[Fuzzybear]

Has anyone experienced therapy with a therapist who has a mental illness themselves, who admits this, and who tells you they are a ''mess'' emotionally. I would prefer this to a therapist who has something like (probably untreated or unacknowledged) malignant narcissism or sociopathy who denies all their ''mistakes''.. and who calls a client paranoid for being hurt by repeated mud slinging and siding with the abusive ''parents'' at times even.

[luvyrself]

It's not very confidence inspiring for your t to say they are a mess unless they meant they are a mess in minor ways and laughing at it. I think that's very unwise if they mean they are seriously a mess. They are supposed to be solid for you. It isnt about them, tho nowadays many people are way down in the value of their savings. With that you could be sympathetic. Actually, I would prefer to have a high functioning bipolar pdoc or t because I dont think you can truly understand these issues unless you have experienced them to some degree and know what works best in alleviating our challenges..
I dont know about the rest of the issues you are describing, Fuzzy. It's really hard for us to guage what's happening in your interactions with these people. However, a professional that is describing themselves as a mess does not sound very professional or competent to me. Is it time for you to interview a new t?
Regarding issues of the t siding with your parents, it might help us to understand some of this by knowing your age. I apologize if it's on your profile. Im tired today because I have some chronic pain issues with my shoulder and after 2 years with shoulder pain, the second opinion I got yesterday is a different diagnosis and the new doc wants me to do totally different things to treat it. At least I had a great time laughing with my GP over how foolish some people are, even some doctors, and not mentioning any ranting blonde politicians by name.

[stopdog]

I wouldn't want a therapist telling me they were a mess because I really didn't want to spend money hearing about the therapist. I think most if not all therapists have some sort of mental issue - it is almost a requirement for becoming one of those people

[Fuzzybear]

Possible trigger...

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Regarding the T siding with the abusive parents (I may have posted this before at some time but in reply to the question)... He said he felt callous towards me when I told him how hurt I was by something the mother did (a severe rejection). I said that what she did was callous. It was. I don't remember what I said to that hurtful comment but he basically said he did not have empathy for me because I didn't feel empathy for my parents abusive actions. He also said I was not ''endearing'' and when I questioned that he said ''have you ever endeared me to feel warm towards you'' (with a snarl)

Huh. Well some people may think that is ''therapeutic'' to a survivor of childhood neglect and abuse but I do not...

I think basically he was frustrated as the therapy wasn't helping much and had maybe got somewhat stuck and he felt ''impotent'' and said so Until he said all these things I had felt the therapy was helping. This was a while ago now though. I now know that if I wasn't noticing progress after a certain time I would discuss it with the therapist. The other t saying they were a mess emotionally probably was saying they are human and that nobody is perfect. (my age, I don't disclose that )

[Mountaindewed]

I’m pretty sure a childhood best friend of mine became a social worker because of my behavior issues during elementary school and then when we were 12 and 11 they started deeply affecting our friendship and ultimately ended the friendship right before junior high started.

So it could be a variety of reasons why they become therapists.

[luvyrself]

Lets not stereotype mental health practitioners in the way that people do that to us. Some ignorant people think bipolar folks are dangerous-that type of ignorance is not totally unheard of. You know how much we hate the stigma. Those of us who are on the bipolar forum here a lot know that even we bipolars are very different from each other. Thanks Mountaindewed.

[Fuzzybear]

I don't stereotype mental health practitioners. When I read here, I read of many wonderful mental health practitioners, and some who are not so wonderful in the way they interact with some of their clients. If a mental health practitioner has a disorder like ''malignant narcissism'' that is just fine with me so long as they treat me with respect, although I would prefer to know ... but I probably would not know if they are high functioning..(unless they suddenly decided to discard me. then I would quickly find out ) I also do not like it when a mental health practitioner (irl) tries to stereotype me. I also do not like it when a GP (primary ''care'' doctor is haughty, callous, labelling and judgmental in their attitudes. I saw one in particular who felt Entitled to judge me after 5 minutes .I wish I had said ''lets not stereotype people who have mental health struggles, one day you too may have a distressing mental health issue, you are not superior to those of us who struggle. Goodbye. Have a nice life''

All therapists will have some level of emotional disturbance because that is the human condition. Mental illness is a different category and I am not sure that is quite as common as is being described in this thread. Therapists can be £hit at their jobs, be selfish, be insensitive, be hurtful, be stupid, be inappropriate and so on without having a mental illness.

[Fuzzybear]

Originally Posted by comrademoomoo

All therapists will have some level of emotional disturbance because that is the human condition. Mental illness is a different category and I am not sure that is quite as common as is being described in this thread. Therapists can be £hit at their jobs, be selfish, be insensitive, be hurtful, be stupid, be inappropriate and so on without having a mental illness.

I guess that is probably true. “@hit at his job, selfish, insensitive, hurtful, stupid, inappropriate” - a therapist I saw had all those characteristics. Exactly what I was NOT looking for in a therapist..