FAQ About Mental Health From A Biased Source...ME!

See, treatments like this are what led to me dropping therapy. It just never seemed to actually help me, even though my therapist insisted it would if I just gave it time.

Mental health=Whaaa, i didn't mean to kill them im sick.

Quitter.

A...are you being serious right now? Like...seriously serious?

Ohhhh yeah. That's another one I wanted to add. A disorder doesn't explain all behavior nor is it an excuse for behavior. It's not a get out of jail free card. It describes an aspect of a person. It might be an explanation for behavior but it is not, at all, an excuse.

I figured it was the part where I was an antisocial asexual transgendered person with depression and suicidal tendencies.

Well if it helps, your incident finally made me get help with my depression. So a super giant thank you for that. I apparently really, really needed it.

By 'good client' I mean capable, strong, and willing to work with a therapist to reach a common goal. There are times when I work with a client when I just know we'll be fighting tooth and nail throughout the therapy. I don't think that would happen with you. Also, just so you'll know, I know that I would be a terrible client questioning fucking everything the whole time.

I am a bit of a pain in the ass, I think, because I have a natural knack for this sort of thing. My therapist will ask me to do things and I'll just straight up tell her I know she's telling me to write long hand about myself as Lina because it's an exercise in finding my inner voice and being able to connect to my feminine side more naturally and being able to just summon it up when I need to or want to.

Yeah. I don't want to speak too much to what another therapist does. But have you mentioned to her that it feels like you two aren't working well together and that there needs to be a discussion about what to do to better work together?

I am glad a near brush with death did SOMEBODY some good. I probably should have sought help right after that, but...

Oh, no, we get along great! I'm actually really surprised just how well we get along and that I look forward to the visits, especially on the first therapist I found. I just recognize these sorts of things naturally, I understand what she is trying to get me to do rather than just going "yeah okay i will write OH I GET IT YOU WANT ME TO WRITE LIKE A GIRL CAUSE I WANNA BE ONE NOWWW I GET IT"

I had no idea I had depression. Now that I think about it, going around blank-faced and not caring about anything was probably not normal. But as fucked up as it sounds, reading that blog about hitting rock bottom made me realize I'd been at or near rock bottom for a while. So thanks for that, however unintentional it was, and I'm glad you made it out of there alive.

Yeah, I'm constantly worried about that with my therapy techniques. That's why I try to focus on the therapy relationship instead and use the feeling in the room as the therapy itself.

I am a quitter. Maybe some therapy would help fix that. Okay pants are off let's start the therapy.

@mariachimacabre

Oh, I still blank face and don't care about most things. Where I am living is making me miserable but it's not really financially viable for me to get out of here just yet, especially with all of the semi regular doctor's visits I will be going to and the medication I will be paying out of pocket for. I am this far in to lady stuff, but honestly, it is very difficult to find inside of me most days. Some days it registers, other days it just feels like nothing at all. And when I do find it, it's a loooooot of self doubt. I hear the self doubt is pretty normal, though... I hope I am doing the right thing. Barf.

@jasonr86

Mine believes that it isn't her job to decide whether I am a boy or a girl and believes that therapy is a journey of self exploration. Apparently she thinks I am a girl, though, cause most places it takes several several months to get sent to a doctor, and she shipped me right out after 23 days. I am still going, though, because I believe having a professional to talk to is very important through all of the phases, ESPECIALLY while I am going through it.

It took me a long-ass time to realize that @artelinarose and Artemesia are the same user and that there wasn't some oddly specific trend going on.

Yeah I still get that stuff but it's good to point to something as a reason for it, you know? Obviously, I have zero idea what that must be like while also going through such a transition as you are but I gotta say it takes a certain amount of courage to do it at all so keep dem spirits up, holmes.

@video_game_king:

Heh. That's why I haven't changed my username. I was thinking of changing my username to Video_Game-King.

If there's some super secret club about me I want to be in it!

