Therapist or TheRapist?

OK, goes like this: I've spent countless hours being psychoanalyzed and many an afternoon lying on a quack's couch. I've seen both psychiatrists and psychologists aswell as apsychoanalytic nutjob. Mental illness is something you might say I've always been exposed to, whether in the schizophrenia of my grandmother, mother or friends, or the depression of my aunt, other uncle, cousins not to mention the psychosis of some very dear to me. I've given up on therapy, rather deciding to cure myself of my moodiness through whatever I find therapeutic. Thankfully I have the luxury of not being debilitated by a crippling disorder and have never needed to take meds to cope with my supposed bi-polarity(manic-depression). Having been forced by a court and, at one point, even my parents to see a shrink coupled with the fact that they were always keen to prescribe me something to "cure" me, I can, understandably, regard the majority of mantal health practicioners (headshrinkas) as vague, utterly inept charlatans who are, for the most part, really just playing the role of a shoulder to cry on. Anyways what I am wondering is have any of you been to therapists (well obviously some have) and if so did you find them to be helpfull? By this I don't mean in the respect that it's comforting to have someon's shoulder to cry on.. I mean in the respect that they actually helped you come to important realizations and work through important personal crisis/issues like they would have you believe they do. I have come to the realization most ppl who see shrinks believe strongly in their posative affect and view them as somewhat of a neccessity. What I want to know is anybody with me on this or am I just jaded?

Therapy is way overated, the best cure for just about everything is either masterbation or sex with somebody who at least is acting like they want you.

failing that. money cures EVERYTHING.

You don't think so?

"money does'nt buy happiness"

maybe not, but it buys a shitload of stuff that looks just like happiness.

worst case scenario though, just drink heavily it works for me.

i went to various shrinks for years and it always seemed to me that they were obsessed with trying to make me feel like aspects of my life which i thought were perfectly fine actually weren't, and putting me on medication. i was on lithium for 3 years. when my grandmother died, and i was feeling depressed, they wanted to up my dosage. suddenly i realized that to this shrink, the goal was to prevent me from ever feeling anything extreme. so i quit taking any meds, and now, according to those close to me, i'm actually way more sane. i think it's because now, instead of letting my moods go haywire and feeling that if the meds can't control it than neither can i, i actually take responsibility for myself and my moods, and try to control myself. and realize that just because i'm feeling a little depressed or acting kind of manic, it doesn't mean that i need to be locked away.

I'll take The Rapist for one 1000


How is it that I have been able to ride this gag in three threads in one week?

I do not like therapists. But for some people they are quite helpful.

They never told me anything I didn't already know... and it cost money.


My mother has always been fond of hypnotists over shrinks though... and as far as charlatans go... I DEFINITELY agree with her.

Psychers and shrinks are the evil wizards of our time. They've got us all subjugated under a spell of mental abnormalities that seem to affect everyone everywhere. blegh.

i fucked with all of mine. i learned from public schooling that by having my own opinion, by expressing myself in my own way, and by not meeting the "acceptable norms" of emotional reaction (specifically in humour and response to death) that i was abnormal and in need of therapy. after listening to a few of the assigned therapists and psychologists employed by the school, i realized that not only was i smarter then these people, but that they were just playing a game that i had been playing with people my whole life:

we play upon what you feel and how you think the world looks at you to make you believe what we want.

now for me, psychology was natural... it was using the way people think against them to doubt their beliefs. i adopted this in grade school as a way to keep myself from being killed by the much bigger "normal" students who took my unique perceptions as a threat (remember children, public schooling is about conformity - FEAR those who are different from you). and i do mean killed. i have fond memories of being the smallest child in elementary school and having my ribs kicked in by three bigger class mates who were "just playing". if i wasn't terribly resistent to injury i would be dead right now, i just had to deal with eight bruised ribs at the time... fun fucking game.

