What's the worst "support" you've ever heard?

Recently I saw a NP for my wellness check up, we chatted for a few minutes then she asked about my medications. I told her I take Lamictal and Lexapro for bipolar disorder. She looked at me and said, I can usually sense when someone is bipolar. I told her I had been hospitalized about six years ago and that I have been doing well since that time. * She says, well maybe it is the medication.* Then wrote a lab chit to check my thyroid. Anybody else have a medical provider act as if they don't believe you when you tell them your dx?

When I was fourteen my parents took me to see a counselor they'd found their church. I only saw him for a couple of months before my depression lifted on its own and never went back for various reasons. From that point on until I moved out for good, my mother held that period of time over my head as a disciplinary tool by threatening to call the therapist and send me back whenever I raised my voice or said something she didn't like. The very last time she tried, she made the mistake of doing it while I was manic. It ended in her crying, my screaming, and a lot of broken dishes. She never did it again.

Or "We always knew you were crazy." Well gee thanks guys, that makes me feel sooo much better.

I AM and actor, and have taken A LOT of acting classes, and I STILL can't act emotionally stable!

I get this from my sister. "You're so good talking to crazy people because you yourself are crazy!" Thanks sis... just... thanks.

I love it when people tell me that I'm fine, and it's all in my head. Yes, you're right, it is ALL in my head. dumbass.

Unfortunately for us, there are few therapists or Psychologists that are knowledgeable about Bipolar disorder. I finally found a good one after 5 bad ones. My Psychologist would tell me to call my Psychiatrist immediately if I shared with her what you did. As far as Psychiatrists, many are not Bipolar savy. If one sent me a letter like the one you got, I would send her a letter telling her to get real! Then I would copy the letter she sent to me and send it to the state medical board.

Your situation is similar to mine. I was 15 when I first saw a psychiatrist who inevitably told me that I had nothing wrong with me and that I was making myself depressed and cutting for attention. A few months later I end up in the psych unit for attempting suicide, and a different psychiatrist was torn as to what I should be "labeled" due to my past encounter with the world's worst psychiatrist ever. So he decides that I'm dealing with depression and sends me on my merry way (after a month) with some bupropion. I keep taking it throughout high school, but it didn't help with my hypomania which I didn't fully realize was something to be concerned with because I had never heard of Bipolar II. In college, I decided that since nothing was really "wrong" with me I'd stop taking the medication...bad idea. I ended up in the psych unit again with the nurses telling the psychiatrist that I was not complying with what they had asked me to do, etc. Bull crap! Anyone that knows me fully would know that I have an obsessive need to have others like me, therefore, I will do pretty much anything asked of me due to the fact that I don't want to disappoint them. I digress... Anyway, most recently (about a year ago) I again attempted suicide (while I was at work) and was rushed to the ER. I was admitted and was FINALLY properly diagnosed with Bipolar II after going though my history and documenting, documenting, documenting. At least now I have a competent psychiatrist who has prescribed me the right types of medication and I can start to feel "normal" again. I don't like that word "normal" due to the fact that none of us are ever normal...oh, well. Basically, I relate!

My ex husband told me I didnt need anti-depressants, that I just needed to pray more.
He said if I was "right" with god, I wouldnt have this.

Oh I can relate to that line! Or when I told my husband I was having post Partum depression and he said that's just a woman's stupid way of getting attention...REALLY?!?

The first psychiatrist I saw during a major depressive episode said, "There's nothing I can do for you". WHAt?!?!?! What the hell is he doing there then? This discouraged me and I spent a long time suffering, and putting my family through suffering, until I sought help from another one.

Then there was the therapist who told me I had split personalities and needed to do extensive therapy sessions with her for at least a year. I think she just wanted money.

Another therapist told me, "I don't know what to do with you". Maybe you should go back to school then.

My brother and I were talking about my mother, who was very seriously mentally ill ... episodically throughout our childhood, then profoundly so in the last year or two of her life before she finally succeeded in killing herself. He speculated as to what her diagnoses could have been (either schizophrenic or bipolar, she got both dxs at different times.) Then he said, "well, she was just... different." Then he asked what my diagnoses was. I told him "schizoaffective." He paused for a moment and said, "well, you're just... different." And I thought, what, he just said that exact same thing about Mum! What, he thinks I'm going to kill myself?

