Can you become a therapist if you have mental problems?

Hi Pole cat. I'm not trying to disrespect, but this is a illness that I have. New studies show yes ptsd in childhood trauma can cause brain damage. There is no research I've come across that states the brain can heal and build new pathways to cure ptsd. From my understanding there is no overcoming all forms of ptsd. In cases like myself I have talk therapy and meds to help control symptoms not heal or overcome ptsd.

http://med.stanford.edu/news_release...h/carrion.html

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The woman who founded the Dialectical Behavior Therapy for people w/ BPD (I'm so sorry I can't think of her name) has just recently told the world about her struggles with mental illness (extreme case of Borderline disorder). If she could go on to have such a successful career helping people then anybody can !!!

People still discriminate regardless of the anti discrimination laws, it happens all the time in the medical field. I didn't get a position for a job in the medical field because when they drug tested me they found that I was taking risperdal and other prescribed meds. There really was no tangible proof that they discriminated against me, but it was obvious after the second interview and drug test.

Regarding the OP original question, it should be fine to be a therapist as long as your symptoms/illness does not affect your work ethic or your patients.

Yes the brain CAN heal itself. But not in EVERY situation, or for EVERY condition. We can nit pick, or argue, but what's the point? I'm not a professional, I haven't personally conducted any studies, I just research because of my own condition, looking for answers. Take what you want from an open forum, do your own research, make up your own mind. What I posted is still true, or I wouldn't have bothered...

Marsha linehan. She "came out" about that in the NYT in 2011. She hid it for all those years. It was a really big deal. Better late than never but I think it would have been a bonus if she had shared it earlier. Linehan considers herself "cured" and she doesn't take meds.

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Mindful practice in some form of meditation (of your choice) will modify connections in a positive way. There are more and more studies all the time. I can't even fathom that art as a therapeutic practice doesn't go a long way to helping. They have research in this too. A brain damaged on one side will use the other to compensate. (Right brain, left brain is bunk.) I have seen what I can do with Neuro feedback. It measures brain wave so you can see it.

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Thanks for this link, I found it useful

I do meditation, have been since I got sober in AA. I think it's a very good coping technique as is deep breathing, exercise and diet. The brain damage in research is the hypothalamus. My point is that this is a very recent finding, so I don't believe this research is finished let alone if scientists know for a fact it can be reversed. I just don't want to think, hooray a cure when the truth may be I can only improve. It can be more discouraging.

If there's a way to get ptsd out of a person's life 35 years after a childhood trauma for that I'm glad as it will be a blessing.

I guess we will all have to agree to disagree.

Tnt

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When I was younger, I often thought about being a therapist because I was interested in helping people with anxiety disorders like mine, but I soon realized that I'm easily triggered by others so it just wasn't a viable career option for me.

On the other hand, the counseling office I go to, the director/founder had spent time in in-patient for her own demons and recovered. So it really depends on the type of person you are.

Dr. Deborah Serani, Ph.D

If your looking for something to "take it away" I don't think you will find it. I'm not sure that isn't by design.

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OT.

Dr Serani's specialty is depression, not PTSD in which experts have no idea what it does and where it is in the brain, much more how to cure it.

As for the OP, I stick with the APA guidelines that a person needs to be 5 years without a mental defect before rendering good quality therapy to others.

That's fair, but I would say that rarely has much to do with whether or not those issues are actually officially diagnostic in nature.

Marsha M. Linehan is one, Kay Redfield Jamison is another who has been diagnosed and struggled with severe mental health issues and used that experience to make great contributions to mental health treatment and research.

There is no reason a person can not be a treatment provider if they are stable and have a solid treatment plan in place for the times they become ill- like any other chronic illness.

As far as brain damage being turned around- this can absolutely happen. There are a few medications, mostly anti-epileptics, that can actually help repair damaged neurological pathways and it has been shown again and again.

Many different mental illnesses produce some level of brain damage over time, but the idea that damage is irreparable is no longer thought to be true across the board.

My point was not what her specialty is. And I was responding directly to the OP, not the mini off-topic debate that has ensued since she opened the discussion. Did the OP mention anywhere in her first post anything about PTSD? 'Related' is not the same as on-topic or directly discussing it.

My point is that this is a successful, recognized individual with a doctorate who has actually experienced for herself what her clientele goes through. Obviously some people would disagree that people don't truly understand something until they've been through it themselves.

