What is your experience with therapists/shrinks?

[healingduck]

You are simply paying someone to listen to your problems from an outside view and give you their opinions on the subjects. I don't understand why some people think, more or less, that they are scammers. People know what they are getting, and if you can find the right one, I'm sure its worth the money. Its not like they are promising to totally solve all of your problems. If you go in their with that mindset, then that is your own fault. All you are paying them to do is listen, which is what some people need.

Edit- Forgot to answer the question. I went to one after my parents got a divorce for about a year when I was younger. I don't remember much of it besides playing board games with her while we talked. She was a nice enough lady, but I don't feel like it helped me in the least and I don't remember expressing much besides in the first session. Didn't really want to be there in the first place.

Also, when I was 15 I chose to go because I thought it would help me. Come to find out, I only think about the things I need to talk about in the middle of the night when I'm on the internet or can't sleep. So I only went two sessions. The first one I just sat there with nothing to say and it was really awkward. At the second session I started to open up and then in the middle of one of my sentences she said "Make this the last thought because your time is up" and the way she said it really rubbed me the wrong way.

I may go to one in the future, but like I said earlier, it is probably better if you find someone you're comfortable talking to, whether that be a shrink or just a friend.

 

[palemale]

Never had the desire or felt the need to see a shrink. Of course, Sigmund Freud has been quoted as saying that "the Irish were the only people who couldn't be helped by psychoanalysis." Being of Irish descent, therefore, I wouldn't bother going even if I needed to.

 

[evanrick]

a therapist i used to see would give me advice and i found that everything she said, i had already done. didn't see the point in going anymore.

the best therapy you can get is from someone close to you, someone you care about, someone that cares about you, not a stranger, not even for acute trauma.

you cannot teach empathy.

 

[AlmondMilk]

The closest I've gone to was a counselor because the school offers personal counseling... and I'd be broke as hell if I went to a therapist or psych.

 

[SuenosAsi]

Hello - first time posting here, but I was reading all of these negative comments about therapists and I wanted to share another of the relatively few positive responses. I consider myself to be fairly well-adjusted, and if I'm honest with myself, very privileged in life, so you should take what I'm saying with a grain of salt.

I've seen therapists off and on since coming out in high school. My parents asked me to see a psychologist after I came out and I went, not knowing their hope was that he could change me. My first visit with him, he said "we know that your Mom and Dad asked you to come here so that we could change you, right? And we know that that won't and can't happen, right? Okay, is there anything you'd like to talk about?" And then we had a meeting with my parents and the doctor explained that reparative therapy is quackery.

I saw another psychologist early in undergrad for some anxiety issues I was having - we did some cognitive behavioral therapy, which gave me some tools that I use to predict when I'm going to have an anxiety attack, how to stop it before it gets here, and how to take care of myself if I'm not successful in nipping it in the bud. I still use these tools all the time now, even though it's been almost a decade.

I saw a counselor (licensed social worker) a few times over the past few years for a couple of weeks here and there for some issues: a bad break-up, an inability to sleep, dealing with some family issues - and she was so helpful. She was kind and patient and she asked me the questions I needed to be asking myself.

Most recently, I've been seeing a psychologist again to help me with some dissertation issues, some family issues, and prepping for about nine months of long-distance that my partner and I are going through at the moment until I finish my degree. This doctor is also patient and we're working on getting out of my intellectual head-space so much and paying attention to my emotions, how I experience them physically and learning to take care of myself when I'm losing control of myself to these emotions.

It sounds like mumbo-jumbo, but it's been a really positive experience to take advantage of their expertise when I've needed it. After I feel like I have a handle on whatever situation sent me their way, I have no qualms about ending our relationship and moving on. It's just like a medical doctor: would you continue to see a doctor after your broken arm has been treated and the follow-up has shown no complications? The problem is that emotional or psychological disturbances aren't quite so clear cut and aren't always resolved so quickly.

The last bit I'll add is that I've been lucky to have really great medical insurance coverage that has been generous in terms of covering behavioral health issues.

 

[TheOscar]

I want to be a psychologist, so I hope people won't think these negative things about me.

In my experience, they seem like awesome, open minded people that are there to help individuals.

 

[MoltenRock III]

I want to be a psychologist, so I hope people won't think these negative things about me.

In my experience, they seem like awesome, open minded people that are there to help individuals.

I think a number of posters may feel intimidated to post their positive experience with them for fear of being labeled as sick / ill, which is sad because mental health is no different than physical health, and yet no one would be embarrassed to mention they had to go to an MD because they were ill.

 

[HoodedRat]

^
I once had a friend who entertained the notion of becoming a psychologist; fortunately, after a long and expensive course of psychotherapy, she was eventually cured.

 

[TheOscar]

I think a number of posters may feel intimidated to post their positive experience with them for fear of being labeled as sick / ill, which is sad because mental health is no different than physical health, and yet no one would be embarrassed to mention they had to go to an MD because they were ill.

Ahh, yes, you're quite right. People view mental illness in such a negative fashion, sadly.

^
I once had a friend who entertained the notion of becoming a psychologist; fortunately, after a long and expensive course of psychotherapy, she was eventually cured.

Lolz, guess it wasn't for her.
I enjoy it very much! ^.^

 

[MoltenRock III]

I'm not a spiritual guy, I learned some Vipassana mediation techniques from my mother for the practical aspects only; you sit, block out the outside world and "feel" every iota of your body, focusing on acknowledging that it's there (it's a gross simplification, but you get the idea).

I think I've heard many people say that Buddhism is a non-religion in many ways, at least when compared to the Roman Catholic religion I knew when I was a little kid.

I guess my point was that given you see practical aspects of meditation as beneficial perhaps you should seek out enhanced fulfillment. Obviously your body is responding in a positive manner from physically practicing the art of meditation. By furthering your meditation skills and other techniques you might awaken your innerness or spirituality. It can't hurt. *shrug*

As far as Buddhism goes it ranges the spectrum. I'm a Taoist myself, so found my own inner peace while getting in touch with my own body via meditation, tai chi, yoga, and other Asian martial arts. I'm at my most peaceful / spiritual when out surfing in the tranquil, warm ocean, waiting to catch the next wave, as the sunrise colors the surrounding water, and the morning breeze begins blowing ever so slightly across my nearly naked body, tickling the soft hair on my arms and legs. It's like a warm hug drug.

 

[anchihiro]

Good Will Hunting is a great film.