[jazzy123456]

Vent: How come my T of a year and a half didn't ever say I had any type of problem that would need medication?

I've been with this new T for like 2 months and she's already recommended it, saying I should see a doctor.

In a perfect light, I would be saying, yeah I struggle from time to time, this could work.

The reality is though, my parents didn't validate my experiences, my old T told my parents their wasn't anything seriously wrong with me except for clinical depression...

so now I'm in a place of improvement and had spent at least a year and a half trying to convince everyone their was something wrong with me while everyone declined any type of issues...

so I'm offended. She even said for someone like me, with a history I've had, maybe with trauma or something, that a year and a half of therapy really isn't very long... and i need to allow myself to continue therapy for a while, as long as that is what I wanted.

It all feels so wierd to me. I don't want to email her or communicate with her about my symptoms of stuff cus I feel that's why she recommended I would need additional help. No one has ever thought this about me, even when I thought it for years, so by now, I just feel I've been programmed to not think I need help.

IT frustrates me. Especially cus I even shared worse stuff then this with my old therapist and worse symptoms and she never once suggested I would need to see a doctor or take medication.

[learning1]

hi Jazzy,
I think it's that different t's have very different opinions about meds. I've been to about 13 t's in my life. Two of them suggested anti-depressants on or near the first visit. I think they obviously just believed in anti-depressants, since they hardly knew anything about me except I said I was depressed. One of them continued suggesting it and I decided to stop seeing her for various reasons, including her pro-med orientation. I'm not sure I'm against meds, but she didn't seem cautious enough about them to me. The rest of the t's never mentioned meds.

Anyway, the result of all this experience is it seems like it's totally up to me whether to try anti-depressants. It doesn't seem like medical professionals really have much to go on in that decision. I wouldn't take your current t's recommendation as a suggestion that something is more seriously wrong than you thought before, I think she just has a different perspective about how to deal with it. If you don't want to take meds, I think she should respect that and not continue to push you. If you're not sure, it's trickier. You can ask her to discuss the pros and cons, but you already know her perspective. You are the one who has to decide.

[venusss]

Well, meds don't help with trauma if that is what you are dealing with. THey... just.... don't. They can take the edge off, if that is what you need... but they... will not adress the root of the issue and if you are overmedicated or incorrectly medicated, they may hinder the process. They will not give you sense of purpose either or inspiration on what to do with your life...

And you know.... meds do not always make you better. They do sometimes make you worse. So I don't think therapists should willy nilly recommend them and make them to seem as the miracle cure.

Yeah... maybe they can help, but you will still have to do the work and the living and ****.

so it's up to you. Doesn!t mean just because a current T recommends it that it is *it*.

Originally Posted by jazzy123456

my old T told my parents their wasn't anything seriously wrong with me except for clinical depression...

With all due respect, in this particular instance I think your old T showed an error of judgment if she believed you had a clinical depression and still didn't refer you to a medical doctor or even mention medication to you. Clinical depression is a medical condition. Therapists are (usually) not medical professionals but they are trained in spotting signs of this kind of medical condition, and they should definitely refer somebody displaying those signs to a MD or psychiatrist to discuss medication.

Medication doesn't help everybody, and of course it doesn't help with things like trauma or grief. But for many people it does much more than just "take the edge off things"; clinical depression is a disease that (among other things) distorts your perceptions because your brain chemistry is off. For many people it can really help in their therapy work if they don't have to fight against their brains' attempts to tell them things that aren't true just because their perceptions aren't working right.

I have no medical training. But I've done a lot of reading on this subject and discussed it with several MDs as well as a psychiatrist, and my understanding is that even though therapists may have different opinions about whether medication is helpful or not, people who are medical professionals are pretty much agreed that it is something that can help a lot of people. My opinion is that you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by discussing medication options with somebody who has the relevant training for it, which is to say, a MD or pdoc.

i agree that a lot of people are against meds and that is okay. but they literally save my life.
for one, some meds i have to take such as for epilepsy. that is a no brainer..
the other meds for depression definitely help. without them i am constantly struggling with the sui id and with them it is not a constant fight.
t is now talking about anti-psychotics; that i am waiting on, prefer to try all things BEFORE even mentioning to my pcp that t is recommending them..
so basically i guess i am "on the fence"...

they have theirs uses, but you do need to educate yourself!!!!