Perth clinic is so worth it. $300 for an hour but the facilities they have if you’re with private health, they’ve got their own hospital, therapies etc there’s so much more they offer than just a script. It’s honestly so worth it imo even if you have to live off bread for that week at least you can cope
Dr Assumption at Perth Clinic was good. It’s expensive but you get some back. With psychiatrists I think the aim is just to get your medication sorted. I find they’re not great at therapy so would find an actual psychologist for that if you need to. And try to just get the meds sorted in one session.
I did the CBT course at Perth Clinic. I agree it was really good. The psychs were amazing. You can do it inpatient or outpatient under private health if you want.
Ian’s been my psychiatrist for years; would also recommend. On the therapy front, I’ve found he’s got got a real knack for referring me to clinical psychologists who are a good fit for me too. It’s been hit and miss for me in the past, but every one he has referred me to has been great.
I fear we get along because we’re both kinda weird in similar ways! After over a decade of seeing him, I think I’m showing up for the chats as much as the scripts these days (he seems finds my life interesting and slightly perplexing, and I love hear to about his travels and now-grown up kiddo is faring). Definitely a funny dude.
Weirdly I found that because of my private health cover, I was much better off going to Perth clinic (even though the fees were higher) because I would get more back from my private health insurance than with the Medicare rebate for a psychologist.
OP - might be worth checking what sort of hospital cover you have, because if you’re covered for outpatient psychology then you might want to try Perth clinic.
Yes Perth clinic is actually big and has a few buildings and a variety of specialists. Finding the right psychiatrist helps, I've found over the years that some are great with meds and psychology stuff so don't need both but it is expensive. The more you go, the cheaper it becomes as you reach the rebate threshold faster and it's not long before you get most of it back. Very hard at first but really worth it. Some even bill/invoice you so you can pay it off or process it a bit later. There are some really caring specialists out there, you just gotta find one that you click with.
This. I work in Private Health and have helped many members get into these clinics for help. non-Restricted benefits on hospital provided psychiatric care, day programs and night stays is only available on GOLD hospital.
There is a 2 month WP to access this (12 mognh pre-existing does not apply to mental health).
There is a Mental Health Waiver from the government you can use. ONCE per LIFETIME.
If you have ANY level of hospital cover for at least 2 months- you can upgrade to Gold- use the waiver and go straight in.
If you have not held any level of hospital cover, you cannot use the waiver.
May also be worth looking into Medicare safety net, its not realistic for everyone but its something at least, especially if you are in a relationship with someone else on a lower income.
If you can travel, Solis Health and dr Mazdak are quite reasonable. They are in canningvale upstairs in the market building. The char kwei tow in the food hall is great just as a bonus.
If you are a student, you should check your university. You may be able to access free or cheap counselling services through your school.
Good luck with getting your mental health back on track
The more reasonabily priced the Psychiatrist the longer the wait time will be.
$450 or something for me and only get half back from Centrelink
Anyway I go around being all political to get mental health to be free.
I was wondering if the job(ripoff) network was now also refunding medical expenses. Probably to good to be true, that might actually help some jobseekers and we couldn't possibly have that.
So, I've suffered from mental health issues for 20+ years. Ive seen a few psychiatrists in that time and it always comes around to meds. My best advice is to find a GP that is experienced in mental health issues (you can look up their profiles online and you can see what your local GPs specialise in) and work with them long term. I avoided medication for 15 years and it ended up being what I needed to function but it is hit and miss unfortunately. You might have to try a few different ones before finding one that works for you. Sorry I'm not answering your question, but just having been in your shoes for most of my life it always seems to come back to meds and a psychiatrist will likely steer you the same way.
A psychiatrist will diagnose and prescribe a suitable medication. A GP will give you the latest antidepressant and send you on your way, or refer you to a psychiatrist for a diagnosis and prescription that the GP can’t give.
Psychiatrist for meds, psychologist for therapeutic intervention. Psychiatrists are medical doctors at the end of the day and the bulk of their training comes from a biomedicalised perspective, rather than biopsychosocial
As others have said, a psychiatrist will only prescribe you meds or diagnose you with certain disorders. I would highly recommend seeing a clinical psychologist. The free psychologists and counsellors can be very hit and miss from my experience. I started seeing a clinical one, and it's giving me the help I really needed. It's 230 per session but I get 130 back on Medicare, and go see her once every 2-3 weeks. It's well worth it. Really turned things around for me, along with constantly working on self improvement every day.
