Reply to Will using medical insurance for mental health appointments/treatments affect one's future career?

Forum Index » Health and Medicine

Reply to "Will using medical insurance for mental health appointments/treatments affect one's future career?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here’s the thing - the careers which are affected by mental health records are usually the military and national security positions and some jobs like air pilot, Peace Corps, etc. that require security clearances or have high chances of injury, extreme stress or lack of access to mental health on extended jobs.

If you go “off record” and pay for mental health out of pocket in order to avoid a paper trail, and then when you are asked in the security clearance process whether you have ever gone to therapy or taken psychiatric medications and you say “no”, you will be lying on a federal form which is perjury. You may think you won’t get caught, but in today’s electronic world, I think it’s a real risk that someone pulls some record or interviews someone who says something that reveals the MI.

It is always better to get your mental health treated and be fully transparent about it when you apply for these jobs.  Yes, maybe you can no longer be an air pilot or go to the Peace Corps, but the solution is not to white knuckle your mental health.

Many people who have psychiatric treatment w/ medication are able to get clearances.  Bob Boorstin (bipolar) and George Stephanopolous (depression) talked about this as far back as the Clinton Administration.  But, you can ‘t lie about it, and you will be asked to provide access to your treatment notes.

A family member with bipolar has had a secret clearance for a long time, despite being on and off medications and have failed marriages, affairs, etc.  Not disqualifying in and of itself.[/quote]

Agree that it’s better to get treatment and be honest when you’re asked, but note that you can be an airline pilot or join Peace Corp or get a security clearance with a diagnosis of GAD.

I realize he’s too young to be thinking about life insurance right now, but many insurance companies will no longer insure you if you have an anxiety diagnosis and have taken meds. He might want to get an insurance policy before he gets treatment.

But if it were my child, I wouldn’t worry about that. I’d just encourage him to get the treatment.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics