VA Psychiatry Feels Like Talking to a Parrot—Anyone Else?

Hey everyone, just wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences with VA mental health care, specifically psychiatry appointments.

I have to take a 4 hour round trip by bus (since I don’t have a car) just to see my psychiatrist for 15 minutes. I spend 10 times longer just getting there than actually talking to them. And every time he calls me, it’s the same exact response: "Come into the hospital." No actual advice, no real discussion—just the same script every time. It seriously feels like I’m talking to a parrot. The times I have gone in I can't even pick up the prescription at the pharmacy, they say oh we'll send it to you.

What makes it even worse is that I’ve had multiple traumatic experiences where I went in for anxiety or a simple medication refill and somehow ended up in paper scrubs with all my stuff taken away. No explanation, no real conversation—just stripped of everything and left feeling completely powerless.

I’v tried switching providers multiple times, but I’m always told it’s a lengthy process, and every time I bring it up, they just shift the conversation instead of actually helping.

The whole process is so frustrating and exhausting that it makes me not want to go. Does anyone else deal with this? How do you manage it?