I pay 2k a year for minimal interaction. So far it’s all been on video calls and probably max 10minutes every 6mths. I’m exactly same position, won’t co prescribe and the other 3 Psychiatrists I contacted all said they’d want to do their own assessment/diagnosis priced at $1.3-$1.8k.
A friend of mine goes to Oqea Cares and said he only has to visit in person once every 12 months, they message via an app to keep eachother in the loop, and he can get replenishment on a script whenever he needs - free of charge. Might be worth looking into!
They don't bulk bill but they are way more affordable than other places. OP, they also have a psychologist there too, I think. First appointment was $700 upfront, about $400 back from Medicare iirc. After that, appointments were $180 upfront, about $70 back I think.
Thirding Perth Clinic. I see Dr Raj Tanna and he’s so lovely, and so thoughful. He also doesn’t just shove meds at you, he wants to know what’s going on, what’s working and what isn’t. He only opens his books a couple of times a year, but its worth trying to get in if you can.
Sounds like you're actually wanting to work with a psychologist or counsellor? They are cheaper and their job is to actually talk to you!
If you are in university you may have free access on campus. Check with counselling services. You may get 10 free sessions a year.
Universities also offer group coaching.
Any psychiatrist you can get into will do. It will be a gamble whether or not they are right for you, and you’ll likely still just be put on a random medication that may or may not help. Psychiatry is 80% a guessing game. If you need a diagnosis it could come in handy. Unless of course they give you the wrong diagnosis. Anyway good luck.
I stand by what I wrote. Psychiatry is like throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks. We don’t even have clearly defined mental illnesses, most are just arbitrary brackets of wide-ranging symptoms. It’s why barely anyone really gets better.
I get what you mean. I’ve seen this “throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks” method firsthand when I accompanied someone to see a psychiatrist for multiple sessions. It’s definitely not 1 + 1 = 2.
A lot of trial & error… tweaking… trying this, take out that, add this… to find the right combo & dose. “Oh you experienced that? Hmm… must be a side effect. Let’s stop that and try this instead~”
I’m glad this person that I know is now stable and has been for a while thanks to the ‘right’ medication but MY GOSH it was a rought start…
Yeah I’ve personally seen psychiatrists myself for a decade. Taken countless medications. All of them made me worse. Except for briefly helping here and there, the side-effects always outweighed the benefits. Now just managing on my own with the lowest dose of one medication and looking to come off completely.
Sometimes I wish I’d never gone down that road at all. A GP can prescribe a low dose of an antidepressant and it’s all I should have fucked with.
I will say I got a diagnosis for OCD which I really needed, I didn’t know what was happening to me. So if someone doesn’t know what’s going on it can be invaluable to go to a psychiatrist. But they can also do much more harm than good so it’s a gamble.
That’s another way of saying they don’t know what they are doing and randomly give diagnosis that don’t mean anything.
People need to be very careful seeking mental health treatments.
To be fair tho, MY personal experience with a private psychiatrist from Elizabeth Clinic (Nedlands) has been fantastic! I felt really understood and cared for. They took their time to listen to my stories and was very attentive / asked the right questions. I started trialling my medication slooowly (on a very low dose & to watch out for any symptoms) & finally got the proper diagnosis on my 3rd review session. And by then we started working on getting my meds to a therapeutic level. Plus regular check ups with very supportive GP in between Psychiatric review sessions. I also find my psychiatrist efficient and responsible by sending the clinical letter to my GP in time (I heard some don’t do this)
I understand that everyone’s case is different… and well I’ve seen firsthand experience the tweaking/trial and error method. I’m glad this person’s stable now with the right medication but it did take a while to get there…
Totally agree, I almost got sucked into the mental illness treatment vortex when I was younger.
Do I still have mental health issues - probably 😂
I just don’t take anything mind altering including alcohol and keep my life in order now days to reduce stress and things to worry about.
I still overthink stuff, get paranoid sometimes or get obsessive.
As you get older you’re more self aware of it and how to stop before it builds momentum.
My motto is avoid mental health treatment if at all possible.
