Couch 227 - The Safe Couch

Thanks, LT.

I don't have that option this late in the day. I'm probably overthinking it.
I have pre-warned R about what I want to cover, but I also have some good news regarding a publication to share, so that will soften things a little.

I've done both. I've had several therapy appointments on my birthday. I usually just have a normal session, but a few of them I kept lighter on purpose because I didn't want to be bummed out on my birthday! maybe you want to reschedule for a different day? Kit

Last time I talked to Pastor T about demons he told me to talk to my psych doctor and have my meds increased. Lol. I guess he's not an expert either! Thanks. Just hard to know what is real or not. I texted a couple of my friends who are Christians in the same denomination as me and told them a little bit about what was going on so maybe I will find some clarity through one of them. Hard to say. Maybe just more to unpack another session. I do need to figure out what to do with Regular T now that I have seen Dr. K twice. I think he is more helpful than regular T but I don't know how to let her down.

APA Dictionary of Psychology

In my experience of representing people who the field labels as having religious delusions - the psych mds would use terms like your guy did to mean the thoughts are not based in reality not that you are not having them. And the ones I have gone up against ( they were regulars in the jurisdictions I practice in) would usually think of exorcism as symbolic rather than really doing anything. Like a placebo.

You're allowed to not like the guy!

I had to google what you meant!

My Pillow Guy" Arrested - The Decline and Fall of America ...

Thanks stopdog. So maybe he meant that the thoughts are the result of psychosis, not so much that they aren't real because I am really having them. IDK what to think about the exorcism, just that he is the second person to suggest it who is a T. Maybe these people need to get some new ideas.

Kit is Dr K a specialist with your disorder ?

An idea might be that if one believes in demons and hears them, then one would believe they could be cast out by something like an exorcism. The mds probably do not believe in such as a real thing, but they would see it as a way of helping the person believing in them to believe themselves free of the demon. The problem one client of mine had was that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and after one demon would be cast out in some religious ceremony (not actual exorcism), he would report others coming in their place and he would get quite agitated. I am not much on ministers/priests/etc - but I will say that the ones who worked with this guy were nicer to him than the mds and they did not charge him anything for trying to help him.

No, I'd say he is more an expert with mood disorders which Schizoaffective has a mood disorder with it. It's like a mix between Schizophrenia and depression in my case. It can be a mix between Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder but I don't have bipolar disorder.


I'd probably have to go to Los Angeles to get a specialist on Schizoaffective disorder but that's like 2.5 hours away one way, so it's not very practical. I probably need to go to UCLA or USC hospitals or one of those. I can't find any specialists around here. Even my Pdoc had me misdiagnosed for a long time.


Dr. K is a big proponent of CBT. Which is okay but I'm not a huge fan of CBT. He says you can control your thoughts but I'm not so sure. That is my homework for the next couple of weeks. To read something positive or say aloud something positive when I have negative thoughts or the demon has negative thoughts. It sounds hugely stressful and a huge energy drain but I am willing to give it a shot. I'm just not sure that I can have that kind of energy to control my thoughts. To me that sounds more psychotic. After all thoughts can be rather spontaneous. I'm not sure I know what he means. It was a very confusing session. I think more sessions will need to happen before I understand what it is that he is talking about.


Kit

Ah, so could maybe refer to brain cells, too, then.

Maybe you could look into the treatment in LA, if you have any extended work leave coming up?

I don't want to say the opposite to dr K, but maybe instead of trying to challenge the thoughts directly by the positive- you could try to acknowledge the presence of the negative thoughts without attaching meaning to them. They're just thoughts and something that is present.

Thich naht Hanh says to shift the focus on just breathing to stop ourselves from thinking and not to try to force it.

I was having to scroll through pages twice as long! Or did you mean electric?

I met a friend for coffee and a museum downtown today. It was like normal except for all the mask wearing.

They had an exhibit case on the 1918 flu with the (pre-covid) placard reading “Could it happen again?”

Why, yes. Yes, I think it could.

I watched the movie Predestination.



Maybe everything does just loop, 100 years ago the pandemic. Next on the list hyperinflation like Germany? The roaring twenties before the next big crash?

I have discovered that if I soak pineapple in salt water - I can eat it without it hurting my mouth. I had read about salt neutralizing the bio-glycosides and bromelai but I hadn't tried it. I ended up with a couple of pineapples and so the only way I could use them was if something helped and salt water soak did.

I had a session on my birthday. We changed our schedule so we could. It was a totally relaxed day. We played games and answered questions. One of my better birthdays.

So if I understand correctly, the salt water neutralizes the acid in the pineapple? I’m wondering if pizza places do that, because I notice that the pineapple on pizza isn’t anywhere nearly as acidic as it is fresh.

Yes, pineapple belongs on pizza. Tomatoes are a fruit so why can’t other fruits accompany? This is a hill I would die on.

Thanks! I had to wait 30 years for My Pillow Guy to reinvent himself! Now that youve seen him, do you think MAYBE he modeled himself on Bradshaw? All these middle aged square headed white mustachioed guys look the same to me!

Nerds often return from hawaaian vacations telling everybody to salt their pineapples because it makes them juicier, like they invented it because its science.

Thats where MY mind went!

I hope he doesnt start talking about your "emotional muscle" next! I still titter at that! Gee i wonder why it never caught on?!

Boy getting this Moderna vaccine is like the Scarecrow getting a brain!

After the second shot you get courage.

But i need a heart!!!

I'm so tired and work is going by too slowly! I am ready for it to be a day and I can go home and chill. Not that, that isn't what I am already doing, but I mean, I could chill in my lazyboy with my Pjs on!

Oh, you’ve got multiple hearts—and a different girl in every one of them.