Reading from textbooks made for classroom settings for four years meanwhile of then 'gaining experience' in a university lab or by being in the same proximity with people in emotional crisis for a grad school recommendation is not true understanding. Being driven enough to 'want to help people' because 'my parent/sibling/grandparent/friend/cousin/celeb idol - whoever - goes through it/went through it' is not true understanding, just the same as 'I saw it on TV/in ___ movie/read it in ___'s book on ____' isn't either. 'I regularly read/visit ___ specialty website/news/magazine/blog on the field/client experiences won't give them true understanding. Attending grad school seminars and completing fieldwork for credit and/or an income around emotionally distressed clientele is not true understanding. Lying to clients before and/or after they get licensed to practice that they've been through the same battle to provide false comfort, confidence and/or a feeling of kinship will not give them true understanding. None of these things will give a professional/professional candidate true understanding. Years of being in practice with a masters or doctorate degree with licensure while seeing countless people who have gone through/are going through the pains of emotional/mental disorder won't give these professionals true understanding.

Going through the pain of feeling, being treated and/or told they're 'different' by family, partners, friends, strangers, co-workers, colleagues, professionals and/or neighbors for themselves will give them true understanding. Being failed and/or helped by the system will give them true understanding. Going through the similar pain of having similar experiences as the millions who struggle with emotional and/or mental disorders will give them true understanding.

Not simply sitting in a classroom, not simply being in a university lab, not simply being in a hospital 'for exposure', not simply being in a clinic/center 'for exposure' and for d**n sure not simply being in a private practice office.

Until these people experience the pain first hand for themselves, they will not truly understand. Going through 'similar' but not the same pain will not give them true understanding either. To them, it's all theory from that academic journal/textbook by colleagues being applied to 'cases'. We're not just 'cases', we're people. People with importance, even if some us don't see it or never will see it.

If you're reading this and you didn't know any of this before reading it, then you have a s**t load to learn about the true nature of this field.

The most important thing is not just understanding: what I'm talking about is genuine understanding. Deeper than sympathy. Empathy. True, genuine empathy. What else are you in treatment for? You wouldn't be there if you didn't want that. It's essential for making progress. No one is wrong for not wanting to go to a professional who hasn't been through the struggle themselves; many people have very valid reasons for that.

However there are those that don't mind or would actually prefer it. So no, my point has nothing to do solely with PTSD and it doesn't have to. If that's what you think, frankly you're way off the mark. The OP's first post had nothing to do with PTSD. Know now that my point to posting Dr. Serani's name and this long ***** essay is to tell all who read it that the individual with the clipboard and master's or doctorate with licensure doesn't necessarily fully understand or empathize.

So...
it's great that you want to keep the conversation on track, but you also seem to assume in simply posting a name that people can read your mind and intuit your intentions, and then got a bit snappy when they weren't able to do either.


You speak of empathy but fail to see your post from another's perspective- where a 3rd party would have no actual knowledge of the true reason you posted a single name.

I know it can be frustrating when people don't understand where you are coming from right away but more information, even if you may think it unnecessary, is often way more helpful than less.

Thanks.

I see what you're saying, and agree that a few short words could've been added to the post.

I'm also glad you carefully wrote the word "seem", considering how each person reads and interprets the same thing will be different. There actually is a s**t ton of info about the field. I did write a long *** essay. And it is annoying when people don't understand you. We've all experienced that. I purposely wrote the post at that length in so much detail allowing whoever reads it to understand my frustration with mental health professionals who don't have a genuine understanding for the people they work with.

However if my annoyance was solely directed at posters who didn't address the OP's concern with becoming one herself, I would've bluntly said so and been openly "snappy". I'm not one to coat my words unless where appropriate with a delicate person.

I appreciate your being polite about your thoughts.

My comment was directed to those who wish to be licensed psychologists in the USA. As I mentioned, the guideline is one I recall from my time ... and may not be written the same today.

The spirit of the guideline exists though and deals with professional competence.

Read more here

The OP asked an honest question. I gave my educated understanding of an answer. Be well.

In the state where I live you have to provide documentation that you are stable if you've been under treatment for mental health problems when you apply for licensure.

In my opinion, the key factor is whether the therapist has their own problems under control. There are some people in the field who are in worse shape than their clients. Again, in my opinion, their license should be suspended until they are better.

