[growlycat]

How mentally healthy does your T think you are?
Does it match what you think of yourself?

I feel lately that the only difference between myself and a homeless lady talking to herself at the bus station is that I happen to have a good long term T and a set of talents keeping me employed. Inside, I'm as sick as that lady, but I don't think my CBT T realizes it.

I need lifelong care to keep me from going off the deep end. I worry that I'm treated like someone who is "fine" and just needs to tackle a few issues.

[unaluna]

I think t and i know i am this far " " from bus lady. But he likes to pretend im okay.

[stopdog]

I never thought I was sick and, as far as I know, the therapist did not either.

[ragsnfeathers]

This could be a topic for tomorrow.

[growlycat]

Originally Posted by ragsnfeathers

This could be a topic for tomorrow.

Would love to hear what results of that conversation, if you are willing to share!

[Nammu]

I put she thinks I'm sicker than I believe I am but it's not that cut and dried. She thinks I'm brilliant at some things and in Denial about being bipolar. But I get that, I understand why she thinks that. But I'm beginning to see why Pdocs and all them types keep laying the BP label on me. The meds I'm on now are mood stabilizers and APs and they are working a treat. They really did well finding the right meds, the BP meds.

[ragsnfeathers]

Sure. My appointment is at 12 so sometime after that.

[Ellahmae]

T is more concerned about me than I am about me. I keep everything so far away from me that at times it's hard for me to even really see how "off" I am. If that makes any sense.

[Victoria'smom]

T thinks I'm a lot more ill than I think I am. You can tell by the way he asks his weekly questions

[ThisWayOut]

Is hysterical, sarcastic laughter a valid response?
I think t would like to think I'm better than I am, but I certainly don't feel it (especially when triggered)

I never had any idea what my T thought of me. For myself, I have numerous life issues to deal with and thought seeing a T would help me. Instead, my T hurt me more than I ever dreamed he would.

we think i'm both at the same level of wellness. still ill, but not disablingly so.

[Suraya]

T doesn't believe I'm a depressed, anxious mess inside because I function so well. I tell her, but I can tell she doesn't believe me.

[JustShakey]

Previous T told me I was high functioning. I interpret that to mean could be like the bus lady but compensates to avoid being that way.
I don't believe T views me like that, neither do I anymore, but it was a function of the situation I was in...
I wasn't fine and I'm still not fine, but I don't like people seeing me as irreparably broken either.
Part of getting better is pretending to be okay... Maybe?
Disjointed post is disjointed.
Hang in there Growly, you'll get through this!

[secretgalaxy]

My old T didn't believe that I was as sick as I was until I had to look in her in the eye and tell her I am. Then I got put in the hospital.

My new T thinks I am in denial about a lot of things and when I give her an "I'm fine" answer about something, she will give me the "uh huh" look and will try to show me that I am not a stable as I think I am. She put me back on bi-weekly sessions as she thinks I am better. Even I know this time that I am not, but I am trying to downplay it as much as possible.

[BlessedRhiannon]

I think I've finally gotten to a point where I accept my level of illness and T and I now have the same view of where I'm at. For a long time, I think T thought I was much more ill than I did...I had a hard time accepting just how severe my anxiety and depression were. I mean, I knew it was bad, but it couldn't possibly be "that bad" because I was still functioning. I've finally learned that I'm just very good at functioning and appearing "normal" and that's not necessarily a good measure of my mental health.

[Chummy]

I'm not sure. I think we kind of agree on that. Maybe I think I'm a little bit worse than she think I am. She definitely thinks I can do more than I think I can. I think it might be a little hard to really understand if you haven't experience it yourself. I don't know.

[Giucy]

Ex-T thought I was sicker than I believed I was.
OTOH, my GP, prescribing pdoc and neurologist agreed on the level of my wellness/unwellness overall. Sometimes, I thought I was sicker than my GP thought I was. She congratulated me once to have insisted about symptoms she was not worried about because it avoided her a serious, even deadly misdiagnosis.
Interesting contrast to say the least !

