Due to an insurance change, my original therapist pawned me to another. What is it like when starting with a new therapist?

I don't understand any of this mental health treatment. I have had severe anxiety for weeks leading to this upcoming appointment.

Out of my family, why did I have to be the one to wind up so screwed up?

And now for my most serious question, with my diagnosis in my middle age, can I get well enough to even remotely acquire a "life", or am I destined to live out the rest of my days with bouts of swinging, depression, mania, paranoia, confusion, and feeling out of place on this planet with no reason to continue to exist?

Oh, please respond with factual based details rather than warm and fuzzy feel good details.
I'm not like the gents in the movie A Few Good Men because I can handle the truth.

Can you have acquire a life. Yes. Truth is you have probably been living with the symptoms for a lot longer than you realize. Now you have a diagnosis you are able to do research, learn coping strategies, get medicated if required, and have a more appropriate support team. With these things in place, you will cope much better than you probably have been in the past,

It's not so much that you will never have a 'life' again, but that your values, your outlook, your goals and aspirations will probably change as you come to realize your limitations. That in itself is not a bad thing, for it will help you get out of the trap that work and material assets make you happy, something that this world perpetuates so well. Rather, you will be more prone to smelling the roses, and taking note of the smaller things in life.

Do you have a reason to exist? Absolutely. You are unique, and bring something to this world that no one else can. As far as a 'reason'? Make a reason. Challenge yourself. Make realistic goals, and then work toward them. They maybe smaller goals than you would like to achieve, but small goals often and reaching them is better than shooting for the stars and failing.

Why you? They say one in five will end up with a MI at sometime in their life. No one deserves to have a MI, you included. But there are a lot worse things to have. Right now it probably doesn't seem like it, but MI will never kill you unless you chose to let it do so. The same cannot be said of other diseases........

Things will settle. Bipolar does what it does. It has ups and it has downs. When down, it's hard to see when you will ever be up again, but it will happen. Ask anyone with bipolar.

I've tried to be honest without being light and fluffy. Some of my comments may come across a bit harsh, I'm sorry if they do, they're not intended that way.

[~Christina]

I know your stressing ! but your making me LOL a bit Yes you can handle the truth

Okay I'll be serious now....

Your prev T kinda sorta sucked and didn't really seem to be of much help.

As for meeting a new T it's really like an interview for a job , But really YOU are interviewing the T. You need to know what there policy about visits , calls between sessions, What about an emergency, Does this person pay attention to your questions and give answers that seem compassionate. Ask what type of therapy they offer.. 4 years ago I was IP and had to see a T a week after I was disharged they made the appt,

Anyway I was seeing this woman that was more worried about her hair and when I asked her questions she pull the whole... Why do you feel this way or what to know .. blahblahblahblah.. The next visit I asked about if she had come up with a plan to help me.. She said a Plan? Then told me she was retiring in 6 months.. Like wtf? really? this is waste of time.. I asked her to refer me to another T and she agreed to let me know the following week, meanwhile I for some reason was curious how she filed for her visits so I called my insurance company and she had billed for a 60 min session .. But I was only with the ditz for 30 mins each time.

So I got furious, furious about her lousy attitude and of course her false billing. So I called to complain..I was routed to a person half the state away that worked for the company.. Less than an hour later I got a call from the Admin of the center asking if I could come see him the following day.

So I went... him and I just kinda clicked, he of course was sorry about what happened and assured me that he would deal with the incorrect billing and also talk to that T. So he asked me what kinda problems I was struggling with... I asked him the above questions and he explained the way he would want to address my struggles ( un diagnosed Bipolar at that time) He has a goal driven therapy.. He told me he no longer sees anyone that just wants to "chat " If I just want to come in and talk he could refer me to many T's at the practice He was willing to work hard but I needed to want to make changes not just talk about it.. I knew right then that he was "right for me..

Anyway over 3 years later he has saved my life numerous times, He's pushed me when he felt it was needed, He's challenged me...

He told me about 6 weekly sessions in that he felt I had Bipolar I Now he couldn't make a "legal" diagnosis but when he explained "why" it made perfect sense. Explained alot things from my past. My Pdoc that works at this place readily agreed and tossed me that diagnostic code and changed his treatment approach at once.