Okay, I might have been overthinking it, but really... it was his intonation I think, he said it in just the same way he described our mother. Gave me the shivers.

Generally speaking he's very supportive, if not brilliantly informed. He treats me like a normal person, which I appreciate, allows me to babysit his kids, which I love. Just that one thing... I had a glimpse of how he saw Mum and me, and it did freak me out a little.

The worst support is none. Which is what I get from my family. Anywhere from you are being stupid to here try these pills or have a drink. No help at all. So I don't discuss these things with them.
I have better luck talking to myself.

My mom today, as I was bawling my eyes out again and couldn't breath properly (she repeatedly said she couldn't hear what I was saying because I was crying so hard)....
"You're fine sweetie. You're just fine"

not, you WILL be fine... *sigh* I was so not fine. :/

Admittedly that's not the WORST, but it's up there and the most annoying right now.

"I can't help you so why should I try?"

I feel like all I can see in my life is really negative stuff lately.

Check my blog. I have a whole thread about therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists...too long to post here. LOL

My mouth is literally hanging open from reading these posts. It never ceases to amaze me how uninformed, hurtful and just plain stupid the people in our life can be.

The remark I remember that really hurt me was a pdoc - I was hospitalized at the time - about to be released and I told him I wasn't ready to go home because I felt a little suicidal. His answer "Is that like being a little pregnant?" and then he turned to the resident with him and laughed.He was fat, ugly and demeaning and I felt like stabbing him with his pen I felt so dismissed.

(((Hugs))) to all of you. I hope time and space has help to somewhat heal your heart of these ugly and moronic remarks.

Im so sorry you felt that way. I have actually said the same to my 14 year old as I had her in my arms while she was having a panic attack. I think as a mother when we say this to our child we are more trying to convince ourselves that everythings going to be okay. Its so hard for me to see my daughter that way and know that its my fault she inherited this horrible stuff from me. Hugs to you

During a panic, relax, ... Ya, no kidding! Is that's what I need to do?

Whilst in the depth of a depressive episode my husband said, "Bipolar is just the flavour of the month. It's nothing more than an excuse for bad behaviour and a reason to lie around all day" !! Yeah, right, that made me feel a whole lot better darling.

My sister always says that everybody has a little BP in them. It pisses me off to no end.

In middle school is where I was first diagnosed with depression (just depression and not bipolar yet); I was in a really low point & was suicidal. I think I might have passed out, I forgot what happened exactly, but I had a teacher say "X! you get no sympathy for me!" - awesome way to make me feel soo much better, k thanks!

I would say my mom isn't far off from yours! Best of luck! My prayers are with you!

to me it was "don't expect too much of yourself. People who are ill cannot achieve as much as normal people."

I was mis-diagnosed with BP many years ago (very long story) and at that time my psychiatrist said to me:

"You are so mentally unstable that you cannot work. I recommend that you go out on permanent disability and begin shopping at Costco so you can survive."

I changed doctors - who said I was NOT BP - then spent a year getting me off meds. I have been med free for many years now - and am a Director at a large medical facility!

I guess last summer when I was extremely manic and psychotic, which had been going on for five months, my pdoc and therapist kept trying to convince me to go to the hospital, my mother said "you can't go to the hospital, you can't be one of those people, who's in and out"

I have only been to the hospital once in all my years dealing with this. I was pretty upset, I guess I can't be one of those people trying to get help.

All you have to do is try harder and you'll get rid of the bipolar. (This coming from my insulin dependent diabetic husband. I told him to try harder to get rid of his diabetes and he'll be off insulin. End of conversation.)

All bipolar means is you can't deal with stress. You're going to have to learn that there are ups and downs to life. (This from my mom who is textbook bipolar but has never gotten help.)

If you quit watching horror movies and reading scary books you won't be bipolar anymore. (Yes, someone actually told me that. She meant well but my reaction pretty amounted to WTH?!)

You need to be closer to God. (As a Christian I found this laughable.)