Hi there! 🐥
I’m Haru Yoshikawa, an unemployed girl with a developmental disability. 🐼🌸

This time, I’d like to write about the paper I always bring with me when I go to the mental health clinic! I’m not good at speaking, and I panic when talking to people, so

I find consultations very difficult. I can’t grasp my own condition well, and trying to explain it to my doctor is impossible! So, every time, I record what symptoms I’ve had since the last consultation and bring it with me. My current doctor is very kind, and when I show them the paper, they read it, so I just hand it over. The content is roughly divided into six points.

1. Symptoms

(headaches, lethargy, suicidal ideation, intense anxiety, etc.)

2. Record of as-needed medication
(what I took, when, and why) 3. Specific symptoms

(I write down what I’m struggling with in sentences) 4. Frequency of sleep, meals, bowel movements, and going out. 5. Good things

(if there were any changes, such as going to a place I don’t usually visit) 6. Questions

(requests for medication changes, etc., go here) I used to write it by hand, but I have a procrastination habit typical of developmental disabilities, and it would become a struggle the day before my appointment, so now I try hard to record it on my smartphone when my symptoms are bad, summarize it roughly before the appointment, print it out, and bring it with me. Since they base the consultation on that paper, the appointment often ends in just a few minutes, but because they read it properly, I can convey what I want to say, and I don’t feel like I’ve left things unsaid. Some doctors might not read it, but in that case, I think it’s fine to just keep it as a personal memo. I imagine many people who go to mental health clinics find it difficult to explain their condition well in a short consultation time. This time, I introduced my own way of managing this! I hope it’s helpful for others with the same struggle. ♡ See you later! (o・・o)/~💗