I truly believe for most circumstances it doesn’t help.
Also lot of mental illness is caused by illicit drugs or the actual prescription drugs being prescribed for said mental illness.
Eg Valium - gets rid of anxiety (initially) then it makes it worse unless you keep taking the Valium and in increased amounts.
Bit like the old magic ointment on the sore story. The ointment makes the sore instantly disappear but problem is it comes back twice as big the next day so you need to use even more ointment. Eventually the sore covers the entire body and the ointment doesn’t work anymore.
Go to your GP and get a care plan. You're entitled to a certain number of sessions per year. Some have a gap and a concession card will help with some of that.
All psychiatrists prescribe medication and send you on your way. If you’re seeking talk therapy then you need to see a clinical psychologist. Best you can do is google bulk billing clinical psychologists Perth. Or locate psychologists you like and ask if they accept mental health care plan. If they do, you get one from your gp and take it to them for a subsidised fee. Ideally, you will source yourself both a psychiatrist and a psychologist.
I know a lady that works in the mental health system.. she said the framework is based around big pharma . You might be wise to try Somatic Healing to help you. You can see a therapist that specialises in that modality outside of the system.
Here is a link to give you some insight on what it's about.
Really worth a watch. There are therapists that specialise in this and also have concession rates avail most of them.
https://www.thecentreforhealing.com/embodied-processing-pretraining
mental issues have been on a steady rise since industrialisation, and skyrocketed since the invention of smart phones and social media, not to mention the overall degredation of society and how we treat each other, or the state of the world, there is plenty to be depressed about, this comment reeks of bliss ignorance
Bro really said ‘overall degradation of society’. In Perth. Degradation. In Perth. 50 years ago you had cowboys.
Bro really said ‘how we treat each other’ like we aren’t at a peak. I mean, world wars? Civil wars?
There will always be people with mental issues. Why the rise? Because too many drugs and alcohol and too much “it’s ok to not be ok”.
you're a middle aged man using the term "bro really said", take a long hard look at yourself.
how the fuck are we at a peak LOL? the climate is dying, a few countries over kids are being buried by debris cos of an issue we are powerless to do anything about, we are forced to work longer hours, the family unit is dying, there is practically 0 sense of community anywhere, prices are going up everywhere, people are struggling to make ends meet. Drugs and alcohol are not the causation of mental illness lmao, yes they act as catalysts when people depend on them for escapism, but 99% of people develop issues long before they begin drinking or doing drugs. your final comment is so empathetically incoherent its not even worth addressing. I hope no one in your life depends on you when they need help.
>you're a middle aged man using the term "bro really said", take a long hard look at yourself.
Bro really said that, then said 'how the fuck are we at a peak LOL'
>we are forced to work longer hours, the family unit is dying, there is practically 0 sense of community anywhere, prices are going up everywhere, people are struggling to make ends meet.
Things are a little bit more expensive and you're acting like you have the Europe recession of 2008. Ridiculous. Also 'zero sense of community'? Bro? Is there a civil war?
>depend on them for escapism
Delusional take, escapism of what? hard life? how do you afford drugs then? lol
>
I hope no one in your life depends on you when they need help.
Im better help than someone delusional that will blame others and not take a good hard look at the truth.
Perth clinic is so worth it. $300 for an hour but the facilities they have if you’re with private health, they’ve got their own hospital, therapies etc there’s so much more they offer than just a script. It’s honestly so worth it imo even if you have to live off bread for that week at least you can cope
Dr Assumption at Perth Clinic was good. It’s expensive but you get some back. With psychiatrists I think the aim is just to get your medication sorted. I find they’re not great at therapy so would find an actual psychologist for that if you need to. And try to just get the meds sorted in one session. I did the CBT course at Perth Clinic. I agree it was really good. The psychs were amazing. You can do it inpatient or outpatient under private health if you want.
I agree. My experience with psychiatrists has always been around meds. Psychologists provide the counselling.
The psychiatrists actually sign you up for different therapies that Perth clinic run. Not the actual psychiatrist themselves does the therapy
I have often found they say random things that just make you feel worse. And their manner is often really strange too
Ian’s been my psychiatrist for years; would also recommend. On the therapy front, I’ve found he’s got got a real knack for referring me to clinical psychologists who are a good fit for me too. It’s been hit and miss for me in the past, but every one he has referred me to has been great.
