Monika Downham
I was diagnosed with ADHD, and my level of ADHD is quite severe. According to my diagnosis, my attention deficit is very strong, and I only sought professional help because the mental suffering and damage caused by my problem are very serious. My treatment was going very well; I was being medicated, and the visits to the psychologist helped me improve considerably. I had a few absences, three in total, and I canceled the others well before the deadline, but not enough absences for me to be discharged. Even if I had had enough absences, I considered my dismissal as a patient very hostile and disproportionate. First, I received a letter about my dismissal stating that I had 5 absences, because according to the contract I signed, when a patient has 5 absences, they are automatically discharged. What I find most interesting is that I know people who are patients at this place and had more absences than me and were never discharged as patients, which leads me to believe that my dismissal as a patient was personal because there is no other explanation. So I called the office and asked for Mary, the psychologist herself, to call me to explain why I was being discharged as a patient. She called me, and I found her tone of voice strange. She justified it by saying I had missed five appointments, but I denied having missed all those appointments. There was no understanding, no humanity on her part, and she even made a statement that I found absurd, something completely unethical coming from a psychologist: She said that there were many people on the waiting list and that I was occupying a place that someone who needed treatment more than I did could have, people who have depression and who even attempt suicide. I found her statement absurd and disrespectful, because it is completely unethical for a psychology professional to underestimate a patient's problem as if ADHD were just a simple whim. Something she knows it's not, and she is also specialized in this area, in ADHD. In the letter sent by the office regarding my termination as a patient, there was a recommendation that I seek another psychologist, something I haven't done to this day because I felt very bad about it. The psychologist who was treating me was wonderful, and I have no complaints about her. It's a shame that my treatment was seriously harmed by this unfortunate episode. I want to register here my indignation and disappointment with this place. I have lost faith in some professionals in this field.