@mariachimacabre

I am very glad that you've done something positive for yourself, though. Nobody deserves to feel sad or hopeless for no reason, but we do, and you've got to manage that. I'm glad that, even though I felt worse than I ever have in my entire life, it did you some good.

That'd be kind of conceited, don't you agree?

But it sounds like it set you at least on the path to self fulfillment/improvement so that's nothing to scoff at. I firmly believe that sometimes we do have to hit rock bottom before we can make any sort of progress. I have to imagine a transition is never easy but it's good to hear that you've decided to involve a professional to talk to while you do. That seems like the smart way to go about it.

Anyone else come to this thread thinking it said "Metal Health?" Because I sure did, and was expecting to see some Quiet Riot!

...just wanted to add some levity.

Anyway I was able to help every 1-2 weeks for a year at a residence for women with mental illness, mainly suffering from schizophrenia or bipolar. What I learned over the course of that year was that I really knew nothing AT ALL about mental health prior to this experience, and most of my preconceptions about people with mental illnesses were incorrect.

Anyway I say kudos to the OP. While I'm not looking into becoming a therapist of any kind, I definitely profited from being able to better understand mental health, so I think you trying to raise awareness of it, even on GB forums of all things, is a good thing.

Very informative and entertaining thread, sir.

I have a question. I believe you have a fairly conservative worldview, but would you have suggestions to how someone without insurance or steady income could pursue treatment?

We're not talking a condition that is immediately life-threatening, needing to call a hotline. More of a crushing ennui that has been poisoning a life for a decade, that was very responsive to treatment when there was insurance.

Wait a few months for that sweet, heavily subsidized Obamacare individual insurance? Line up now with the Section 8 crowd for city services? Touch her shoulder?

@jasonr86: I have extremely complex, intricate mental issues that likely revolve around an anxiety disorder that I've still never gotten formally diagnosed with. Besides one good psychiatrist who moved to North Carolina earlier this year, I've actually only ever gotten real help from my PCP. I went to one therapist who spent the entire time trying to fight me and make me do things I didn't want to do, I went to another who thought I was cured in a month because that happened to be a good month for me, and a third who was a smart guy who helped me a lot, but could never really help me figure out the main problem, but of course now that I'm on some basic medication I can't really afford to see him because it wouldn't be covered by insurance and my current job doesn't pay enough.

My bone to pick with psychiatrists is probably a bit bigger though, because all the psychiatrists I've met (except the guy who moved to North Carolina) have been pretty much total idiots with no clue how to provide any sort of assistance.

i am a minority now i can do whatever the fuck i want STOP OPPRESSING ME

Ehhhh, the starting on this came later and wasn't really connected at all. I hope I don't hit that point again, but a part of me believes that it's possible, especially once I start. I get to go through a second puberty ohhhh boyyyy

So much fun the first time, who wouldn't go through it again?

But, seriously, it takes a lot of courage to even take the first step in that process and I can't even begin to imagine how hard it is.

@belegorm: Thank you. It's cool that you were able to have that experience. I know when I went through my internship it was the best learning experience I had ever had.

Have you tried applying for medicaid? I know that figuring out medicaid is really complex but states typically have an organization that can dictate who gets what benefits when. I work at a community clinic where the majority of our client have medicaid. When a person has that benefit, and when we have room, it's pretty easy to get into a community clinic for therapy. We also offer sliding fee scales so if your state has an organization that does that that's an option too (though we are the only major organization in our state that does this).

I'm sorry it's been so hard to nail down good service. But I'm happy you have seen some success. If you can focus on what worked with the good therapist you might be able to grow what he was doing on your own as well. At least until you are able to go back to him or another good therapist.

I still worry that I am not doing the right thing. It's stupid scary and there's so much self doubt and sometimes I get so terrified I feel sick to my stomach. But I am going to stop derailing Mr. Jason's thread. ^^;

Don't worry. You're not derailing anything. And I hope that whatever you do you're happy with the decision you made and that you don't feel pressured no matter what happens.

I could go on for quite a while about how this whole thing makes me feel and what I think about it and blah blah blah so I should probably quit while I am ahead.