No everyone who enters the field did so because of their own struggles with mental illnes, but many did. Speaking from personal experience, I used to be dissociative, had many of the diagnostic criteria for PTSD and have major depression. Through years of hard work in therapy and the appropriate meds my symptoms are either gone or under control. I can say that my own struggles give me insight into what my clients are dealing with.

I started as a psychology major my first semester in college when I was 18 years old. I really loved psychology. It was something that I could relate to, and was driven to understand. I had never had any therapy myself at that point, but I knew that my family was weird and that I was not like most people, and I think that I knew that I was depressed. I wanted to understand myself and my family, and was still under my parents' control, and in my family it was unacceptable to ask for help or talk to anyone about having mental health issues, but I was able to take the classes that I wanted to in college.

One of my Psychology 101 professors made a statement in a lecture to a class of like 700 students that "if you are interested in psychology because you are trying to figure yourself out, we don't want you in this field." I felt like he was talking directly to me, even though he had no idea who I was, and because of his statement I gave up on my interest in psychology. I changed my major, but I kept taking psychology classes anyway when I could fit them into my schedule, and by the time I was in my third year of college I realized that I was on track to complete a second major in psychology, so I did, because I could, and because it was something I never lost interest in, even though I was still convinced that I could never work in this field.

When I was not accepted to graduate school in speech pathology, which was the alternative I had switched to, even though I was an honors student and almost of the rest of my class was accepted, because the faculty thought that I was odd and lacking social skills, I gave up on everything for a long time. I had been in therapy a couple of times in those years but the therapists I went to failed to recognize my depression, let alone anything else significant. They told me that I was just homesick.

I was lost to severe depression and hopelessness for 13 years before I hit my lowest point and started to look for answers. I read a book by a psychologist, Martha Manning, who developed severe depression and was hospitalized and had ECT and went back to work as a psychologist after her treatment and enough of a recovery period for her memory to start functioning again after the ECT.

I started to read about other mental health professionals who struggled with mental illness, like Kay Redfield Jamison with bipolar disorder, and any others I could find out about. I figured that if they could do it, so could I, and I went back to school in psychology, got a master's degree in counseling, and became a therapist.

It hasn't been easy, and I have continued to go to therapy when needed, and my most recent diagnoses include major depression, GAD (I think that social anxiety makes more sense and have had that diagnosis too), PTSD, and Asperger's disorder. The most recent diagnoses are from last Fall. I have trouble with keeping jobs because I have problems working with employers (I have had some really bad employers), and because after a while my employers notice that I am odd and they don't want to work with me, and they discriminate. But I work well with my clients, and my employers agree that I am a good therapist and have excellent clinical skills. The problems that I have with working I would have no matter what profession I were in.

Everybody is different. There are some people who would be triggered too much or have mental health problems that might be harmful to their clients. There are some who don't have enough insight into their own problems, some who deny having their own problems, those who are too mentally ill at a given time, etc. There are also people who take responsibility, get support when needed, and are able to be good therapists. Some therapists lack insight, maybe because they haven't worked through their own issues. I don't think that I know anyone who is entirely without mental defect, although some people have more challenges than others. We need to be responsible and make the best choices for ourselves. But there are plenty of good therapists who have or had severe mental illnesses, so don't let anybody tell you that you can't do what you want to do if you are capable of doing it. This isn't for everyone though, and if you believe that you shouldn't do this work, don't feel bad about that either. We also need to listen to feedback and get a reality check sometimes. I know therapists who are licensed and practicing who shouldn't be. But even though I have my ongoing struggles and some that will continue indefinitely, there is nobody who knows me, including my clients, co-workers, and my own therapists, who is telling me that I shouldn't be working as a therapist.

I haven't read this entire thread, but I have been in therapy (excellent, btw) with therapists in the Veteran's Administration and the therapists themselves are dealing with PTSD.

The last T I saw told me in our first session that he had suffered from Social Anxiety. The fact that I could see him functioning and having achieved a role as a clinical psychologist was a huge boost right from the start.

I'd not like to live in a world where people who'd suffered or were suffering from MH issues were refused the option to help others in the same boat. They should be assessed for their suitability to practice using the same standards as everyone else.

And as others have said, Marsha Linehan is a prime example. She has developed a BPD therapy based around her own experience with the condition in a way a non sufferer probably couldn't have.

Thankfully the days of the healthy "expert" telling the sick "patient" to get well are over and therapy is often a two way process. The therapist can learn as much from the client as the other way round.

Good post, Harmacy.