See if you can top this one!

This wacko therapy i tried early in my diagnosis thirty years ago was called "Holotropic Breathwork." A select group of a prestigious psychiatrists patients were invited to attend Saturday sessions. We were paired into "practicers" and "watchers." The practicers DID the actual therapy and the watchers kept an eye on them to make sure they didn't get into trouble, which i guess meant getting hysterical or clawing at yourself or something.

This therapy was supposed to be real shattering!

Anyways, it took place in a large empty comfortably-carpeted dark basement room of someone's home. The practicers laid down on the floor and the watchers sat close by. Loud evocative music was played and you were supposed to breathe in a pattern that was never clear to me. It went on for several hours.

There were people writhing on the floor and pounding with their fists on the floor and calling out for "mother!" It was very weird. I didn't experience anything much. Then we had lunch and in the afternoon the psychiatrist led us in a debriefing session, analyzing everyone's experiences.

There's a book written on the subject, by this psychiatrist's brother, Stan Grof, called, "The Holotropic Mind." I read it and according to it you are supposed to re-experience the four stages of birth, down the birth canal! Eeew! I don't want to remember THAT!

Anyways, it was all real whack and i only attended about three times. Later i found out that psychiatrists meeting with patients off-hospital-campus is strictly forbidden but i had no idea then. I figure, what did it cost me, three Saturdays? Worth a try, anyways. It was an experience.

So that's the most whack therapy i have ever tried.

You?

[wildflowerchild25]

I never tried it but it was suggested to me when I got my dx at 25 to do “thought-field” therapy. Apparently it involves the therapist tapping on different parts of the upper body and hands to like release energy or something. Yeah I was like I’m good thanks

[Soupe du jour]

I've never really had any weird therapy. It's more often just been with really weird or inappropriate therapists. I have many stories! But of course not all were so. Frankly, an unfortunately large percentage of therapists would be better in different career fields.

[Mountaindewed]

It was in special ed preschool and my speech teacher was pushing me on this giant bizzare flying saucer type swing. I don't really remember. Maybe it was some type of occupational therapy.

@Soupe du jour:

It's fine to write about whack therapists and psychiatrists too on this thread. Everything whack!

I'll go first. I had a therapist who cried during my assessment and blew me kisses over the phone! I think SHE needed a therapist more than i did! It was in Vancouver tho and there are a lot of wackos out there.

[Soupe du jour]

Oh my! That would seem a shocking first impression of her! Here are some of mine, as briefly as possible, not in the order I saw them:

1. "Adulation Psychologist" - This guy was freaky in the amount of compliments he gave me, and the types. Just in one particular session I counted 6, and I'm embarrassed to list some. Lesser ones would be "You have the most beautiful shoes I've ever seen in the world!" Or, "Your sweater looks so luxuriously soft. Can I please stroke it?" Super creepy! I eventually asked him to curb it and if he did the same to his other clients. I forget his exact response, but it was basically that he only compliments if they are true ones from his heart. I ended up quitting him after that particular session.

2. "Animal Lady" - Therapy with her lasted only one session. It was in her house. As I sat there, as many as four cats and three dogs were on my lap, smelling my legs, and running around the room.

3. "Previously suspended for sleeping with a client" - I didn't know that initially. Hubby found it mentioned online after I told him that tdoc seemed overly concerned with my sex life. That's all he wanted to talk about, when he wasn't answering the phone or texts or eating Reese's Pieces from a large gumball machine on his desk, during the session. No coins needed, but he still turned it for portions.

4. "She scares me"! - That's what she told my psychiatrist (in a call) after "suspending me" for being scary manic and telling me I couldn't return until my psychiatrist deemed me safe enough to be around. This all surprised my psychiatrist. Yes, I was manic, but scary? Boo! In any case, when I returned she said she would only see me once per month instead of once per week. I got the message and found some other tdoc.

5. Others? I once saw a tdoc whose office was a near hoard. She had file folders piled on her desk nearly two feet high. All she did was laugh at my jokes. When I'm nervous, I sometimes enter comedienne mode. Another tdoc just stared at me like a deer in the headlights. Another always locked the door and stared at me in a very creepy way. Then there was a tdoc who always gave me the "stink eye" and yelled at me. Another tdoc (one in an IOP) would issue "punishments" for me and call me multiple times per night when I was home, making me feel harassed. I ended up requesting another IOP therapist.

