My Support Forums - View Single Post

The_little_didgee · Apr 20, 2015, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by growlycat

It is a catch 22----If I could do certain things I wouldn't be in therapy! I am asking for legitimate help and I'm given the pull up your bootstraps routine. What other illness gets this kind of Spartan reaction? I have an illness in the dark ages of treating said illness. Why am I being judged?

I think a lot of it has to do with your diagnosis. I've noticed this from my own experience. When I was a teenager I was told I had BPD. After that nobody wanted to help and listen to me. They all assumed I was a manipulator who wanted to ruin any psychotherapist willing to help me. Huh? This was wrong, very wrong, because I was nothing like that. It was very frustrating so I quit psychiatry for almost 6 years. Unfortunately I had to go back because I developed psychosis which was a completely separate disorder. The treatment I got was very different. Clinicians suddenly wanted to help. Medication and therapy was offered to me. This experience made me wonder why they weren't there when I was a teenager. I realized it had to do with the BPD diagnosis. Disgusting.

Another reason has to do with how you present. If you are coherent, calm and willing to discuss suicidal feelings you are seen as being in control. Hospitalization isn't the first option if you have a PD diagnosis, because psychiatrists believe it will make the PD worse. They'll try discussing those feelings first, since they tend to think they are due to some kind of interpersonal conflict that can easily be resolved. Doctors are very limited in how they can help with issues like that. If they can't cure the problem with medication they don't really want to deal with you. Apparently it is too hard.

Unfortunately, it can take some really desperate behaviors (e.g., SI) for a clinician to listen to a patient with BPD. When I was a teenager I resorted to SI just so they would listen to me. It was the only way they would take me seriously. Whenever I asked to talk I was shuggered off and told I was attention seeking. Pathetic.

I really feel for your situation. Unfortunately, I don't know what to suggest.