![]() |
FAQ/Help |
Calendar |
Search |
#26
|
||||
|
||||
My sentiment is kind of similar to Skyzeeks. I feel I've grown so much on my own and have learned so much about my life and life in general that no mainstream therapist would be enlightened enough even to begin to understand me, let alone help me. My experiences and the lessons I've learned from them are so much bigger than just "clinical" problems that I'd protest being squeezed into a "diagnosis" that needs to be "treated".
|
![]() msrobot, pachyderm
|
#27
|
|||
|
|||
Ididitmyway, I also thought Skyzeeks said it well. I've hit that place in my life where I have to admit I'm aging (much to my chagrine
![]() Even though I did have some very specific diagnoses, I was fortunate to have therapists and pdocs who didn't "treat" my diagnosis, but rather, treated ME. I think that is why they were very so effective. Yes, they had to keep my diagnosis in mind when it came to helping me, but they never lost focus on the fact that I was me first, and those symptoms I was experiencing were challenges to get past so that they didn't keep getting in my way. I doubt I will ever go back into therapy unless it is for a brief time for some very specific reason (though I don't foresee what that would be or that even happening). I've reached a place where I can finally see things pretty clearly for myself, where I can manage even when pretty major crap heads my way (and it does fairly regularly still). I think that is what I always wanted to come out of therapy being able to do, so it served it's purpose got me to that goal. |
![]() msrobot, pachyderm
|
#28
|
|||
|
|||
Therapy only set me backwards for a variety of reasons. I established a stronger presence in the world pursuing my goals and career, in "protecting" family members, through the arts, through friendships, through pet ownership, through yoga and other exercise, through rehab physical therapy, in the outdoors, through setting up my household. I wish I can say I was better at healthy eating and cooking, but believe self-care is certainly "therapeutic" in many both in process and in effect.
This blog explores why therapy may be unbeneficial to some. https://trytherapyfree.wordpress.com...y-free-part-1/ |
![]() Anonymous37904
|
![]() BudFox
|
#29
|
|||
|
|||
LOL! I'm with you there. I've decided I like to eat all the wrong things, but I'm getting better with my diet and I do think it helps and is certainly an important aspect of self-care. It's become a family affair around here which really helps as we are all in it together. I also receive a great benefit from the arts and relationships as you mentioned. In my case it took the help of therapy to get me to the place where I could finally incorporate those activities and pursuits into my life so they could work as an effective replacement for formal therapy. I was very fortunate to have a therapist and pdoc who encouraged me to do so.
|
![]() missbella
|
#30
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
|
![]() feralkittymom
|
#31
|
|||
|
|||
Absolutely. I sing with a major symphony chorus and it definitely feeds my soul in many ways.
|
![]() Bill3, missbella, Partless
|
#32
|
|||
|
|||
I always say that therapists are like hair stylists. 20 out of 100 are mediocre, 2 out of 100 are really talented, and the rest...meh.
I was incredibly fortunate to be the client of a psychologist who worked for the veteran's administration (my husband is a vet and therapy was free). I saw him every week for 6 years, many years ago. He gave me "tools" that still help me to this day. Before and after him, the therapists I saw were very mediocre. The most recent one I saw, this year, really sucked. She tried, but just didn't get it. So...I'm not really looking for a therapist anymore. Not unless I happen to somehow find out about one that is outstanding and very low-cost. |
![]() newday2020
|
![]() pachyderm
|
#33
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
|
![]() msrobot
|
#34
|
||||
|
||||
I think I'm reaching the end of regular therapy. My next is about 8 weeks from my last visit with an option to push it out longer if I'm doing well. So, hopefully in a year I'll be done.
|
![]() Anonymous37904, Bill3
|
#35
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
|
![]() Bill3, feralkittymom
|
#36
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
|
![]() Anonymous37904
|
![]() Argonautomobile
|
#37
|
|||
|
|||
My last long term therapy was totally ruinous (attachment, obsession, rejection, humiliation, abandonment…). Prior attempts were inconsequential (except lost time and money). Subsequent attempts have ranged from mediocre to moderately bad. The damaging therapy put me in the abject position of feeling like I need therapy, but now I dont trust it nor do i believe in the paradigm. Like being driven down a long dark road and then abandoned, and then not wanting to risk getting into another car with a total stranger. Another obstacle is that I would have to pay one therapist to help me overcome the damage done by another (who also got paid). Attempted this many times last year and it felt decidedly unethical and exploitive.
Besides spiritual pursuits, connecting with nature, creative/artistic stuff, one alternative to therapy in terms of improving mental health is addressing physical health problems. The brain is affected by a lot of things going on in the body -- hormones, nervous system, gut health, nutrition. The gut especially is critical for brain health ("second brain"). I read recently that 80-90% of the messages between the two go from gut to brain. Much of the neurotransmitters are made in the gut and the flora/bacteria there are thought to have huge impact on cognition and mood. |
![]() pachyderm
|
#38
|
||||
|
||||
I am not "in" therapy and haven't been for several years. I dread looking for a T, because I never have had, and do not now have, the self-confidence to know for certain when a T is good or not. I think I could be sucked into a disaster -- which is what my first therapy was. Started out OK but eventuated in a hellish experience which nearly killed me and which took decades of my life to slowly crawl out of, to the extent that I have done that. I have sought T's since then and have had one or two passable ones, but I need, or want, a great deal more than that. As a couple of others here have said, I am now old, and not full of money either. Most of the improvement I have made over the years have been on my own, by reading, etc. I feel the general level of real expertise in the mental health field is not high -- so my chances of finding a really good T are also not high. My ability to cope is so variable that I cannot predict ahead of time who I will be if I make an appointment for any fixed time. I don't see that most therapists understand that.