But, we will see. I'm still committed to it because no matter how often I doubt myself or tell myself it's a bad idea or get scared, the desire to do it always comes back, so I am still going to go for it.

Good.

You're going to make some lucky therapist a beautiful yacht someday.

@jasonr86: I wasn't making much progress anyways. I could probably see if I could get stuff done now, but I'm getting along ok, and I don't feel like breaking in a new therapist :p

So what psych perspectives are you a bigger fan of? I'm guessing you'd have to use multiple perspectives when trying to approach a diagnosis so do you have some "go-to's" for that?

At $50 an appointment that is a long term relationship, and I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment. I am only twenty two for gosh sake.

For some reason I feel like I would implicitly trust a therapist more knowing they're a Giant Bomb fan. I figure Giant Bomb = good people.

Usually.

EDIT: Also, I don't think 'implicitly' is the word I'm actually looking for here, but it's 12:30 in the morning and my vocabulary is maybe not what it is in daytime hours.

Therapists like the OP are doing damn good work. Most of them are helping make life better for people, and some even save lives.

I've been fortunate enough to work with some great therapists during my life. I'm a more specific case because I suffer from anxiety issues and depression, and I also have Asperger syndrome and ADHD. As an adolescent, I saw a psychotherapist and an occupational therapist, and they were both very helpful, especially the OT - we did a lot of practical work developing skills, and although one of the hallmarks of Aspergers is poor communication skills (eye contact, body language, interpreting social cues etc.), I'm much better at these things than many others on the spectrum are due to my OT spending the time basically teaching me these skills.

But my most rewarding therapeutic experience was the work I did with an autism specialist/psychologist who developed a program of cognitive behavioural therapy tailored to people with Aspergers. We ended up having over 40 sessions, which is a LOT for CBT, but he had an intuitive understanding of a lot of the thought processes and patterns that I went through and didn't fully understand myself, and he was a great mentor who taught me a lot of valuable things about myself.

For some people, therapy won't "cure" you of depression, and neither will medication. But that's not the point; it's about managing your depression levels, and developing strategies for coping with depressive episodes or challenges presented by the mood destabilisation. At my present point of life, I'm not an entirely "functional" human being, but I'd be waaay worse without the people who took the time to help me develop the skills I needed to help myself.

Another thing worth mentioning; I'm English, and therefore my treatment was "free" (higher taxes pays for national health service). I feel like there is a strong difference in attitude between Americans and most Europeans as regards therapy and medication, with greater dismissal and superstition from Americans and greater, I dunno, sympathy or understanding from Euros. Maybe that's just a misconception, but if it's true then I wonder if the difference in attitude is partly due to the cost involved in procuring them in the States. Obviously, in extreme or highly acute cases intensive private therapy is available, and my sister has had private therapy in the past, but I never take for granted that I got to work with someone who is at the very top of his field for free for nearly two years.

@jasonr86 Thanks for sharing, Jason. You should make this a regular blog.

I think it's interesting how different mental health professionals are from how people often expect them to be. They're really just varied individuals like anyone else with an extensive knowledge of psychological science. They provide a much-needed service. :)

Now, since you're answering questions both personal and professional, what are your thoughts on applied behavior analysis?

@punkxblaze: If you meant it as "I would trust a therapist without reservations if they liked Giant Bomb", then using "implicitly" like that was quite fine. Certainly made sense to me.

@jasonr86: And you always told me to be careful what I said around here, granted you're actually a professional and I'm still a student... Going and making an AMA about it! Good read man, It still always amazes me how little the general populace knows about mental health, therapy and human psychology, but I guess an accountant would say the same thing about people and finances. It's always good to spread information.

@belegorm: You said it man, the diversity in how people handle various psychological disorders is huge, even reading up on it really wouldn't give the full picture, I've seen paranoid schizophrenics who live perfectly normal lives and people with fairly straight forward anxiety who can barely communicate with the world. I guess it shouldn't surprise me that people don't fully understand it, but the stigma involved with a mental health issue (even if it is improving) is definitely sad and surprising.

