4 ms·

Would you mind elaborating a bit? I've heard the same sentiments as yours, but without any more elaboration. What kind of tools does it provide you, for exampl

by viewer5 11y ago

Would you mind elaborating a bit? I've heard the same sentiments as yours, but without any more elaboration. What kind of tools does it provide you, for example?

marincounty 11y ago
I did therapy for around a year. Six moths with a Ph.D and another six months with a MFCC. The PH.D was charging a lot, but I really thought she would help me. I had a horrid case of anxiety, and panic attacks that came on during a holiday, and would go away. I believed in Therapy, and really wanted it to work. It didn't work in the slightest. It actually made things worse. I didn't learn any fancy tools. I didn't find any out anything about myself, that I didn't already know. I will say this though, if I didn't go through therapy; I would always wonder if I could have changed my destiny. In my case, I needed medication. I found no difference between the PhD, and the MFCC. I did talk to a psychiatrist about my unsuccess in therapy, he said I didn't do it long enough. I will never know if he was right? Because I was feeling so bad, for so long, and those Therapy sessions were expensive, I was completely honest in therapy. I devulged my innermost secrets, thoughts, warts, everything. In my case, it just didn't help my condition. Drugs, time, and exercise helped my condition. I'm still not the person I used to be before the breakdown though. (I was told not to use word breakdown, but my brain just decided to breakdown. If I said anything different, I would be lying.) I don't want to discourage anyone from seeking the help of a Therapist, but if you are a well adjusted individual, happy, going to school, or working, and don't have any real complaints, but one day your brain decides to bust a gasket--I would try to see a Psychiatrist. But even then a lot of them want you to go through therapy before they medicate you. And if you decide to go through the medication route, realize you might be on the drugs a long time? Especially the benzodiazepines. I'm not sure if what I know now about addiction, I would have ever used them, but then again they are better than self medicating with booze? It's a shame we still know so little about mental illness, or even how the brain works. I really thought we would have made huge strides in treating the mentally ill by now, but they haven't.
DanBC 11y ago
I think therapy works. I don't think most people should do it. I think most people should find a mentor, but a mentor is not a therapist. Most people need someone to chat to, but that person is also probably not a therapist. It's sub-optimal to spend that much money for chat.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
wdewind 11y ago
I'll tell you one of many, this one is a bit of mindfulness/meditation: one of the best ways I learned to deal with anxiety or depression is to commit wholeheartedly to feeling that feeling. I use the analogy to strength training a lot because once you start looking at anxiety as a form of stress you can adapt to (like weight training) rather than as an uncontrollable thing that just happens to you, your relationship to it changes dramatically. It was difficult to do this: one of the key exercises I did was when I wasn't feeling the anxiety, was mentally committing to the idea that physically it really wouldn't hurt me. Then when it happened I was able to say "ok we've already decided this wont kill you, so what happens if you try your best to feel it, rather than run from it?" Then you start building a tolerance to it. Do I still feel anxiety and depression sometimes? Absolutely. But I've learned to change my expectations around those emotions: I don't look at them as signs that something is broken, they are just regular emotions to go through like any other. In a weird way, I almost look forward to them because they are an opportunity to train again, and to test myself. In general mindfulness and meditation are great, and if you can't afford therapy as well, they can be great on their own (and are free!).

by viewer5 11y ago

Would you mind elaborating a bit? I've heard the same sentiments as yours, but without any more elaboration. What kind of tools does it provide you, for example?

marincounty 11y ago

I did therapy for around a year. Six moths with a Ph.D and another six months with a MFCC. The PH.D was charging a lot, but I really thought she would help me. I had a horrid case of anxiety, and panic attacks that came on during a holiday, and would go away. I believed in Therapy, and really wanted it to work. It didn't work in the slightest. It actually made things worse. I didn't learn any fancy tools. I didn't find any out anything about myself, that I didn't already know. I will say this though, if I didn't go through therapy; I would always wonder if I could have changed my destiny. In my case, I needed medication. I found no difference between the PhD, and the MFCC. I did talk to a psychiatrist about my unsuccess in therapy, he said I didn't do it long enough. I will never know if he was right? Because I was feeling so bad, for so long, and those Therapy sessions were expensive, I was completely honest in therapy. I devulged my innermost secrets, thoughts, warts, everything. In my case, it just didn't help my condition. Drugs, time, and exercise helped my condition. I'm still not the person I used to be before the breakdown though. (I was told not to use word breakdown, but my brain just decided to breakdown. If I said anything different, I would be lying.) I don't want to discourage anyone from seeking the help of a Therapist, but if you are a well adjusted individual, happy, going to school, or working, and don't have any real complaints, but one day your brain decides to bust a gasket--I would try to see a Psychiatrist. But even then a lot of them want you to go through therapy before they medicate you. And if you decide to go through the medication route, realize you might be on the drugs a long time? Especially the benzodiazepines. I'm not sure if what I know now about addiction, I would have ever used them, but then again they are better than self medicating with booze? It's a shame we still know so little about mental illness, or even how the brain works. I really thought we would have made huge strides in treating the mentally ill by now, but they haven't.

DanBC 11y ago

I think therapy works. I don't think most people should do it. I think most people should find a mentor, but a mentor is not a therapist. Most people need someone to chat to, but that person is also probably not a therapist. It's sub-optimal to spend that much money for chat.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

wdewind 11y ago

I'll tell you one of many, this one is a bit of mindfulness/meditation: one of the best ways I learned to deal with anxiety or depression is to commit wholeheartedly to feeling that feeling. I use the analogy to strength training a lot because once you start looking at anxiety as a form of stress you can adapt to (like weight training) rather than as an uncontrollable thing that just happens to you, your relationship to it changes dramatically. It was difficult to do this: one of the key exercises I did was when I wasn't feeling the anxiety, was mentally committing to the idea that physically it really wouldn't hurt me. Then when it happened I was able to say "ok we've already decided this wont kill you, so what happens if you try your best to feel it, rather than run from it?" Then you start building a tolerance to it. Do I still feel anxiety and depression sometimes? Absolutely. But I've learned to change my expectations around those emotions: I don't look at them as signs that something is broken, they are just regular emotions to go through like any other. In a weird way, I almost look forward to them because they are an opportunity to train again, and to test myself. In general mindfulness and meditation are great, and if you can't afford therapy as well, they can be great on their own (and are free!).