Life without a T aka Therapist

So it's been 2 years since my last visit which was my last. Nothing has changed in 15 years when I use to visit a T regularly. I told my pdoc it's pointless and I fine living without therapy. I'm done with it since it's not something I need or want in my life. It's not for everyone and I'm that person.

I'm BP1 and have some massive episodes a few times a year. That's who I am and unless I'm prescribed a ton of pills nothing is going to change. I've learned from my mistakes and try to do better if possible. I've ended a potential episode a few weeks ago. Only a regular manic episode which I'm very use too. I'd say I'm at mid level manic 24/7 and go into a slight depression states afterward here and there. It's a back and forth type of lifestyle but I'm use to it and accepted that's who I am. My cycle consists of manic 4 to 5 days and 2 or 3 days of depression. When I have a massive episode then I can go super manic for a week to months followed by depression. Those are hard times but within this last year I've greatly limited the amount and how long.

How I deal with it is different for everyone. But I see my life as I'm Dr. JEKYLL and Mr. HYDE. From there I do what I can to limit the time Mr. HYDE "deeply manic" comes out. Learning about yourself and not letting you mind get to out of control are key factors to control and limit my very bad times.

I'm sure a lot will disagree with me and that's fine. If it works for you that's great I'm happy for you. Everyone has their own "therapy" methods that they use. I know I do and it's a growing treatment involving just myself, me, and I. Who knows you better than yourself? No one.

I'm glad you support the theory of diffrent things working for diffrent people.

nothing annoys me more than someone saying well, this works, for me, you need to try it- it's the only way forward

no it isn't

as for life without a therapist, I've gone for months without therapists (my mother's fault mainly) for scaring them away

but I can't see myself without one which is a strange thing to say, because despite having 9 diffrent therapists, I don't feel i've really been helped much (well their was a cbt thing that was helpful), but it was a long time ago and I've forgotten most of the skills

I've never had one. And life is good.
If they make you feel better, by all means.

I've gone periods without therapy but I think cutting it down rather than out is best for me. Right now at every other week. Than once a month, probably do that long term. I have a lot of issues.

I haven't been in individual therapy for months and I don't miss it at all, but I just got out of group therapy from an IOP and I found it pretty helpful, not just for bipolar stuff but for the things everybody deals with.
Not everyone needs therapy, just a lot of people find it helpful.

Everyone is different and at 38 I've seen people use Therapists, religion, support groups, relationships with other people with the same issue, meditation & acupuncture, hobbies, and the list goes on.

People will disagree about others opinions but what bothered me is seeing the fighting about their way is the best way. I think it's good to explore many different methods till they find one that works best for them. One method might work wonders for one person but doesn't do anything for another.

Hopefully others will read this and be more at peace with one another. We all have a different perspective on how to keep on fighting and moving forward in life.

Cheers and thanks for your reply,

Joe

Therapy helps me but I could survive without it. Ive gone stretches without it and have been fine.

I do recognize that I have some issues I need to work on right now though, which is why I am in therapy. I have also been told that therapy will probably be life long for me because of the severity of my issues. I dont know if this is true, right now... I would say therapy is a need because I am still fairly vulnerable after a recent screw up, but I do think that should I need to go without therapy I very well could. But it would probably be kind of difficult.

So I guess- I like the safety blanket that therapy is for me in some ways. Thinking about it, should I have an attack of very severe symptoms and be OUT of therapy... then my options for how to handle that would be much more limited than they are now. Not that I generally reach out anyways when I *need* to- but Ive realized with how bad things can get with me- the option is something that is valuable. Id rather reach out to someone I trust and who knows my situation than call a hotline or go to the emergency room. And thats one reason why its important for me to be connected to therapteutic resources long term I suppose.