psychology only works if you buy into it iw what i am really trying to say. people who want psychology to work for them will... which means that the people who can sucessfully see therapists are the ones who don't really have problems, they just think they do. the reasoning, insight and rationale of the rest of us, or those who are truly insane, are so far beyond the ken of "normal" thought that there is nothing any of those things can do for us. we see our own world, we live our own lives, we need to want to fix them... need to be responsible enough to help and control ourselves.

now if you suffer from an inherited or biological in nature malady, drugs are in fact your best bet. they are designed to bring under control excesses in biochemical levels. for regular homeostatic individuals, drugs drop your levels below normal levels, hence the over medication and often subdued nature of perfectly fine individuals that are on unnecessary medication.

remember children, this is america - better living through chemistry... whether you need it or not.

i suppose the short answer is, you need to help yourself. therapists, drugs, these things are just reactions by are culture to provide a quick, blameless, effortless solution to a problem that requires your effort. people aren't really more depressed now then they used to be, they're just too fucking lazy to take care of themselves.

oh and back to therapists... according to about thirty different psychological exams, i am unquantifiable - which is an impossibility according to all the various shrinks i have seen... unless you know the answers and how the game works.

The trick is to find a good therapist who fits your needs.

I've had success so far. We're slowly digging through things I shouldn't have kept pent-up all these years, and it's peeling back layer by tiny layer until we reach Formerly Always Happy Sorcha. After a month of sessions, I'm becoming Mostly Happy Sorcha. This is a huge improvement from Psycho Overanalyzing Moody Depressed Anxious Sorcha.

I'm not on medication, because I'm making progress without it, but I may ask for something to take as-needed for my panic attacks. They are much less frequent than they used to be, but they are still unpleasant when they do occur.

The best thing about my therapist is that I'm getting a fresh look at my past. My friends all know about my history, so they can't really offer anymore comment on it. Looking at it myself is sort of jaded. So that's where the doctor comes in. She gives a new, fresh, unbiased, honest perspective to everything. Friends give you hugs and sympathy, which is great, but a therapist will really dig in and get you to work through it without worrying about whether or not they're hurting your feelings in the process (whereas friends would worry about that).

With bipolar disorder, medication is somewhat necessary for controlling the cycling, but if your medication bothers you, maybe it would be best to ask to have your prescription lowered?

To the person who had their dosage upped when their grandmother passed away -- that's the kind of drug therapy I don't like. Grieving is a natural, healing process, and to up your medication to numb you to it could have had ill effects. I don't like doctors who use medication to get rid of EVERY feeling and emotion.

[Edited on Oct 24, 2003 by Sorcha]

Oh, and this has been a pretty cool group so far: Depression Outlet. It's full of discussions like this, along with experiences with certain medications, tips for handling things without medication, etc. A psychiatrist is a member, even, which lends an educated angle to the discussions.

my mom is a psychotherapist, and one time when she was getting business cards made they printed it as Psycho Therapist, so of course from then on we called her Psycho the Rapist.

The Jesus knows. Well, about the sex/masturbation part. I'm not convinced on the money part. The drinking part goes without saying, though.

OKay Turd Fergusen, absolutely hillarious... why don't you give me ape tit for 200, I know that's the one with Norm MacDonald as burt Reynolds and Jimmy Falon as French Stewart, aesome skit but really thanks for coming out. Anyways, Sorcha, thx for honestly answering my question, in response to yours: I've never taken medication for my bipolarity, in fact I quit seeing shrinks because I was consecutively diagnosed by 4 of them and had no intention of taking pharmaceuticals to get over a disorder I hardly aknowledged. That and the fact that they wanted to prescribe lithium for me, much like kasia, and that I would have no part of that archaic drug seemed to only alienate me further form the mental health community. Anyways, Tekky, you rule, my sentients exactly. Alistair I agree with your sentiments but am wondering whether you're not trying to impress someone. By this I mean I have no idea wtf you could possibly mean by unquantifiable. Don't get me wrong I am familiar with the adjective, I just wonder if you are. if I am mistaken pls explain to me how it's not incorrectly used in your post as I would be sincerely curious to know. Anyways, thanks for your imput everyone, keep up the posts.