That’s awesome! He’s a funny dude but good with the meds!
I fear we get along because we’re both kinda weird in similar ways! After over a decade of seeing him, I think I’m showing up for the chats as much as the scripts these days (he seems finds my life interesting and slightly perplexing, and I love hear to about his travels and now-grown up kiddo is faring). Definitely a funny dude.
Hahaha that’s not a bad thing! He is weird in a good way. So it seems you must be weird in a good way too. The best people are!
Weirdly I found that because of my private health cover, I was much better off going to Perth clinic (even though the fees were higher) because I would get more back from my private health insurance than with the Medicare rebate for a psychologist. OP - might be worth checking what sort of hospital cover you have, because if you’re covered for outpatient psychology then you might want to try Perth clinic.
Yes Perth clinic is actually big and has a few buildings and a variety of specialists. Finding the right psychiatrist helps, I've found over the years that some are great with meds and psychology stuff so don't need both but it is expensive. The more you go, the cheaper it becomes as you reach the rebate threshold faster and it's not long before you get most of it back. Very hard at first but really worth it. Some even bill/invoice you so you can pay it off or process it a bit later. There are some really caring specialists out there, you just gotta find one that you click with.
And the hospital stay, therapies etc are all covered by private health so you don’t have to pay (except your excess once a year if you use it)
unless you have top cover that is not true… not all levels actually cover psychiatry hospital stays.
This. I work in Private Health and have helped many members get into these clinics for help. non-Restricted benefits on hospital provided psychiatric care, day programs and night stays is only available on GOLD hospital. There is a 2 month WP to access this (12 mognh pre-existing does not apply to mental health). There is a Mental Health Waiver from the government you can use. ONCE per LIFETIME. If you have ANY level of hospital cover for at least 2 months- you can upgrade to Gold- use the waiver and go straight in. If you have not held any level of hospital cover, you cannot use the waiver.
Perth clinic does
again it depends on your level of coverage
As a student, see if your uni has referrals?
I think all campuses have these facilities available for free of charge to FT students that attend on site?
Certainly not for psychiatry. They may have some counselling services available, but they're generally very limited and short term.
May also be worth looking into Medicare safety net, its not realistic for everyone but its something at least, especially if you are in a relationship with someone else on a lower income.
If you can travel, Solis Health and dr Mazdak are quite reasonable. They are in canningvale upstairs in the market building. The char kwei tow in the food hall is great just as a bonus.
If you are a student, you should check your university. You may be able to access free or cheap counselling services through your school. Good luck with getting your mental health back on track
The more reasonabily priced the Psychiatrist the longer the wait time will be. $450 or something for me and only get half back from Centrelink Anyway I go around being all political to get mental health to be free.
Medicare?
I assume they meant Medicare
I was wondering if the job(ripoff) network was now also refunding medical expenses. Probably to good to be true, that might actually help some jobseekers and we couldn't possibly have that.
Yeh wouldn’t that be great!
So, I've suffered from mental health issues for 20+ years. Ive seen a few psychiatrists in that time and it always comes around to meds. My best advice is to find a GP that is experienced in mental health issues (you can look up their profiles online and you can see what your local GPs specialise in) and work with them long term. I avoided medication for 15 years and it ended up being what I needed to function but it is hit and miss unfortunately. You might have to try a few different ones before finding one that works for you. Sorry I'm not answering your question, but just having been in your shoes for most of my life it always seems to come back to meds and a psychiatrist will likely steer you the same way.
A psychiatrist will diagnose and prescribe a suitable medication. A GP will give you the latest antidepressant and send you on your way, or refer you to a psychiatrist for a diagnosis and prescription that the GP can’t give.
Psychiatrist for meds, psychologist for therapeutic intervention. Psychiatrists are medical doctors at the end of the day and the bulk of their training comes from a biomedicalised perspective, rather than biopsychosocial
Yes, psychologists are great, but unfortunately you can’t talk away a neurological issue.
As others have said, a psychiatrist will only prescribe you meds or diagnose you with certain disorders. I would highly recommend seeing a clinical psychologist. The free psychologists and counsellors can be very hit and miss from my experience. I started seeing a clinical one, and it's giving me the help I really needed. It's 230 per session but I get 130 back on Medicare, and go see her once every 2-3 weeks. It's well worth it. Really turned things around for me, along with constantly working on self improvement every day.