Maybe the general level of therapists is better now than it was in the past, when I had most of my experiences with the field. But I just don't know. I feel the general level of understanding in the mental health field is on a par with the level in physical medicine of the 19th century perhaps. Not good. So many people who seem to me to know nothing and who have not the slightest idea that that is the case. This is the only thread I have felt like participating in on Psych Central for some time. And that's partly because I am in a relatively "good" condition of mind at the moment.
__________________
Now if thou would'st When all have given him o'er From death to life Thou might'st him yet recover -- Michael Drayton 1562 - 1631 |
![]() Anonymous37817, BudFox, feralkittymom, Ididitmyway, unaluna
|
![]() BudFox, here today, Ididitmyway
|
#39
|
|||
|
|||
So sorry about your struggles and experience Pachyderm. I appreciate reading about it, though.
|
![]() pachyderm
|
#40
|
||||
|
||||
I wonder if we need a "not therapy" thread, in addition to a no therapy thread. Like some people say what they do is "not therapy", and interject practically every time i comment with how they see the given situation in their "not therapy" paradigm.
Well a broadway musical is "not therapy". it might be just as inappropriate to be quoting showtune lyrics every other post. I wonder how dr john would handle that. ![]() |
#41
|
||||
|
||||
Wow that's awesome
|
#42
|
||||
|
||||
Technically, this thread is more related to Other Treatments - Forums at Psych Central or Self-Help Ideas and Goal Setting - Forums at Psych Central
__________________
"Odium became your opium..." ~Epica |
#43
|
|||
|
|||
It started off as mixed emotions about returning to therapy and people are chiming in about therapy. Seems on topic to me. Technically I would say it fits here. Certainly a thread may fit under more than area, but that does not keep it from fitting the one the OP chose.
In some ways, I don't use the therapists as many people here report doing. I don't need either of them although I choose to continue and have found ways to have them be useful. My point is that one might be able to find a use for a therapist that is not based upon a sense of need, but rather a sense of want for a purpose that may or may not be traditional.
__________________
Please NO @ Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. Oscar Wilde Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. |
![]() Argonautomobile, atisketatasket, feralkittymom, Pennster
|
#44
|
||||
|
||||
You always have something to say against my posts...
__________________
"Odium became your opium..." ~Epica |
![]() unaluna
|
#45
|
||||
|
||||
Ditto. And im getting tired of it. It doesnt even make sense. Ie not you scarlet.
|
#46
|
|||
|
|||
If one is trying to decide between whether going back to a therapist would be useful or not - then I think there may be varying approaches and opinions on how one makes that decision. I am just giving my opinions like everyone else.
__________________
Please NO @ Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. Oscar Wilde Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. |
![]() feralkittymom
|
#47
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
I wonder how important or necessary you would rate some sort of some sort of planned, conscious, ongoing self-maintenance or personal aftercare to be for those who have used therapy to recover from perverting and distorting events that occurred in childhood. |
![]() feralkittymom
|
#48
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
For me, reflective writing has always played a role, so it was already integrated into my life. And as an academic, study comes naturally, so it doesn't feel like something I have to adopt. Though there has been some cross-over between my self-study reading and my academic research, that wasn't planned. The extra benefit to me of reflective writing is that it gives me a very tangible window into my thinking and emotions that both reveals insights and serves as a way to process difficulties when and if they occur. It's not a practice I do on a regular, planned basis: more as the mood strikes, as events occur, as a response to life. A lot of my writing isn't centered on myself, but rather on my thoughts about external events. Just tonight, I wrote about the horror that is unfolding in Dallas, and the echoes I feel to events in the 1960's. Of course, in doing so, I unearth feelings that also reflect my personal history. It's the melding of the two that encourages a perspective on my life as embedded in the world beyond my self; I think that balance is important. Others may experience the same through music or spirituality or nature or any number of pursuits. I think without an intention to relate beyond our self-state, we risk ending therapy and being left with the question, "Now what?" |
![]() Bill3, pachyderm, unaluna
|
#49
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
For myself, I'm undecided about returning to therapy and I'm taking a break. I benefitted from therapy with an unexpected rough patch - but that did not erase the years of therapy's benefits. I think I'm ok with no therapy at this time but my pdoc prefers me in therapy. I highly respect his medical opinion so I am giving a lot of thought about getting a T. We already have a lot of threads about people thriving in therapy along with other issues all about T and being in therapy. I wanted support and garnering of discussion for people not in therapy. Due to the volume of this forum, some people will not be in therapy and this is a space to voice that. It could even be a space to receive support of those needing therapy but having difficulty getting it. I think moving it out of this forum makes it a non-psychotherapy ever thread. Perhaps I poorly worded the title of the thread. There's no need to read this thread if it doesn't interest a member, etc. Therefore, I think this thread is about psychotherapy and provides balance to this forum. Of course, the mods will move it as they see fit. |
![]() feralkittymom, Rive.
|
#50
|
||||
|
||||
Not to mention, all those who read but never register or post, but who are also trying to make such a decision. I think this thread may address a wider community than anyone will know.
|
Reply |
|