[Nammu]

I too haven’t had any wack therapy but there were a few that bordered on woo woo.

Therapist, I had one I think was manic. It was my first session and she went on and on about women’s rights and fashion how in the twenties women bonded the breasts to be able to wear flapper dresses. I chimed in about corset s and away she went again. Never went back.

By by I did pretty good with therapy and therapists it was the pdoc s that were out in la la land some of them. One wouldn’t look at me, I consider eye contact very important and I read faces. He just kept his face down and in his notes. Another yelled at me that unless I took what he prescribed he’d have me locked up. He was way over prescribing and I wasn’t having it. I walked out and never saw him again.

@Soupe du jour:

Wow! You've run into some real lulus! I heard that people get attracted to the study of psychology and psychiatry because they are trying to figure out what is wrong with themselves. We all seem to be bearing the brunt of that!

I had a psychiatrist who gave me lots of compliments but he was a European gentleman, a Czech actually, and i quite enjoyed them. This was way back in my twenties when i was still thin and physically fit and employed and wore fancy career clothes. He's say how "chic" and "elegant" i looked and i didn't mind a bit.

I did mind tho when i was not able to work anymore and got divorced and put on weight and my hair turned grey and i lost all interest in fashion and his manner turned cold and he seemed delighted to discharge me when i moved away. I guess he was a bit of a womanizer, in the end. It's funny how loosely these "helping professionals" interpret the ethics of their professions!