[Edited on Oct 25, 2003 by pokesmot]

Oops. I misread that. My bad.

My ex-roommate was on Lithium and Zoloft for his bipolar disorder, but it didn't help that much. His therapy did help a bit, but he stopped going. I didn't notice much of a change when he stopped taking the pills, other than a HUGE surge of photography and writing projects, but I did notice when he stopped seeking therapy. His behaviour was just... different. *shrug* I moved out shortly after that because he was an abusive fuckhead.

I generally hate therapists and even physicians. when I was a teen my parents were unable to talk of anything, so of course I went through some problems with them and the school, but I wasn't violent, and I was still getting nice grades, but they tried to put me in cure, wich I refused for years. Once they payed a psychologist to come at home, and this guy tried to bull me and insult me, and they even thanked him when he finally left!
It's true I was mad at my parents for years and often refused to say a word to them, but they apparently forgot they subjected me to obligatory surgery (in the belly, not brain ) when I was under 18, against my will, for a totally unnecessary surgery. I was saved by more surgeries turning over 18.

my aunt is a therapist, and she asks money to my mom she never gives back, and once she asked a lot and my parents refused, and she was even offended. And this is the kind of person who should help you for ridicolous amounts of money?

anyway, I am perfectly sure that there are indeed good therapists, but there is a whole lot incapable and keen on prescribing unnecessary medicines.

[Edited on Oct 25, 2003 by StarsJuggler]

i've only been to one therapist, and i guess i got lucky, because i have found the experience to be extremely helpful in sorting out some difficult stuff in my life. i was one of those people who thought i knew myself really well, and i could figure everything out on my own. the days that i go into his office with that mindset are the days that i get little or nothing from the session. it's really hard to let one's guard down and become totally objective about ourselves, but if you can do that, then you may learn some pretty important things about yourself that may change your life for the better. we are all "programmed" to think and act a certain way as we grow up (learned behavior), and the purpose of therapy is to help us see where our learned way of thinking came from, identify if it is positive and effective for US, and then replace those bad patterns of thinking with good/healthier ones.

i've been told by friends who've been to several different therapists that sometimes you have to try many before you find one who works well with you. i'm told that a good therapist is one who doesn't just sit there and listen, nor does he/she sit there and tell you what to do all the time. a combination of both is ideal.

i was not actually meaning to impress anyone. psychological tests are given with the understanding that people are supposed to respond to certain stimuli in a limited number of manners. under this theory, when an individual is confronted with a psychological evaluation through testing, not diagnosis, the preparer of the exam expects you to give an answer that fits into the categories psychologists have already prepared and use the examination to pigeon-hole you into a certain category. after far too many years of being subjected to the ridiculousness of such a concept, i just started responding to the stimuli in such a manner that any determination of my psyche through use of the accepted categories was impossible. anyone can be unqunatifiable as determined by a psychological test, all you have to do is give them a response they are not prepared for.

hence, the point i was trying to m,ake - only people who want psychology to work for them and are willing to give the expected responses will gain any benefit from psychology. the rest of us just need to accept that we are unique and capable fo fixing ourselves if we want.

'Cause it's the funniest thing that ever came out of that piece of crap they deemed fit to call a comedy show.

That, and the Blue Oyster Cult sketch, with Christopher Walken.

I got a fever, and the only prescription... is more cowbell.

dude, look at what you named the thread, I was just offering up the pic and quote for shits and giggles... sheesh. so why are you busting on me then being all nice to Sorcha?!?

OH RIGHT!!! the bipolar thing! *slaps knee*

I don't think any half-decent therapist would try to "know someone's mind better than they do". If anything, they just act as a foil, to ask questions of you that maybe you'd been avoiding asking, or hadn't figured out how to frame.

I've known people for whom therapy was very helpful, although confronting -- and others for whom therapy was judgmental and unhealthy.