Anyone ever try therapy?

[grainofrice24]

I can't do anything right. I anger myself to no end because my head is going a mile a minute in the wrong direction. I want to try Ritalin, and my work gives me health benefits for it. But I don't like the idea of having to extract a prescription from some smarmy overpaid snob with a pad and pen that thinks he/she can dissect me with a question. I'm more honest here on this forum than I am anywhere else and I don't know what will happen if a shrink puts me on the spot. But one thing is for sure, I need help. And at this point I'm willing to pay for it.

So has anyone tried it and had any success. In what capacity? Thanks.

 

[SophiaGrace]

I am on fluxotine. My psychiatrist is a very nice man. He asked me several questiond on our first appointment to accertain what was the matter with me. He put me on fluxotine because I was constantly worrying and having suicidal thoughts.

It has helped me.

 

[IgnoredOne]

If you had an illness, would you go to a doctor? Many of them are compassionate, experienced and knowledgeable individuals and I think you would be doing yourself a disservice not to take advantage of any opportunity. At the end of the day, they are providing a service and an opportunity to help yourself, why not give them a chance?

 

[Ghost Boy]

Yes. I've been going for 2 years and I've made excellent progress. It helped put some things in perspective plus it felt good to just let out my thoughts.

 

[paulo]

trying out medication on your own is not the best idear.
i see medication as a last resort, if there is any other way id try that first.
sounds good just taking pills and feel better.
its never that simple though, could be dangerous even.

whats so bad about talking to someone.
a therapist is there for you, your in controll.
theyre just there to help you figuere things out a bit.
theyre not gonne dissect you theyre just gonne help you understand yourself a little better.
all they can do is suggest things to you, your in controll of what happens and what you want to talk about.
theyre not gonne put you in a straitjacket and lock you up as soon as you walk in
its a lot saver and more helpfull in the long run than just starting with pills.
even if you do start its good to have someone there keeping an eye on you.

 

[cumulus.james]

I am on fluxotine. My psychiatrist is a very nice man. He asked me several questiond on our first appointment to accertain what was the matter with me. He put me on fluxotine because I was constantly worrying and having suicidal thoughts.

It has helped me.

fluoxitine is evil!. Good job your a women. Took me 2 years to get my willy to work again after taking that honeysuckle!

But seriously, anti-depressants can be over prescribed. I really don't believe in medication alone. It should be at least medication + some form of talking therapy.

Strange your psychiatrist did not refer you for anything or even suggest a support group or voluntary organization?

 

[SophiaGrace]

my sex parts work fine ty.

 

[paulo]

my sex parts work fine ty.

hahaha,
you go girl

 

[Dark_Poet]

I can't do anything right. I anger myself to no end because my head is going a mile a minute in the wrong direction. I want to try Ritalin, and my work gives me health benefits for it. But I don't like the idea of having to extract a prescription from some smarmy overpaid snob with a pad and pen that thinks he/she can dissect me with a question. I'm more honest here on this forum than I am anywhere else and I don't know what will happen if a shrink puts me on the spot. But one thing is for sure, I need help. And at this point I'm willing to pay for it.

So has anyone tried it and had any success. In what capacity? Thanks.

I have been receiving therapy for right at two years now. (I now have two therapists!)
While this may seem radical, I feel like therapy has saved my life.

The important thing to realize is that they are there to help.
Where I go, I don't even pay anything. Of course there are people out there who only do it for the money, but that is with anything in life.

The important thing to remember is that if somethings not working out between the two of you, you can always request to see someone else. Don't hold therapy liable on one jerk.
The same can be said about medicine. If you get prescribed something, just remember to give it time to work before you dismiss it. You can always try something else.
It can sometime take quite a few weeks for medicine to start taking effect.
No matter what, There is always hope as long as your willing to put in the effort!

I started taking 4 prescriptions, Now I'm down to two. I honestly feel like the medicine has never really done me any favors. I feel like it's been my determination to stop living the way I do, as well as really wonderful support from my Therapists. Unless I suddenly stop taking the medicine, I suppose I'll never know for sure though, just in case, I'll follow orders!