Anyways. Therapy is a choice. At the end of the day that is it. Every person has the right to that choice of whether to go or not. That choice is yours

re: religion, that's how I lost my best friend laura.

basically she told me if I believed in god strong enough, my mental illness would go away

I told her it wouldn't, and she went off on one saying that I didn't have any beliefs if that's what I truly thought

I'm not even going to start the debate.. is their a god or isn't their, but god or not, that's what I'm stuck with.
that's what she couldn't accept. she thought god would completely heal me

Theres this religious group that sometimes meets in one of our cafes to try to screen potential new members.

I listen sometimes to the things they say because some of them are just- jaw dropping.

The one time some guy told a story about going to the hospital after havingn a headache and fearing that he had a tumor- so he prayed to god at the hospital not to have one and when the scan came back he was tumor free! So he went on about how God had obviously heard him and cured his tumor because he was a true believer. The fact that millions of people every day have headaches and only a very very small fraction have tumors causing them apparently was completely irrelevant apparently.

And another time I was sitting there and the guy claimed that prayer caused God to cure his anxiety. Then said that if more people prayed to God then there would be a lot less people in the hospital.

At first listening to these things was kind of upsetting. But now I listen to them because I just cant NOT listen to them- they are that incredulous.

Anyways. I have nothing against religion. But I DO have something against leading vulnerable people to believe that “if they just pray hard enough” all their problems will go away. Because guess what- for every “true miracle” that happens- there are probably a tens/hundreds/thousands of people who prayed for a miracle and didnt get one.

I admit to being a bit biased though because- I had religious hallucinations and delusions- so I feel particularly personally vulnerable and afraid of the “religion cures all” mindset just because of that vulnerability.

Anyways. Im not saying religion is bad. If I had to say whether I believed in God or not, personally I do. Im just saying that the whole “believe hard enough and god will provide” mindset is... really dismissive and actually really scary when you think about it.

Ok! I dont want to derail this thread too much so time to go get icecream I think!

I have been on the religious side of this token. Unfortunately, it was, same as you, when I was hyper religious and my mind was littered with religious delusions and hallucinations. I have to be ultra careful and, at times, tiptoe around my faith.

Theres a bipolar group that meets up weekly and I'm going to sign up for one of them. I haven't tried it and if anything I'd get to meet others like myself and make friends. One cool thing about hanging out with other people that's the same, is you can be yourself and not worry about being judged.

I'll have to let you know how it goes.

Yah sadly when some people find a method that works for them then they resort to shoving it down everyone throat thinking they are doing what's best. I'll usually listen and let them know I'll consider it. If they continue to push I'll be polite and say "if we cant be friends with different views then we need to go our separate ways". It's natural to feel and push others to follow what they are into, but if brought up and they can't respect your choice then that's it for me. Once we have too many differences then that's when the friendship comes to an end. Having things in common is a big factor to friendships to work.

I like to hear different treatments, therapy ideas that work for others but not when its in that judgmental manner. One of the rules at the drop in group therapy I attend sometimes is to not give statements that start with "you should.."
I'm on the fence about finding a therapist for myself, only because I've tried 4 or5 of them and I didn't find any of them helpful and 3 of them I just didn't like for different (valid) reasons. I manage without but I am researching them again.

Thank you so much for making this thread, FriendlyJoe! I completely agree with what you and all the others have already wisely said better than I ever could. Thank you so much, FriendlyJoe! Thank you so much everyone for taking part in it. Everyone has different methods of healing. If you feel like therapy isn't helping you, or you've found other methods that work better for you, that's great! You don't have to go to therapy if you don't want to. Different methods work for different people. I think it's great that there are so many options available! I'd suggest everyone not to give up and I'd suggest to try all the options that you can. Hopefully you'll be able to find something that works for you. It won't be easy. It will take time. But it can be done. Don't give up hope! I hope you'll all be able to get the help you need and deserve. You deserve to get better and to feel good. You deserve to live a good life just like everyone else. Try to hang on. You can do this! you're all strong, I know that. I believe in you. Stay strong, everyone. Stay safe and take care of yourselves. You're all wonderful people! You're all awesome! You're all strong! You're all warriors! Sending many hugs to everyone