Current T and I agree on the level of my wellness/unwellness. Last session, he was pleasantly surprised that two therapeutic techniques were such that medication was unnecessary to treat my panic attacks.

However, I trust more my current GP to judge my level of wellness/unwellness than a T.
First, she sees the whole picture contrary to a T who sees only the psych aspect. If I am depressed because I cannot even go to the bathroom because of a bad pericarditis, jumping on ADs is like shooting a mosquito with a gun !
Second, she doesn't pathologize every disagreement like control-freak Ts did to me. Actually, in GP's opinion, it's very rare we have a disagreement because of distorted thinking due to my psych issues (maybe once in 8 years, and she was not even sure we can blame it because of other parameters). Most of the time, disagreements comes from an important potential problem she didn't foresee and can lead to a disastrous outcome. (she is grateful I can smell those situations rather than repairing the disaster after). A control-freak T doesn't like this eventuality at all, as if their life depended on winning the contest with their patient.

I've noticed that control-freak Ts think that I'm sicker than I believe I am while non-control-freak Ts agree with my level of wellness/unwellness.
In my experience, assigning blame on mental illness for every disagreement can be very likely the cause for such difference.

[musinglizzy]

My first thought would be "I don't know." But at my last session, I told my T I've been feeling worse lately, and she said she's not convinced I'm feeling worse. She thinks instead I'm not putting on the act, being more real. No, I feel worse.

[divine1966]

I am not formally diagnosed with anything at this point, but my t says i exhibit signs of couple of things. I agree with her. What she sees in me that's about the same I see and struggle with. Pretty accurate

I did have a t about 5-6 years ago who was convinced I have no issues and have nothing to work on. Hmm I wish. I think maybe she felt that way because I never really shared much beyond small talk.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[iheartjacques]

T does know I struggle. But he thinks I'm strong and handle a lot of crap that would knock people down. So maybe he thinks I'm better than I think I am. But then if that were true, he'd be cutting back my medication. So.., all I know is that I try to stay stable and function and try to live a life.

[stopchewinggum]

This is the first T I've been able to convince that I am not, in fact, a raving lunatic. Before that, all of the mental health people I've worked with tried to convince me to quit school and join this specialized day program. As they described it, it kind of sounded like day care for the "severely" mentally ill. I was living with my mom, and they didn't trust me being home alone while she was at work. Anyways, does my T think I'm "sicker" than I think I am, probably, but then again, most people do. I always respond to a question with something I think is normal. Then she'll say that's not something most people would say yada yada, and then ask more questions about why I said that.

[WrkNPrgress]

I think I'm afraid to ask. I don't know why?

[possum220]

My p'doc/T thinks I am very mentally sick. I think where I am is normal. Normal for me anyway.

Basically, she convinced me I was using my thoughts of being mentally unhealthy to check out of living my life. I didn't want to even do the most minimal possible — breathe. I wanted her to help me convince my FO and my kid that I was mentally gone, a lousy mother, and I could no longer raise my kid. I just wanted to lie on the sofa, and turn my back to the world. That got her panties in a bunch, because I was in essence abandoning my kid. Abandoning children is a big no, no in her book if they are attached to you, good or bad. She believes in repair, unless it's the rarest of circumstances. At that point she was no longer uncomfortable telling me things that she knew I didn't want to hear. We slogged away for 18 months to get me out of the self loathing mode.

Once again, I became present for my child, took part in the community, addressed my education (abandoned it 25 years ago), and letting go of the hope that my parents, specifically mom, would give me what they couldn't give me as a child — safety and security, i.e. Good mothering. The best part, is I no longer have the voice that lived inside my head since I was 10 telling me 24/7 my life was worthless, I was of no value, and I should kill myself.

She convinced me to believe what she said she knew all along; I'm normal.