@lisalucier May I ask, did you receive competent and acceptable treatment from the urgent care or did they just give you some anti-anxiety meds and refer you to your primary or a psychiatrist. I only ask because over my 35 years of dealing with Bipolar Disorder, Severe Depression, ADHD, anxiety, etc. I have found that the ER is the absolute worst place to go. It freaks them out. They usually have no clue how to deal with the situation and often put you in a locked room for hours until they decide. I don't know about your location, but Arizona has terrible public mental health resources. I have taken my son to the ER many times when he was having symptoms only to be surrounded by security guards and have someone from the psych ward come out and tell us they have no beds and give him a lecture like he was a child assuming his issues were due to substance abuse. I'm sure insurance was an issue also in the way the treated him.

Early in my journey, when my insurance stopped covering psych drugs leaving me in very bad shape, I was referred to our local mental health agency, SAMHC. They were absolutely unhelpful. The receptionist kept trying to ask me without coming out and saying it if I was suicidal. About 15 minutes into the discussion, I screamed out "NO, I'M NOT GOING TO KILL MYSELF. I JUST NEED HELP!" I have never been ushered into a private room so quickly in my life. Guess what the man I talked to told me? Go to such and such emergency room and they will take care of you at our expense. I went to the ER, waited 6 hours to see a doctor who didn't really understand why I was there, spent 10 minutes with me, prescribed me Xanax (which only increased my depression), and sent me on my way. Shortly thereafter, I received a bill for $500 and SAMHC was nowhere to be found. Needless to say, I was not happy and I will never again go to the ER or Urgent Care when I am suffering in this way. Maybe hospitals and Urgent Cares in other states do a better job, but here it is a terrible, insulting and unhelpful. I hate to be so negative about this. I am normally much better at keeping a balanced perspective, but I feel very strongly about this based upon several experiences. FWIW, I have also had doctors tell me ER is a bad idea for mental health issues. Thus, I am very interested to hear about your experience.