Psychiatric Advance Directive Form: Fill & Download for Free

It is very useful to have an Psychiatric Advance Directive. A psychiatric advance directive (PAD) is a legal plan that allows a person to specify important information for caregivers in the event of a mental health crisis. The PAD can provide valuable information for providers to reference and follow during that difficult time. The link above points to a place where you can get a form for the Advance Directive that will work in New Jersey.This is different from a health care power of attorney, because it lays out specifics about your psychiatric care if you should be incapacitated. These things include saying which drugs you respond best to; which psychiatrist you want to care for you; and even which hospital you should be taken to, if possible. In addition, you can appoint someone who has the power to make mental health decisions on your behalf.

No. But carrying a psychiatric advanced directive could be beneficial. That way, if you get involuntarily hospitalized, there’s a chance the doctors would look at the document and try to abide by it. Then you’d get better care. But a diagnostic card would give doctors no actionable information.

Yes, that has happened to me.The real, but at the time not known problem, was a severe B12 deficiency.I ended up in the hospital for what was thought to be a severe dissociative episode with severe dissociative amnesia. Since I had a diagnosis already of dissociatve disorders, it was easy for doctors to jump to that conclusion and not look any further. I was treated like I was nuts, locked on a psych ward, unresponsive to any psych meds, for weeks, until the psychiatrist decided to run labs for electrolytes (because I had also been eating and drinking very little), and to check vitamins.When the psychiatrist saw how low my B12 was, she decided to instantly give me B12 injections of mega doses. I almost immediately made a “miraculous “ recovery, and my memory was back to normal after a couple of injections.Now, when I or people around me notice that I start getting very forgetful, and disorganised and very tired, I have my B12 checked. Almost every time I have had my B12 levels checked for these symptoms, it turns out my B12 is too low, and I get injections. Taking sub lingual B12 for maintenance works fairly well, but a couple of times a year, that needs to be supplemented with injections.Studies have also shown that many people diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer’s, very often have a B12 deficiency, and if it’s caught and treated early enough, the “Alzheimer’s symptoms “ can be reversed, or at least diminished. Of course, other people who have Alzheimer’s do not have an untreated B12 deficiency. If doctors checked their patients' B12 levels routinely, many people with “suspected” Alzheimer’s or a “mental illness” (and their loved ones) could be spared a lot of misery.It is very frustrating when you have a psych history, and you are actually suffering from a medical problem, doctors often are not even willing to consider that you have a medical problem that could explain your symptoms.Once, I had a very severe asthma attack — I have had asthma since I was 4, quite severe —and an ambulance needed to be called, because my rescue inhalers were not helping. When the paramedics first got there, they were concerned, rushed me into the ambulance, put lights and sirens on, put a nebulizer mask on me, etc . When the EMT in the back with me, pulled up my sleeve to start an IV line, he saw my scars (many self-injury scars from decades' long self-harm), and he instantly told the driver to cut the lights and sirens, and he said, “It’s just a panic attack, she’s psych”. He also took away my breathing treatment, and I was left wheezing and struggling for air the whole way to the E.R. At the E.R., the paramedic told the doctor that it was just a panic attack, and she believed him, so I still did not get the needed treatment, but the doctor did offer me ativan *to calm down*-great ;-!. Anyway, my asthma attack got so bad, that they had to intubate me in the end.I, and my loved ones , can get angry all we want about that sort of treatment, but there is no “winning” in trying to argue that these doctors made a gross mistake. I have tried to, with the help of advocates, and hospital review teams from the state, etc. The doctors just say that they did everything they needed to, and correctly (and I would have needed to be intubated anyway, whether they treated me with a nebulizer first or not — which I know from personal experience is untrue, at least I would have had a good chance of avoiding intubation, if the paramedics and ER doctor had given me the right treatment immediately).I also now have a chronic heart condition because of years of anti psychotics.It’s very scary for me to have a medical problem that gets out of control, because I may very well not get life-saving treatment on time, because I have a psych history.I now have psychiatric advance directives in place and two people who act as my “agents” to represent me, advocate for me, if I have a psych or medical problem and doctors don’t treat me as needed.I also once saw a man in restraints in a seclusion room in the psychiatric emergency room, I looked into his little window(nobody was watching him, as they were supposed to), and he seemed to be hyper ventilating and having convulsions or something. I called it to the nurse’s attention, I was told to mind my own business, that this patient was just attention- and drug -seeking. I got the doctor and insisted he go in and check, he did, and called a code blue, it was not a panic attack or hyper ventilation, or attention seeking, he was having a massive heart attack, I was later thanked by the doctor, that I saved the man’s life (though he may have died in the end , I don’t know, he was was rushed to the medical emergency room by about 20 people in a code blue frenzy).