Discussion what's your experience with therapy/counseling?

[LastNite]

Mine is so boring, I don't think it's helping at all and I hate my counselor. They sometimes lie to you and betray the trust youve made.

Also I know this is going to sound terribly weird but I hate going there because I envy her as a person. She got a good decent life with a bright smile wide smile nothing bothering her while
Im the miserable one. Not saying she should be but I just dont feel any connection at all or relate to her. Shes getting paid to "help" me even though nothing has moved yet in my life.

Sometimes I think she hates my guts even though she never really said it. Also she ignores me sometimes like if I told her I do have a plan she kind of brushes it off like she doesnt believe me.
I'd love to hear people's experience with it thanks.

 

[Reflection]

From me and my sisters' experiences it's really as useless as it gets. I also have this personal belief that it's probably mostly effective on gullible people.

 

[Rynalia]

For the most part, finding a good one is like finding a needle in a haystack.

I've had a few decent ones. But for the most part I've had awful ones.

The decent ones are adaptable to ever changing situations and are flexible with how they try to help you out. They're honest and set realistic expectations and convey this to you.

But the awful ones... Where do I even start? Attitude issues. Ego issues. Overly by the book. One-size-fits-all. Condescending. I could go on and on.

Most of the time they also end up making up some excuse to have me stop seeing them. Either saying that I should try seeing how well I do on my own (even when it's clear I'm not remotely well enough to do so). Saying they'd like to refer me to another therapist who might better fit me (which they don't end up doing so either). Or even out right just giving me the "yeah can't deal with you, lmao," treatment. Amongst other things.

There are so many more problems as well that I just end up suffering through. It makes me exhausted just thinking back on it.

 

[IFrequentSaSu]

I've never been in therapy before. I have an appointment coming up this week but I'm not sure its going to help at all. I figured I'd try because if it ends up helping then hooray but if not then it's whatever.

 

[Bootleg Astolfo]

Imo it's basically just them trying to gaslight and drug you into compliance. They don't care about you being happy, they just want to make you as much of a good little obedient slave as they possibly can.

 

[itsoverforme303]

I tried it. She was a nice person but honestly whatever we discussed didn't feel very helpful. Moreover, I was trying solve a problem in my life at that time and every time she kept telling me that there is no chance of success and I should be planning for something else. She was right, I guess, but it was annoying.

 

[cemeteryismyhome]

I was going to ask the same question. I've known people who've been to therapists and even went with a few times for support. Unfortunately it hasn't been that great. I know one person who seemed to be helped by it. They learned ways to cope with panic attacks. I get creeped out by therapists and am resolved to never go to one myself. I feel like any interaction is a game of chess or something. But am interested in reading others' experiences.

 

[VoidButterfly]

I've had mixed experiences. Some very good, often times very bad. My last pyschiatrist was awful, didn't really listen to me at all and then referred me to a wholly inappropriate service who immediately rejected me and then referred me back to the previous service who said I never should have been discharged from them to begin with before thne contacting me a year later to apologise that I'd fallen through the cracks of their system. Not the first time this has happened to me, one time I managed to trigger an inquiry into a mental health service when I reached out in a crisis and they'd meant to be supporting me but again, I fell through the cracks.

For the bad ones though, there are occasionally good ones. The pyschiatrist and therapist I was working with a couple of years back were actually great. I felt I had somewhere safe I could go and get help, and it actually helped. I learned a lot of coping methods, we tried a lot of meds until we found some that seemed to have some positive impact. Really helped with my anxiety and panic attacks especially. They did threaten to hospitalise me when I got close to an intended date to CTB that I'd told them about and we had a bit of an intense confrontation about that where I made it clear I would not go to hospital and them threatening me with it wasn't helping anything. Eventually I agreed to seeing them multiple times a week but and in return they got me a temporary support worker who helped me make real changes in my life to make things more tolerable at the time. Can definitely say without my therapists I'd not be here today, so I'm planning on giving them another shot at it this time. I'm not confident they're going to be able to help this time, but they've at least earned me thinking I should check.

 

[kotonearisato]

It's really hit or miss. It also depends on what you want to focus on, or what style of therapy you're getting. Not everyone responds to everything the same way. I don't just mean like group vs solo, I mean like DBT, MBT, CBT, SFT etc etc. For example DBT did absolutely nothing for me in my entire life, but I had some success with SFT. Importantly not every therapist understands everything that might be wrong... a therapist who specializes in eating disorders might have a very limited understanding of grief counseling, for example.

