Most Whack Therapy You've Ever Tried

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Originally Posted by whatever2013 @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.

Ha, yeah...wide experience is a nice way to put it; I like that.

The amusing thing about my friend is that during the group, I mentioned my last name (married name). She recognized it as my husband's last name. Turned out she had been my husband's girlfriend many years before. But they had parted as friends. Yes, it's a small world!

Beth your experience reminded me I might have escaped a wack therapy group! My pdoc wanted me to join this outpatient trauma group. It was several bus rides and a long walk to get there and I had to be there early in the morning. I was on a **** load of meds that made mornings tough. But I arrived on time for the interview. To be greeted by the therapist only to be told my energy was off and I was likely the member of a cult because I was wearing all black! Oh man I was so pissed all that for a 5 minute interview that was based on appearances.oh I should mention that this was in the early 80’s when goth was a thing.

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Originally Posted by Nammu Beth your experience reminded me I might have escaped a wack therapy group! My pdoc wanted me to join this outpatient trauma group. It was several bus rides and a long walk to get there and I had to be there early in the morning. I was on a **** load of meds that made mornings tough. But I arrived on time for the interview. To be greeted by the therapist only to be told my energy was off and I was likely the member of a cult because I was wearing all black! Oh man I was so pissed all that for a 5 minute interview that was based on appearances.oh I should mention that this was in the early 80’s when goth was a thing.

Ohhh, there are just waaay too many weirdos in the "helping" professions.

Anyone ever consider the chronological commitment to therapies Col. Bill Jengo adopted, "traversing the wilderness", in post Vietnam Montage during the Film, The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)? It is on Netflix now, and I wondered if any of those therapies were serious, beneficial, or long term helpful to the traumatized soldier from the Vietnam War.

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Originally Posted by Lydiamarilyn Anyone ever consider the chronological commitment to therapies Col. Bill Jengo adopted, "traversing the wilderness", in post Vietnam Montage during the Film, The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)? It is on Netflix now, and I wondered if any of those therapies were serious, beneficial, or long term helpful to the traumatized soldier from the Vietnam War.

Hmm, sounds interesting. My husband is a Vietnam vet. I'll check it out and get back to you on this thread.

So I've had a number of whack therapies along the way - especially seriously strange psychiatrists. I'll tell the story of an experience with a psychiatrist and it'll be my last whack story on this thread. It is whack, but also sad and very disturbing.

Six years ago I had an insurance change and the closest psychiatrist I could find who took my insurance was in a different town about 35 miles away. His office was located right in the downtown area, so although the drive there was kind-of long, parking was no problem.

I went to my first appointment and when I opened the door with his name on it I saw a narrow hall, short, with one chair sitting outside of a closed door. Not a soul in sight. No receptionist, which seemed odd. But I figured well, he must just make his own appointments.

I waited, sitting on the chair, for about 20 minutes. Finally the door opened, a woman left, and a man stood there smiling at me. He was short, balding, pudgy, about 60. He was friendly and asked me into his office. The office was fairly large, or at least it seemed to be, because the only things in there were his almost empty desk with a prescription pad and a cell phone sitting on it, his chair and a chair for the patient, a short file cabinet, and a big, old dog lying on the carpet, against the wall. The rest was empty space. Not a single adornment of any kind. Not even a landline telephone. No computer. A lot of empty carpet.

I sat down in the chair, Dr. whatever his name was, I've forgotten, took a very brief history, looked at me, and said, "What do you want?" I was confused and asked him what he meant. He said, just tell me what you want and I'll write out the prescriptions. I thought, Oh my God, this guy is a drug pusher, what should I do?

Then his cell phone rang. He said, "Excuse me" and picked it up off of his desk. The phone was on speaker so I could hear him and the woman he was speaking with. The woman was crying and said she was calling to cancel their dinner plans. The doctor was sort-of cooing at her, like "Ohhh, hunnn....come onnn...." The woman went on to say that she could not see him anymore because she was feeling guilty about both being his patient and his lover, too. All this time, she was crying loudly. She sounded like she was not in a safe mind state. He kept encouraging her to see him just that night, and they'd work things out. All this time I'm sitting there, thinking holy cow, this guy is a real creepster, but I need med refills. So I'll ask for those, then just get out of here.

Finally, after quite a while, he told the woman he'd call her back. She was still sobbing when he ended the call. I wondered about him having the phone on speaker. I wondered if he got off on patients hearing his conversations. Or if it was his way of letting patients know that he was "available."

I told the dude which medications I was on, the amounts, and he wrote out every prescription and handed them to me. I could have told him anything and he would have written a script for it.

I left, quite shaken up. Of course, I never went back. I got lucky and was able to get hooked in to the clinic I've been going to for years.

To this day I feel bad about not reporting that man to the appropriate board. The woman on the phone had sounded very fragile and he was obviously crossing all sorts of boundaries and breaking laws.

A whack experience that still gives me a shiver whenever I think about it. I really wish it would not have happened, because it just felt so yucky.

Boy Beth that is sad and very disturbing. 😳

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Originally Posted by Nammu Boy Beth that is sad and very disturbing. 😳

Yeah, you know, it was. I felt so sorry for the woman on the phone. She sounded truly desperate - and a lot younger than that psychiatrist was. Strange, almost any other time in my life I would have immediately reported the guy. But I was new to my town and feeling very isolated, needing pretty desperately to put my energy into getting connected with a med provider (my GP was not willing to prescribe psych meds), and I knew I needed a therapist. I guess in a word - overwhelmed. I felt like I couldn't take on more baggage. Still, it bothers me to this day. That old creep