I honestly wish you well, and regardless of your choice, I hope things get easier for you!
Sorry if I'm too biased, I just notice a difference in me since I started going.

One of the big differences for me is I use to physically hurt from anxiety practically every minute of every day. I emotionally hurt on top of that.... Talk about Hell!

PS. Sorry I forgot to mention this.

I'm not going to sugar coat it. They are going to sometimes ask you questions that you may be uncomfortable about. It's not because they want to make you uncomfortable, it's so they can understand you better.

Any question relating to females or sex, (Hard to type that last word) is really difficult for me to talk about. They question why, and try to offer solutions as to how to make that problem less of a problem than it used to be.

Their not there to mold you into there "vision." Their there to help you achieve whatever it is you need help achieving. My therapists are kinda like friends that I look forward to seeing if that makes any sense?

Sorry if I went on too long!
Just wanted to give you an honest assessment.

 

[justablur]

You should be completely honest with your therapist. I have recently started just laying it all out. It isn't easy but I feel good after it is out. I have one on one time as well as group therapy to help me learn some coping skills. I don't cope with anything well. I just sort of shut down. I'm also trying meds.

 

[Thrasymachus]

Don't bother with the mental health field it is not effective at all. They do not even have proper methodologies, they just ask random questions and say random things, and they don't have studies demonstrating the efficacy of their professional interventions. The psychotropic drugs are likewise a scam, the tests for FDA approval are geared toward the interests of the drug companies which are seen as the clients by the FDA. The tests are paid for and conducted for the drug companies, further FDA gets a large portion of their budget funded to approve these drugs. They just have to prove efficacy over a placebo. Whereas if they had to prove for their criteria efficacy over natural vitamin mega-doses of B12, other B vitamins, Niacin, exposure to the sun for an hour or more a day, or lifestyle modification like frequent exercise, most pharmaceuticals would never be approved.

I could go on, but this should be enough about what a farce this industry is, just like most other industries they only care for making money, if they are effective at all, it is rare and by accident.

 

[Foxo]

I would suggest making an appointment with someone just to see how that individual works and whether you would be okay seeing them. Don't just dismiss the possibility without first trying, they are there to help.

Personally, I'm not a fan. I attempted to get help earlier this year and after a few appointments they diagnosed me with Avoidant Personality Disorder. I had no issue with this as I was expecting it. After that they told me there were a few possibilities for treatment, both drug and non-drug oriented. I opted for the non-drug treatment option. However the following week they said they would put me on the drug treatment. Furthermore, they then told me that I had to stop smoking weed for the drug to work towards it's intended purpose.

First off, they completely disregarded my preference to leave clinical drugs out of the treatment. Secondly, they expected me to simply stop smoking something I told them I was addicted to. This just left me with the impression that they want to sell drugs, and don't really want to invest anything into patients who may be deemed "problem" patients.

 

[Thrasymachus]

It doesn't really matter what individual certified by colleges/universities as a mental health professional you see, they are all essentially the same. Maybe one cares about their job, and the other may not, but if you ask me the jaded one is probably better than the do-gooder who is capable of much more harm. I have been seeing them off and on my whole life, and their profession is actually worse than vodoo. When I was in third grade my mother sent me to a Catholic school and I started skipping school for a few days, even walking home several miles to do so. So she decided to send me to a psychiatrist. Since I was a little kid I wanted to talk about video games, and he told he owned a Neo Geo home system, which at the time was very expensive. Looking back I realize this was probably a lie, but anyway we talked about such useless topics as video games often. In my twenties up until a few years ago I saw a therapist. I remember toward the end she was studying for her masters, and would sometimes be working on or have her classwork in front of her, lol. She would even talk about the progress of her masters, her family and I would do the same random talking back in response, no methodology or overall goal in sight.

This is what psychiatric therapy is, you can best define it as randomingly talking with a certified stranger posing as a therapeutic beneficial experience. Actually that definition is problematic in that it is far too benign, when they diagnose you say to yourself, "I am x," "I am depressed," believing that mere classification causes the neuroplasticity of your brain to change, you become more rigid, less fluid to fit the diagnosed role. It is just a farce that imagines their bureaucratic like interventions, drugs and randomness can do anything.