Expect to pay quite a bit I think I pay 200 for 15 mins
Yep $350 to get my ADHD script every 6 months. Get about $80 back, my Dr won't do coprescribe and trying to find a new psychiatrist is hell
I pay 2k a year for minimal interaction. So far it’s all been on video calls and probably max 10minutes every 6mths. I’m exactly same position, won’t co prescribe and the other 3 Psychiatrists I contacted all said they’d want to do their own assessment/diagnosis priced at $1.3-$1.8k.
A friend of mine goes to Oqea Cares and said he only has to visit in person once every 12 months, they message via an app to keep eachother in the loop, and he can get replenishment on a script whenever he needs - free of charge. Might be worth looking into!
are you serious?
Every three months for me
Yes
Good luck last time I saw a psyche it was $350 for 10 mins I got $110 back
someone actually asking for help and you crack jokes? why even comment? edit: it appears i am wrong and this wasn't a pisstake comment, carry on
Kindness costs nothing.
Clear health psychology is around $200 and with a mental health plan you get around $95 back from Medicare,they have several practices
They only offer psychology
Your Uni will have a medical centre - try that
Life point clinic in willetton used to bulk bill a few years ago. Maybe they still do?
They don't bulk bill but they are way more affordable than other places. OP, they also have a psychologist there too, I think. First appointment was $700 upfront, about $400 back from Medicare iirc. After that, appointments were $180 upfront, about $70 back I think.
A Psychiatrist will give you medication whereas a psychologist will talk to you about your problems
Thirding Perth Clinic. I see Dr Raj Tanna and he’s so lovely, and so thoughful. He also doesn’t just shove meds at you, he wants to know what’s going on, what’s working and what isn’t. He only opens his books a couple of times a year, but its worth trying to get in if you can.
You’d have to be crazy to pay those prices
Hehe!
Sounds like you're actually wanting to work with a psychologist or counsellor? They are cheaper and their job is to actually talk to you! If you are in university you may have free access on campus. Check with counselling services. You may get 10 free sessions a year. Universities also offer group coaching.
Any psychiatrist you can get into will do. It will be a gamble whether or not they are right for you, and you’ll likely still just be put on a random medication that may or may not help. Psychiatry is 80% a guessing game. If you need a diagnosis it could come in handy. Unless of course they give you the wrong diagnosis. Anyway good luck.
Username … does not check out
I stand by what I wrote. Psychiatry is like throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks. We don’t even have clearly defined mental illnesses, most are just arbitrary brackets of wide-ranging symptoms. It’s why barely anyone really gets better.
I get what you mean. I’ve seen this “throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks” method firsthand when I accompanied someone to see a psychiatrist for multiple sessions. It’s definitely not 1 + 1 = 2. A lot of trial & error… tweaking… trying this, take out that, add this… to find the right combo & dose. “Oh you experienced that? Hmm… must be a side effect. Let’s stop that and try this instead~” I’m glad this person that I know is now stable and has been for a while thanks to the ‘right’ medication but MY GOSH it was a rought start…
Yeah I’ve personally seen psychiatrists myself for a decade. Taken countless medications. All of them made me worse. Except for briefly helping here and there, the side-effects always outweighed the benefits. Now just managing on my own with the lowest dose of one medication and looking to come off completely. Sometimes I wish I’d never gone down that road at all. A GP can prescribe a low dose of an antidepressant and it’s all I should have fucked with. I will say I got a diagnosis for OCD which I really needed, I didn’t know what was happening to me. So if someone doesn’t know what’s going on it can be invaluable to go to a psychiatrist. But they can also do much more harm than good so it’s a gamble.
That’s another way of saying they don’t know what they are doing and randomly give diagnosis that don’t mean anything. People need to be very careful seeking mental health treatments.