@artelinarose Glad to see you're doing not awful, keep on trucking.

It's definetly science, but a significantly younger one than pretty much every other field, Think about the thousands of years of history of medical treatment compared to around a hundred years of therapy, and even less of understanding the chemical nature of the mind. Something to keep in mind is that all of the medical sciences, most of the natural sciences in general are about formulating a hypothesis, playing the odds, and peoples interpretations of the data. An Oncologist never says you're gonna beat cancer, they can only tell you if you have a good or bad chance of beating it. Same goes for everything all the way down to the flu, and mental health is no different, add in the relative infancy of the field, the personalities of the clients, the therapists, and you begin to see why it might seem people can have bad experiences with it so frequently. Human behaviour is shockingly predictable though, the data is simple, it's just how people use it.

@atlas:

I'm glad you're doing well dude and have had such good experiences. It's always nice when I hear the good stories because I'm so used to hearing the bad ones. I think the bad experiences stick with people much longer which is kind of a bummer for me to think about.

I think in the US people are becoming more sensitive to mental health issues but there's a lot of confusion about what these disorders actually mean. There's often a lot of blaming of clients for their diagnosed disorder(s). It doesn't help that there are some people who go on national TV and say really inflammatory things like 'borderlines don't know this or that and they can't be trusted because of x, y, and z' (I'm looking at you Dr. Drew!).

Thank you! I kind of look at 'applied behavior analysis' as a fancy way of saying 'behaviorism' which has been around since the '50s. Every once in a while psychology likes to develop 'new' things that aren't actually that new. That said, I think that behaviorism is a fantastic, well-proven therapy. I've used it with children and it is my main technique when teaching parents about parenting.

I'm mostly psychodynamic from the theory perspective but I use CBT techniques often. I'm a fan of look at the past and relationships and using the therapeutic relationship as the gateway to psychological change. When I'm working with kids or am teaching parents, I use behaviorism.

I've talked to some of my clients of all ages about video games and have talked to a younger kid about dubstep. Yeah, I'm hip.

Is it a mental illness to think that every issue can be solved with sick elbow drops? Because that's kinda been a thing with me for a couple of months now.

The Elbow Drop syndrome is a difficult one to pin down. We'd need to go through a 2 hour assessment to figure it out.

What is your particular stance on prescribing medication? Are you one of those therapists that believes taking medicine is kind of a cop out and just avoiding the issue, or do you think that there are some problems that can only be solved through OTC drug use?

I think that rely on any crutch, whether it is medication or psychotherapy, can be unhealthy. Like I said, my goal is that therapy of all types becomes redundant for all clients who seek it. It's an odd thing but my hope is that people don't need me or medications.

But some people look at medications as the only thing that can keep them sane and that just worries me. I don't think that such a set-up builds people up so that they can be self-reliant. It is also very expensive (or can be). But I'm not so far against these medications to say that people shouldn't be prescribed them. There are therapist out there that think that way. I don't. I just want to work with prescribers who don't view a medication as a set-in-stone, clients will take this forever thing. Unless it's an extreme case and that has to happen (which I've only seen a few times in my relatively short career).

You're a good egg, Noonan Jason.

Although I would probably have to be a dick and make some argument about the 'softness' of the science of psychology, if only because it lacks the absolute precision of math or physics or chemistry. Seemingly identical patients/symptoms may respond differently to identical treatment and that would make me ... well, insane. I suppose that's what neurology is for. My lazy comparison is Darwinian evolution, psychology was predictive of neuroscience in the same way Darwinian biology was predictive of gene theory.

So I've been watching a lot of The Sopranos lately and it made me wonder how disclosure of illegal activities holds up against doctor patient confidentiality?

C'mon...show some respect to the therapist. Joke posts clutter up an otherwise valiant effort into helping/informing others with mental problems. I only have to open the first page of OT and there already is an depressing topic about someone possibily wanting to commit suicide.