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by wildflowerchild25

I never tried it but it was suggested to me when I got my dx at 25 to do “thought-field” therapy. Apparently it involves the therapist tapping on different parts of the upper body and hands to like release energy or something. Yeah I was like I’m good thanks

~~~~~ ~~~~~

[MuddyBoots]

I went to an IOP when I was an adolescent where they had their own set of "behavioral guidelines" and it was very impractical and cult-like. I called them all pussies after they told me to give up all control of everything. But actually they were the most helpful people on my journey thus far I kinda needed some "pussifying" back then

[Crazy Hitch]

I had a super weird therapist once who made me meditate to the invisible green triangle in the middle of the room.

[Nammu]

Originally Posted by Crazy Hitch

I had a super weird therapist once who made me meditate to the invisible green triangle in the middle of the room.

If it was invisible how’d the T know it was green? 😂

[*Beth*]

I have been both looking forward to and dreading writing on this thread. It's going to take a lot of work I'll probably have to break it into separate posts. Well, I'll just avoid going into an immense amount of detail.

Holotropic Breathwork, Jane? Here's my experience with that.....

When I was 18 I was living with my future husband. He followed (still follows) a spiritual path called "A Course in Miracles." It's a set of 3 books, 2 of which are very thick and dense. The material is supposed to have been channeled through a woman (Judith Skutch) by Jesus. (Okay, there really is some wonderful stuff in the Course, but Jesus.....? Who knows.)

Anyway, David and I were regularly attending a Course in Miracles group. The woman who facilitated the group was a very special person. Truly. One day she invited David and I to go with her to a friend's house in Larkspur. Larkspur is in Marin County (northern California, not far from San Francisco) and is one of the most wealthy towns in the nation, along with some other towns in Marin County. The reason I'm mentioning that is because Marin County is a haven for The Rich & Famous.

So David and I, our friend, and some friends of hers drove to this absolutely breathtaking house in Larkspur. It was on top of a hill close to the ocean. The house was multi-level, sprawling all over the place, redwood hot tubs, a pool, incredible landscaping, magnificent redwood trees on the property, on and on. Unforgettably gorgeous.

Okay, so the place was packed with people and while I deeply appreciated the beauty of the environment I very quickly picked up the vibe that there was a whole lotta schmoozing and name-dropping going on. Everybody was trying to impress everybody. Wine flowed, coke and pot were plentiful for anyone who wanted to imbibe. Who knows what else, my guess is that psychedelics were to be had, if so desired. Tables of food, and plenty of half-dressed or undressed people running around the redwood hot tubs and around the pool.

Alright, I could write a book. So I'll skip further description and get to the point. There were 3 people at the party who were the "stars of the show." They were Stan Grof, his wife Christina, and Jerry Jampolsky. People were flocked around the Grofs, and Jerry J. was sitting on a window seat with a semi-circle of women sitting at his feet, gazing up at him and hanging on his every word.

Okay, all 3 - the Grofs, Jampolsky - I know they've done some revolutionary work in the field of mental health. All three clearly very bright, thinking human beings. People I call "limousine liberals" - they really do care about others...they just care about themselves first in a rather (cough, cough) narcissistic manner.

The party went on the way parties do, and so many people! I felt awkward; I was only 18 and everyone else was older. I was a different generation. I wasn't one for azz-kissing and I truly sucked at such things as being a flirt. For one thing, that was some years prior to medication and individual therapy (as opposed to the "rap groups" that were popular). I was working hard at holding myself together mentally in those days. Well, I still am, haha.

At some point Jerry Jampolsky spotted me and invited me to attend a Holotropic Breathing workshop that he was giving with Stan Grof.

I was intent on, very serious about, "working through my stuff" in almost whatever way the opportunity presented itself to me. So a few weeks later I went to the Holotropic Breathing workshop. I laid on the carpet (I remember that it was dark green and not very soft) with a group of people who were also lying on the carpet. Stan Grof was leading the thing and Christina Grof was participating. There was another man helping out, but I don't recall his name. Jerry Jampolsky was kind-of...observing.

For 60 minutes I submitted myself to doing Holotropic Breathwork (which to me felt like a fancy way of saying "hyperventilating"). 60 minutes. Altered state is right! I don't understand why people didn't straight up pass out from breathing like that. At one point Jampolsky came over to me, squatted down on his knees and pressed his hands really hard into my upper chest while I was doing the breathwork. I remember feeling odd, partly because he has his hands right above my breasts and partly because I felt like he was going to fracture my collarbone.

I remember how absolutely relieved I was when I left that awful experience. I feel lousy to say bad things about those people, but frankly I think they'd done waaaaay too much acid back in the day.

If that were today? HA. I would have stood up and left 5 minutes into that silly "therapeutic" practice.

So. There's my first Whack Therapy experience. I have to add that after that day I threw out the books by the Grofs that I owned. Spiritual Emergency, my azz.

@BethRags:

I'm sorry that you had this dreadful experience but how delightful that we're both connected thru Stan Grof -- i thru reading him and being treated by his brother Paul and you thru having met Stan in person! The world is a small place. I never thought i would meet someone else who'd experienced holotropic breathwork and here you are, someone i have known for years! Thanks for sharing.

Stan also wrote a book called "LSD Therapy." I thought that was absurd when i heard it way back in the nineties, but the Ketamine treatments that are gaining in acceptance are sort of like LSD therapy.

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by whatever2013

@BethRags:

I'm sorry that you had this dreadful experience but how delightful that we're both connected thru Stan Grof -- i thru reading him and being treated by his brother Paul and you thru having met Stan in person! The world is a small place. I never thought i would meet someone else who'd experienced holotropic breathwork and here you are, someone i have known for years! Thanks for sharing.

And I sure never thought I'd meet someone who had experienced Holotropic breathwork, either! Crazy! I look back on that and it's hard for me to believe I was too shy to stand up and just walk right out. What a farce that was - "whack" is the perfect word!

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by whatever2013

