09-06-2012, 06:28 PM
The truth is ANYONE, and I mean absolutely anyone can be diagnosed with some form of some mental illness. That doesn't mean they are mentally ill, just that they have one or more things that CAN be a part of some kind of mental illness.
A few examples, things that have happened to my partners when I had them go talk to my therapist about me.
He was a Christian and, mentioned the "Still, small voice" (a Christian reference to you conscience) and, was diagnosed immediately as borderline schizophrenic. (I got a new therapist.)
Last one told my therapist he didn't understand how stuff from 30 years ago could bother me today. He was diagnosed as sociopathic, unable to empathize with others. (I quit therapy and meds, never looked back and, aside from the initial effects of coming off meds too quickly, it made ZERO difference.)
Yes there is a place for psychotherapy, but IMO it's overused and over relied on by many. I made the mistake of letting therapy and meds become a crutch, took what I saw as an attack on the man I loved to wake me up. Sure I was a mess for a couple of weeks, dropping 3 meds cold turkey isn't the brightest move, but I made it through and, once that was over, I was fine, didn't feel any different than I did before. Still don't, and it's been seven years - not one of the things I was being treated for affects me any more without meds and talking to a therapist than they did before. I still have one trigger that I can only keep myself out of a flashback on about 1 in 20 times it happens, I'm still not depressed, I don't flip out over images of abuse similar to what happened to me and, I don't have panic attacks in crowds - which is what the meds were supposedly preventing.
The point is, it taught me not to take therapy as gospel, to second guess, question it and find my own truth instead of relying on a therapist and medication to do it for me. Just because a shrink makes an educated guess, and diagnoses something doesn't always make it true. Sometime it is, but sometimes they are wrong. They are human and make mistakes same as the rest of us.
A few examples, things that have happened to my partners when I had them go talk to my therapist about me.
He was a Christian and, mentioned the "Still, small voice" (a Christian reference to you conscience) and, was diagnosed immediately as borderline schizophrenic. (I got a new therapist.)
Last one told my therapist he didn't understand how stuff from 30 years ago could bother me today. He was diagnosed as sociopathic, unable to empathize with others. (I quit therapy and meds, never looked back and, aside from the initial effects of coming off meds too quickly, it made ZERO difference.)
Yes there is a place for psychotherapy, but IMO it's overused and over relied on by many. I made the mistake of letting therapy and meds become a crutch, took what I saw as an attack on the man I loved to wake me up. Sure I was a mess for a couple of weeks, dropping 3 meds cold turkey isn't the brightest move, but I made it through and, once that was over, I was fine, didn't feel any different than I did before. Still don't, and it's been seven years - not one of the things I was being treated for affects me any more without meds and talking to a therapist than they did before. I still have one trigger that I can only keep myself out of a flashback on about 1 in 20 times it happens, I'm still not depressed, I don't flip out over images of abuse similar to what happened to me and, I don't have panic attacks in crowds - which is what the meds were supposedly preventing.
The point is, it taught me not to take therapy as gospel, to second guess, question it and find my own truth instead of relying on a therapist and medication to do it for me. Just because a shrink makes an educated guess, and diagnoses something doesn't always make it true. Sometime it is, but sometimes they are wrong. They are human and make mistakes same as the rest of us.
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