But more in depth, I've absolutely had more harm than good done to me via therapy. I have had a lot of therapists who did not care, did not listen, and clearly didn't want to even be there themselves. The worst experience I've ever had was my guidance counselor in sixth grade who told me I was being overdramatic when I confessed to him I was raped and needed help, that... definitely put me off the idea of therapy for a really, really long time. The following therapist I was forced to have treated me like I was going to go on a rampage at school for no reason other than I had issues with authority as a teenager (what teenager doesn't??), and the one after that... well, you can see the pattern here.

In recent years I've had slightly better success, though. Now that I'm an adult and also extremely aware of myself and my mental health, it's a lot easier to find a therapist that will work with me rather than against me. Exhausting process for sure, but my last therapist specialized in Borderline Personality Disorder and C-PTSD, and I did find the experience overall helpful for where I was at during that time. I think therapy can be a great tool for a lot of people, I'm just a little too fucked for most therapists to handle lol.

 

[StupidCat]

Never went to therapy. I don't think it works.
I've only gone to a few psychologies for consultation (forced to) and they just check things and ask stupid questions which I don't respond.
Then they get tired of asking and just let me be.
Plus it's expensive, I'm not paying for that.

 

[LastNite]

For the most part, finding a good one is like finding a needle in a haystack.

I've had a few decent ones. But for the most part I've had awful ones.

The decent ones are adaptable to ever changing situations and are flexible with how they try to help you out. They're honest and set realistic expectations and convey this to you.

But the awful ones... Where do I even start? Attitude issues. Ego issues. Overly by the book. One-size-fits-all. Condescending. I could go on and on.

Most of the time they also end up making up some excuse to have me stop seeing them. Either saying that I should try seeing how well I do on my own (even when it's clear I'm not remotely well enough to do so). Saying they'd like to refer me to another therapist who might better fit me (which they don't end up doing so either). Or even out right just giving me the "yeah can't deal with you, lmao," treatment. Amongst other things.

There are so many more problems as well that I just end up suffering through. It makes me exhausted just thinking back on it.

thats actually terrible and sick. Im glad I dont got the worst of them all.

From me and my sisters' experiences it's really as useless as it gets. I also have this personal belief that it's probably mostly effective on gullible people.

I guess thats true I mean all therapists do is promise you things arent as bad as they seem but theyre.

Imo it's basically just them trying to gaslight and drug you into compliance. They don't care about you being happy, they just want to make you as much of a good little obedient slave as they possibly can.

That's a psychiatrist no? as far as I know therapists cant give you drugs. I had a decent psychiatrist we dont really talk but she just changes up my meds for depression every month.

I've had mixed experiences. Some very good, often times very bad. My last pyschiatrist was awful, didn't really listen to me at all and then referred me to a wholly inappropriate service who immediately rejected me and then referred me back to the previous service who said I never should have been discharged from them to begin with before thne contacting me a year later to apologise that I'd fallen through the cracks of their system. Not the first time this has happened to me, one time I managed to trigger an inquiry into a mental health service when I reached out in a crisis and they'd meant to be supporting me but again, I fell through the cracks.

For the bad ones though, there are occasionally good ones. The pyschiatrist and therapist I was working with a couple of years back were actually great. I felt I had somewhere safe I could go and get help, and it actually helped. I learned a lot of coping methods, we tried a lot of meds until we found some that seemed to have some positive impact. Really helped with my anxiety and panic attacks especially. They did threaten to hospitalise me when I got close to an intended date to CTB that I'd told them about and we had a bit of an intense confrontation about that where I made it clear I would not go to hospital and them threatening me with it wasn't helping anything. Eventually I agreed to seeing them multiple times a week but and in return they got me a temporary support worker who helped me make real changes in my life to make things more tolerable at the time. Can definitely say without my therapists I'd not be here today, so I'm planning on giving them another shot at it this time. I'm not confident they're going to be able to help this time, but they've at least earned me thinking I should check.

Im so happy for you I hope it works out again for you like previously. Honestly never knew someone could have such a positive change through therapy and seeing a psychiatrist. For me it feels like a stalemate.

Never went to therapy. I don't think it works.
I've only gone to a few psychologies for consultation (forced to) and they just check things and ask stupid questions which I don't respond.
Then they get tired of asking and just let me be.
Plus it's expensive, I'm not paying for that.

yeh it's super weird that you have to pay for it. Thats the part that hurts the most about it...like imagine if I didnt have insurance. They'd basically dump you without a single care. When money comes into play it kind of ruins everything.