I have a life now that I didnt think would be possible when I walked into his office.

So my advice, you have gotten it before and know I don't bullshyt or coddle..

Ask your T questions .. If he/she doesnt respond or acts annoyed at the questions then you might need to find another. The T is going to have questions for you too.. But if the balance is off then it might not be a good fit.

When I got out of IP and sent to a T I felt it was my last chance to get help. the initial T "she" sucked so I basically moved on and I was lucky I found Richard.

I think this way ... If Therapy isn't hard then your not doing it right"

Love ya !

Originally Posted by Lunatic Fringe

Due to an insurance change, my original therapist pawned me to another. What is it like when starting with a new therapist?

I don't understand any of this mental health treatment. I have had severe anxiety for weeks leading to this upcoming appointment.

Out of my family, why did I have to be the one to wind up so screwed up?

And now for my most serious question, with my diagnosis in my middle age, can I get well enough to even remotely acquire a "life", or am I destined to live out the rest of my days with bouts of swinging, depression, mania, paranoia, confusion, and feeling out of place on this planet with no reason to continue to exist?

Oh, please respond with factual based details rather than warm and fuzzy feel good details.
I'm not like the gents in the movie A Few Good Men because I can handle the truth.

Starting with a new therapist can be scary. You dont know what to expect from them, they dont know what to expect from you. You just gotta walk in and give them a shot. If you find that you don't like the new therapist you can always shop around till you find one that suits what you need out of therapy. And it does suck being the one person in the family screwed up. I was raised by my mother who was completely normal and i couldn't for the life of me figure out why i got hit with MI at a young age. (i did find out my dad is BP2)

and yes, i do believe that even with the diagnosis at middle age, you can find stability enough to live a normal life. I have a friend at work who's father was diagnosed at 40. yeah, he struggled and after a long time of trying to find the right meds, and therapy and pdocs, he finally achieved the stability he was looking for. I think that its possible for you to do the same. best of luck

[Capriciousness]

Hey. I'm sorry I couldn't help giving you a hug up there

This



"And now for my most serious question, with my diagnosis in my middle age, can I get well enough to even remotely acquire a "life", or am I destined to live out the rest of my days with bouts of swinging, depression, mania, paranoia, confusion, and feeling out of place on this planet with no reason to continue to exist? "

Is this really an either or...I don't know. It seems like it. But I think it is maybe possible to find a "life" in their some where.

Could you elaborate on what you mean when you say "life" like that.

I could say that cutesy learn to dance in the rain **** which is probably annoying to you right now but has a tiny grain of truth to it.

But honestly I will tell you that when I am in a badish sort of place I totally feel like you described. I feel like what it the point if this **** if just going to happen all the time. But I have come out of it over and over. I don't know if that helps or not.

Bipolar ****s our brains over. It makes us think **** like that all the time. Don't give it too much power.

As for the therapist thing....Good luck. For this first one view it as an interview. As in you are interviewing the T to see if they can meet your needs and serve you. See if it is a click or not.

I have a lot of opinions on Ts. Big surprise right

[Capriciousness]

Don't feel like you have to spill all your beans on the first date. You are allowed to home back until you feel like they are right for you.

The T should be more anxious than you to see if they're going to get your business. You're in control here. Not them.

Tell them what you want out of therapy, what you're expecting,

Ask them about their style ...do they do Dbt, cbt, emdr, are they psychoanalytic. If they say they do a combination as they usually do say try to get some more info out of them.

Ask if they have experience with bipolar patients

Ask them how they treat bipolar patients

Ask them if they are available to you in an emergency

If they try to teach you how to breath run

[TimTheEnchanter]

Everything happening to us is for a reason. Nothing is by happenstance. It is possible that the things we look in life as a tragic or unfortunate (like having a new therapist without our asking for it) are in fact a blessing in disguise. You won't know until you try and look back. Now you are projecting it as a bad thing. Do not do that! Try to look at everything as a result of Divine providence (as they all are!).