 

[Foxo]

It doesn't really matter what individual certified by colleges/universities as a mental health professional you see, they are all essentially the same. Maybe one cares about their job, and the other may not, but if you ask me the jaded one is probably better than the do-gooder who is capable of much more harm. I have been seeing them off and on my whole life, and their profession is actually worse than vodoo. When I was in third grade my mother sent me to a Catholic school and I started skipping school for a few days, even walking home several miles to do so. So she decided to send me to a psychiatrist. Since I was a little kid I wanted to talk about video games, and he told he owned a Neo Geo home system, which at the time was very expensive. Looking back I realize this was probably a lie, but anyway we talked about such useless topics as video games often. In my twenties up until a few years ago I saw a therapist. I remember toward the end she was studying for her masters, and would sometimes be working on or have her classwork in front of her, lol. She would even talk about the progress of her masters, her family and I would do the same random talking back in response, no methodology or overall goal in sight.

This is what psychiatric therapy is, you can best define it as randomingly talking with a certified stranger posing as a therapeutic beneficial experience. Actually that definition is problematic in that it is far too benign, when they diagnose you say to yourself, "I am x," "I am depressed," and the neuroplasticity of your brain changes, you become more rigid, less fluid to fit the diagnosed role. It is just a farce that imagines their bureaucratic like interventions, drugs and randomness can do anything.

I like this explanation. However I've definitely become a major skeptic when it comes to any form of therapy, so my opinion may be biased. It's just hard to shake the feeling that very few of these doctors have ever experienced what they hope to cure other people of. Frankly, I don't care how many books you've read or how well you did in grad school. If you haven't experienced what I've experienced, then you can't help me because you won't understand me.

 

[Badjedidude]

Maybe therapy is helpful for some..

...but all I've ever seen from it is years of sessions with people never getting any better. Perhaps I've only witnessed very ignorant psychologists at work or something.

But I've never actually seen someone "get better" or figure their life out through therapy.

*shrug*

 

[Sprint]

Maybe therapy is helpful for some..

...but all I've ever seen from it is years of sessions with people never getting any better. Perhaps I've only witnessed very ignorant psychologists at work or something.

But I've never actually seen someone "get better" or figure their life out through therapy.

*shrug*

Same, they only get worse between all of the labels & drugs. It seems to become a dependency/handicap if stayed with too long.

I have seen some very slight periods of enlightenment though... but then again that can come from talking to anyone, IMO.

 

[Foxo]

I have seen some very slight periods of enlightenment though... but then again that can come from talking to anyone, IMO.

I know what you mean. I tried the therapy thing to almost no avail, yet last time I was on here a few years back I met someone who I still talk to today, and who has helped me a lot more than therapy could. It's a lot more enlightening when speaking with someone who actually understands your situation.

 

[Sprint]

I have seen some very slight periods of enlightenment though... but then again that can come from talking to anyone, IMO.

I know what you mean. I tried the therapy thing to almost no avail, yet last time I was on here a few years back I met someone who I still talk to today, and who has helped me a lot more than therapy could. It's a lot more enlightening when speaking with someone who actually understands your situation.

Agree.. BTW interesting you came back

 

[SummerGreen]

I've tried therapy. It has been somewhat helpful, but not a cure. It just helps to have someone to talk to that I don't have to deal with in everyday life...someone that can't really hurt me. Other than helping with my loneliness though, I can't say that I've gotten much else from therapy. BUT, it's better than nothing. Things seem to feel a lot less manageable when I don't see my psychologist regularly.

Regarding medication. I hate to admit it, but I was on antidepressants and they made me feel better over all. I didn't have so many ups and downs...they helped my mood become more stable. I am off of them now because I'm worried about the long term affect they'll have on me, the financial burden, and my pride. If I wasn't concerned about these things I'd start taking them again.

 

[21acceptedbeingalone]

Hmm don't know how I missed this thread, I just made one wabout this too: http://www.alonelylife.com/thread-have-any-of-you-gotten-counesling-has-it-helped-you I've been considering trying therapy too. Im a bit worried that they will just try to throw me on drugs though. I'd rather not do that as I am already on other medications for physical things and hate all the random side effects new medications bring.