Bruh,
Don't even get me started with Air Force Mental Health.
Sought out treatment on 5 separate occasions in a 4yr, 8 month timespan.
When my PhD Level Pyschologist looked at my mental health records from the clinic while on AD, he was fucking baffled at the level of inadequate care I received based on the notes taken from the sessions and the treatment plan the established. I was in from 2013 to 2018. I showed clear symptoms of PTSD just a year into my service (well documented in the session notes) and they never even screened me for PTSD. As time goes on I deploy twice, going to mental health after each deployment and by the time I came home from my second deployment in 2017 my PTSD symptoms were well above the cutoff limit.
What happens more often than not to individuals with severe mental health issues when it goes untreated? They develop negative coping mechanisms. I reached to such a low where I felt the only way to cope with the issues I was dealing with and the only way to understand what the fuck was going on in my mind was to do LSD. It was a horrible and traumatizing trip. I was kicked out 3 months after. I never did any drugs besides experiment with weed twice when I was a teenager. I do not drink alcohol and it is so out of my character to do drugs. Even everyone in my unit who OSI interviewed said that. I never partied while in, I never hung out with anyone, etc, etc.
I went to a private Psychologist a year after getting out, paid $1,000 to do formal Psychological testing, and have been in treatment on a weekly basis for 10 months. 0 progress. What are my diagnoses?
Chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Dysthymia, with Anxious Distress
If I had been adequately screened and treated while in I would not be nearly as bad as I am today. I completely agree with what OP is saying as I've experienced it first hand, even though I was in a combat-related career field.
I didn't know this when I first started seeing my Psychologist, but he is contracted by the VA to do MH C&P Exams. He recommended I file for VA Disability and he filled out a DBQ and Nexus letter. I am hoping I can get properly rated for the shit I struggle with on a daily basis because I can hardly function.