Stan also wrote a book called "LSD Therapy." I thought that was absurd when i heard it way back in the nineties, but the Ketamine treatments that are gaining in acceptance are sort of like LSD therapy.

Yup. He, among some of these other "notables" was a devotee of Timothy Leary who, in my opinion, fried his brain with acid. I definitely understand what they were seeking. The spirituality, all of it. I get that. But the amount of psychedelics those people did...I really think they were all messed up from it.

I know, the ketamine treatments. Hilarious - what goes around, comes around. Well, all I can say is that I hope once it's refined it can help people. But I'm still skeptical. The only person I know who received ketamine treatments was a man I was in a NAMI group with. He was soft spoken, very kind. He'd had a ketamine treatment for severe depression and he'd freaked out badly during the treatment. Essentially, a "bad trip." He had PTSD from it. I felt so bad for him. The pdocs he was working with told him that his reaction was unusual. Whatever....

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Look what showed up in my facebook feed:


Should You Try Holotropic Breathwork? – Cleveland Clinic

@BeyondtheRainbow:

Haha! What a coincidence!

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

Look what showed up in my facebook feed:

Should You Try Holotropic Breathwork? – Cleveland Clinic

Oh, just great I am shocked that people are still falling for that type of (cough, cough) "therapy." I like how they list the reasons not to do the breathing. I AM surprised that no one (at least that we've ever heard of) has had a heart attack or stroke while doing holotropic breathing. Also, the place in Big Sur is "Esalen" not "Ellen."

[downandlonely]

I had one therapist in training when I was a grad student. She didn't say much and just stared at me most of the time. I only saw her a few times.

@BethRags:

There are only three degrees of separation between us:

1. You knew Stan Grof
2. Stan Grof is the brother of Paul Grof
3. I knew Paul Grof

Haha!

[*Beth*]

My next whack therapy experience.

I was in a small (4 women), intensive group for survivors of sexual abuse. The group met once weekly, 90 minutes/session, for six months. The location where the group was held was pretty and comfortable, a big old Victorian house with offices for several therapists and an acupuncturist. The acupuncturist was a friend of mine, which was how I found out about the group.

Each prospective member had to be interviewed for the group to find out if the person and the group were a good fit (we were told). The facilitator was rather beautiful, in a fashion model way. She was tall and willowy with long blonde hair and big blue eyes. She dressed in a creative way, very artsy. She was about 40, but looked younger. Never married, no children.

The group was intense and the 4 of us group members bonded almost immediately. Some of the stories were rough and hard to hear. I found the other members to be so helpful and easy to talk with. The therapist herself, I was meh about her. I felt like she didn't have the same type of life experience that the members, who were all wives and mothers, had. She was a single woman, definitely devoted to her clients, but living in a pretty different world than the rest of us, moms who were juggling work and schedules and marriages and so on. Nothing bad, just very different.

About 5 months into the group one of the members (who is still a friend of mine, all these many years later) became very ill. She had damage to her uterus and was bleeding so badly that she looked ghastly pale. She was hospitalized and had to have a blood transfusion, then a hysterectomy.

When she returned to group a couple of weeks later she seemed renewed and looked much healthier, rosy and lively. She said she felt really well and was so glad to have finally had a hysterectomy, since she wasn't having any more children, anyway.

The facilitator listened intently. Then she said that she believed (group member) needed to mourn the loss of her uterus. Group member, who was a very open and honest woman, said that no, not really...she was grateful to have been able to have children and was glad to be rid of her uterus, which was causing her such health problems.

The facilitator was insistent. It was like she was driven to prove her point that the group member needed to grieve the loss of her uterus. The group member gently stood her ground. I spoke out and said, essentially, are you listening to her (facilitator)? She's healthy now and happy to be healthy! The other 2 women said Yeah - are you hearing her? She feels good now!

The therapist sort-of turned on us and said something about how we weren't understanding the importance of a woman needing to grieve the end of her reproductive years. Okay. Worth consideration. But then the facilitator looked at each of us and explained that she believed aliens were "taking care" of the planet, protecting people from hurting each other. Furthermore, she said, she had chosen us for her group because we were Pleiadians, put on the planet to help keep peace in the human race. She started talking about a certain energy field...something...to this day I do not understand what she was talking about. Nor do I know what the alien thing had to do with a uterus.

I remember the dead silence in that little office. The four of us just sat there. Okay, so who knows, right? Maybe we were Pleiadians from Pleiades. What do I know? Buuut...to be told, especially in a group with such a sensitive topic as its focus, that we had been chosen for the group because we were alien beings...it was pretty awful. I guess a kind-of sense of betrayal, as if the therapist had a motive that was entirely different than the one she told us she had.

We had only 2 or 3 sessions of group left. That night after group the 4 of us got together outside in the parking area and talked. We decided that since none of us were exactly wild about the therapist anyway, that we would remain in the group until it ended and just support each other. Shut her out, more or less. And that's what we did. When I look back, I have a creepy feeling about that therapist. But the friendships I developed with the other three women were strong. I still have communication with one woman, the woman who had had the hysterectomy. I have no idea where the other 2 women are, but I still have a warm feeling about them.

Am I a Pleiadian? I have no idea. If I am, I sure don't know it Whatever the case, that therapist handed out some whack therapy for sure!

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by whatever2013

@BethRags:

There are only three degrees of separation between us:

1. You knew Stan Grof
2. Stan Grof is the brother of Paul Grof
3. I knew Paul Grof

Haha!

You know, that's wild - especially considering how far apart we live!

@BethRags:

So close and yet so far!

There seems to be a wide variety among therapists, with more than their share of wacky lulus like the one you described. Happy you made a friend tho and bonded with all the members. So sorry you had reason to attend the group in the first place tho. You certainly have had a wide experience of the human condition.