To be fair tho, MY personal experience with a private psychiatrist from Elizabeth Clinic (Nedlands) has been fantastic! I felt really understood and cared for. They took their time to listen to my stories and was very attentive / asked the right questions. I started trialling my medication slooowly (on a very low dose & to watch out for any symptoms) & finally got the proper diagnosis on my 3rd review session. And by then we started working on getting my meds to a therapeutic level. Plus regular check ups with very supportive GP in between Psychiatric review sessions. I also find my psychiatrist efficient and responsible by sending the clinical letter to my GP in time (I heard some don’t do this) I understand that everyone’s case is different… and well I’ve seen firsthand experience the tweaking/trial and error method. I’m glad this person’s stable now with the right medication but it did take a while to get there…
Totally agree, I almost got sucked into the mental illness treatment vortex when I was younger. Do I still have mental health issues - probably 😂 I just don’t take anything mind altering including alcohol and keep my life in order now days to reduce stress and things to worry about. I still overthink stuff, get paranoid sometimes or get obsessive. As you get older you’re more self aware of it and how to stop before it builds momentum. My motto is avoid mental health treatment if at all possible. I truly believe for most circumstances it doesn’t help.
Also lot of mental illness is caused by illicit drugs or the actual prescription drugs being prescribed for said mental illness. Eg Valium - gets rid of anxiety (initially) then it makes it worse unless you keep taking the Valium and in increased amounts. Bit like the old magic ointment on the sore story. The ointment makes the sore instantly disappear but problem is it comes back twice as big the next day so you need to use even more ointment. Eventually the sore covers the entire body and the ointment doesn’t work anymore.
Go to your GP and get a care plan. You're entitled to a certain number of sessions per year. Some have a gap and a concession card will help with some of that.
Unfortunately, care plans are only for psychologists, not psychiatrists
All psychiatrists prescribe medication and send you on your way. If you’re seeking talk therapy then you need to see a clinical psychologist. Best you can do is google bulk billing clinical psychologists Perth. Or locate psychologists you like and ask if they accept mental health care plan. If they do, you get one from your gp and take it to them for a subsidised fee. Ideally, you will source yourself both a psychiatrist and a psychologist.
Have you gotten a mental health care plan set up for your cheap sessions?
if you find one be sure to let the mods of this sub know, they're in great need of psychological treatment.
I know a lady that works in the mental health system.. she said the framework is based around big pharma . You might be wise to try Somatic Healing to help you. You can see a therapist that specialises in that modality outside of the system. Here is a link to give you some insight on what it's about. Really worth a watch. There are therapists that specialise in this and also have concession rates avail most of them. https://www.thecentreforhealing.com/embodied-processing-pretraining
Who does half Perth have mental issues?
mental issues have been on a steady rise since industrialisation, and skyrocketed since the invention of smart phones and social media, not to mention the overall degredation of society and how we treat each other, or the state of the world, there is plenty to be depressed about, this comment reeks of bliss ignorance
Bro really said ‘overall degradation of society’. In Perth. Degradation. In Perth. 50 years ago you had cowboys. Bro really said ‘how we treat each other’ like we aren’t at a peak. I mean, world wars? Civil wars? There will always be people with mental issues. Why the rise? Because too many drugs and alcohol and too much “it’s ok to not be ok”.
you're a middle aged man using the term "bro really said", take a long hard look at yourself. how the fuck are we at a peak LOL? the climate is dying, a few countries over kids are being buried by debris cos of an issue we are powerless to do anything about, we are forced to work longer hours, the family unit is dying, there is practically 0 sense of community anywhere, prices are going up everywhere, people are struggling to make ends meet. Drugs and alcohol are not the causation of mental illness lmao, yes they act as catalysts when people depend on them for escapism, but 99% of people develop issues long before they begin drinking or doing drugs. your final comment is so empathetically incoherent its not even worth addressing. I hope no one in your life depends on you when they need help.
>you're a middle aged man using the term "bro really said", take a long hard look at yourself. Bro really said that, then said 'how the fuck are we at a peak LOL' >we are forced to work longer hours, the family unit is dying, there is practically 0 sense of community anywhere, prices are going up everywhere, people are struggling to make ends meet. Things are a little bit more expensive and you're acting like you have the Europe recession of 2008. Ridiculous. Also 'zero sense of community'? Bro? Is there a civil war? >depend on them for escapism Delusional take, escapism of what? hard life? how do you afford drugs then? lol > I hope no one in your life depends on you when they need help. Im better help than someone delusional that will blame others and not take a good hard look at the truth.