continuity with ever-changing clinicians and providers. Literally decades of being told 'oh you're just stressed right now, have you tried xyz?' then being driven to my absolute wits end and then finally speaking to an ED psychiatrist who after 20 minutes said 'yeah so you have depression AND BPD, and that CBT you've been doing? yeah you need to be doing DBT actually, oh and drink less coffee..'

Having said all that, have you had a look into art therapy at all? (if you do look into this, make sure you get one who has the proper accreditation with ANZACATA). I started art therapy last May with a lovely lady who does art therapy / psychotherapy. I had been doing just talk therapy for the past 30+ years and while talk therapy helped me articulate how I was feeling, I didn't know what to do with the insights I'd learnt. Things still felt 'stuck' in my body. Art therapy was the only thing that really helped me in clearing out the backlog of bullshit that had been compacted. And, in a more practical sense, art therapy has also helped in my ability to recall past sessions with more clarity. I can remember the picture I drew, remember the colours I chose, the detail, how I felt during it and what I learnt. If I were to remember JUST the thoughts I had, it would have been very foggy and the initial epiphany would most certainly have been lost / irretrievable.

Talk therapy sits solely within the left side of the brain. Art therapy combines both sides - you create something and experience something, and then talking about it with the art therapist afterwards about what you did helps marrying the left and right sides of the brain, so you get bilateral healing. Art therapy is naturally trauma-informed because of this. It helps to bridge the gaps and give you a language to express things that sometimes don't have accurate words.

I admit I was skeptical at first, but in the 11 months that I've been doing art therapy, I've made more progress and 'cleared out' more trauma than the 30+ years of talk therapy ever did.

This has just been my lived experience, and you may not find that art therapy resonates with you, but it's just an idea. 🙂 I hope that things get better. ❤️

Re: Constant rejection due to case complexity

keegs — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 04:33:47 GMT

Thank you so much for this. I have never felt more seen in my life.

I've had a few sporadic art therapy sessions here and there, and while I enjoyed most of those trials, I avoided committing to them due to a tendency to get frustrated very easily when it comes to creativity. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and if I don't meet all of my incredibly high standards, it all falls apart and i spiral.

Though, after reading your reply and hearing about your experience with it, I think I'll definitely look into it and might even attempt to push through that insecurity and give it another try.

Once again, thank you so much for this, I really appreciate it. 🙂

Re: Constant rejection due to case complexity

krf2813 — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 07:00:02 GMT

Aw ☺️ it’s okay. I’m glad that I was able to help provide some more insight into it.

And I’ll admit it did take me a while to not be so pedantic about making everything ’look good’. Art therapy is about the process, not the product. It’s about reconnecting to your body and using the art medium as a way to facilitate this. As long as you get out of what you needed to with the piece, then you’ve won. 🙂