So my last blog was pretty popular so I thought I'd start fresh with some more common issues, questions, so on that comes up from time to time in mental health therapy. Again, these are my opinions as a therapist and a lot of people in my position my disagree with me. But, again, fuck those dudes and gals.

How long does an assessment take?

It depends. Usually between an hour or two.

Why do therapist keep bugging me about things that I don't want to talk about?

Because, typically, those are the things that are causing clients distress. When one of my first professors who taught me about resistance used to say that social norms are important in all walks of life except in the therapy room. As opposed to in normal conversation, in the therapy room a therapist wants to jump right into resistance and all the things that people hate talking about.

That said, most therapist try not to force the issue either. You can only really go places successfully when a client is ready. But if you're in therapy and you hate your therapist then I'm sorry. But that might be why you do.

Speaking of resistance, why do therapist ask us about our sexual orientations, ethnicity, culture, religious and spiritual beliefs, and what not?

These questions are a big deal for a lot of people. The two biggest complaints is that it makes people feel uncomfortable and that they have nothing to do with mental health. Well, in terms of the uncomfortable feeling...well, sorry. Again, resistance isn't comfortable and breaking social norms aren't either. But there's a reason why we ask these things.

Which brings us to complaint two. Here's the thing; everything relates to mental health. These questions relate to how the client relates to society and how society relates to the client. The neat thing is the stronger the reaction to the question the more likely there's an issue surrounding that issue. Again, resistance y'all. If I ask a client 'how do you define your ethnicity?' and they respond with 'why are you asking that shit's racist' then I know I'm in on a big deal. It's like clockwork.

How do you talk to parent's about video games especially when they relate back to their kids?

No matter what I say, parents have to dictate what happens to their kids. No matter what I say or how professional I look and sound, the parents' word is the be all end all for their kids. That said, I try to help parents be as reasonable as possible. Often I rely on two things; relating video games to games the parents played as kids and the idea of 'everything in moderation' (because I'm a fan of trite phrases). The 'relating to parents' games' bit is to explain the similarities between video games and those games. Then I bring up the idea of allowing the kids to play in short stints. Usually as a reward for a behavior (which I'm sure kids love me for suggesting).

My last therapist sucked. Also my last medication sucked. So why should I try again?

Every therapist thinks differently. Just like every client thinks differently. So there may be a therapist that just doesn't meld with some clients but is a perfect fit for others. Keep trying. Eventually you'll find one you like. As for medications, I'm no expert. So let me talk about medications for a second. Medications react to everyone differently because of issues like diet, metabolism, heredity, ethnicity (yeah, that concept again), and so. So finding the right medication for the right person is really hard to do. Again, just keep trying and you'll find the right medication and dosage.

That's all I can think of for now. Ask away if you want about anything and I'll try my best to answer your questions as well as I can.