LJ Idol Week 7

[i_love_freddie]

Don't you just hate it when people act like they know everything about a particular subject, when in reality they don't know anything?

In the last few years, I've run into several of them. The really scary part is, these people were supposed to be mental health professionals. Now call me fussy, but when I have someone treating me for various disorders – is it really too much to ask that those people know what they are dealing with?

How to be a helpful professional, and not an idiot:

- Four years ago, I had a female psychiatrist. That November, I went for a routine appointment and ended up admitting that I was suicidal and wanted to kill myself. Her reaction? “Oh it's just grief. Here, have a prescription for your medication and I'll see you again in six weeks.” It's definitely not a good idea to say that to a client who already has three failed overdose attempts on their records!

- My brother had a psychologist who – when her textbook methods failed to produce any results – accused him of lying about trying them. Because apparently the solutions they give in psychology always work for everyone, every single time. If you do them and you're still not better... well, obviously you are just a big fat liar.

- This one has become a family joke. I went in to see a different psychiatrist, this was a couple of years ago. So I'm sitting there, and he asks how I'm doing. I say that things aren't good; at that time there was a lot of work being done on the outside of the building where I live, so there were men going back and forth constantly. I was so freaked out that I was spending a lot of time shut in the house with the curtains closed. He listened to that, nodded and then asked me: “Can anyone else see these workmen?” I do not suffer from hallucinations, so I still have no idea why he asked me that.

- Then there was the child psychologist I saw at 16 who was convinced that my self injury was caused by violent video games and horror films. Never mind that I could give her at least five reasons why I did it and none of them had anything to do with 'pretend' violence – nope, that was her theory and she stuck to it.

- There was also my last therapist, who told me that my boyfriend was abusive, and decided that she was qualified to tell me that I didn't have Asperger's Syndrome (Tests later showed differently).

- And the psychiatrists I've had this year have been pretty poor too. One decided that having two fairly good weeks meant that my depression was cured – I've sure all other sufferers of chronic depression will be so relieved to hear that. The one I have now thinks that you can just forget that you're having a panic attack, if you try hard enough. Hey, that fear in your head? Just think about something else, and it's all gone. Easy as that!

The problem is that all it takes to become a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist or a mental health counsellor is the training. Read a few books, get a degree, a bit of field work, and there you go. It seems to me that most of them have no experience in what it is like to be on the other side.

Despite their training and their education, they know nothing at all about what we go through. And it makes me angry... although admittedly some of the worst stories can be fairly amusing afterwards.

(Side note: I know not all of them are like this. I've seen a lot of people in my lifetime, and many of them have been great. But even one idiot in this profession is too many.)

Comments

[anewdaysjourney.livejournal.com]

Now you know why I was wanting to study psychology as a minor - to be more "there" for others and to understand my own conditions.

[lapis-lazuli615.livejournal.com]

hmph. I had a therapist when I was 17 try to give me legal advie. Do huh?
I generally try to avoid them.

I wish more people who had been through it had the gumption/resources/whatever to get trained and help others like themselves.

Of course, you know they say that more therapists go to therapy than almost any other profession. :)

I hope things are getting better.

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

You're right - there's a higher standard for competence in the medical community, and there should be!

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

I really do think that anyone wanting to work in a field specialising in helping people should have been in need of that help themselves. It's like social workers without children trying to tell parents how to bring theirs up. Makes no sense to me!

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

“Can anyone else see these workmen?”

I'm sorry, but I laughed out loud.

And as you say at the start, you run into this cluelessness in many occupations. Politics springs to mind. As someone with a chronic, and difficult to diagnose, illness, I have had to put up with so many asshats with medical degrees that it wasn't even funny. And, yes, it seems everyone has a "go to theory" that they work from.

[bewize.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry so many idiots exist in the world. I really am.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

I remember a counselor I saw for a time telling me that a lot of their "indifference" stems from insurance: The more patients they see, the more they're rewarded. More patients, less time. Less time, the more help is a band-aid than anything else.

I thought it was crass at the time, but eventually I agreed.

I'm sorry you went through all this.

[myrna-bird.livejournal.com]

I have been quite surprised over the years. A professional that one person finds totally useless, will be seen as the best-ever to another. I think when we present to someone, we do have certain expectations, no matter what service we are seeking. A paper certificate does not necessarily make a good doctor, mechanic or marriage. Sometimes personalities just don't click. I do know many many people in the helping professions, nurses, counselors, social workers that chose their career specifically because they did have their own issues growing up and then developed a strong desire to work with people with similar problems.
I'm sorry you have had some duds in your experience. I enjoyed your entry and your way of keeping the humor in it.

[basric.livejournal.com]

I've never met a psychiatrist or psychologist I thought had any idea of what the real world was like. The first wants to give you a drug and the second wants you to 'remember sexual abuse' whether its real or not. That you continue seeking a good one, well, good luck on that. Well written.

[malruniel11.livejournal.com]

"Can anyone else see these workmen?" - CLASSIC! I loved that line!


I know there are some wonderful mental health professionals. I have made friends with a few. I can even think of a good one among us idolers. However, I have been soured from ever going back to one because of a VERY bad experience when I was 12. My female counselor told me that I couldn't have been raped repeatedly nearly every day of the past summer vacation if I hadn't wanted it on some level. That I would have told someone if I hadn't been enjoying it. That my complacency means it was my fault, not my 11 yr old rapist, because he was younger than me, so I had to be allowing it.

My parents said I must have misunderstood her, and made me go back three more times, but she kept telling me the same thing, so I finally refused to say a single word during our last 2 sessions and my parents stopped paying for me to sit silent for an hour.

[liret.livejournal.com]

Most of these are, like you said, people who think they know everything and aren't listening to their patient - which is frustrating enough. But sending a suicidal patient home goes against all mental health training and every set of standards that exist. That woman should not be allowed to practice psychiatry.

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

Those psychologists should be fired. There's got to be something wrong with the overseeing and accountability areas when SO many people have horror stories about them.

*SIGH*

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

Sadly, all shrinks are human, and the system is not perfect... so as much as I'd wish otherwise, mistakes will be made.

But that doesn't make the examples you give any less heart-breaking.

I hope you find someone who will give you the support you need.

[jacq22.livejournal.com]

I laughed and agreed. Especially your imaginary workmen!

I worked in a mental health facility, and came across some very worrying characters. One of the jokes in that job was the specialists were madder than the patients

There are strange people in every profession. Shame you met most of them...

[pixiebelle.livejournal.com]

I don't have any severe mental issues, but I'm in therapy right now. What I do like about this counselor is that she does relate to what I'm going through and admits it from time to time. She admits that she's been where I am and has had similar troubles. I like that and I guess I'm lucky. I'm sorry you've dealt with so many incompetent ones!

[solstice-singer.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry you've known mental health professionals like this. It's unfortunate that they exist. I've seen my share of them. One told me that I can't be anorexic because I'm blind. Others think my blindness is the root of all my problems, even though I've been blind since birth. (Sigh)

So, two good weeks means I'm not depressed anymore, and I should just forget I'm having a panic attack. Okay then. I'll get right on that.

Honestly, seeing professionals like this makes me greatful I have a degree in clinical social work. I know how not to act. (Smile)

[faerie-spark.livejournal.com]

You've written this so well. I think mental health professionals need good doses of compassion, humility, and, believe it or not, curiosity, to do their jobs really well. The curiosity helps with the empathy, helps people understand that things might be happening in someone else's head that they just can't understand, but that they can work with.

I confess I laughed out loud at the psychiatrist who asked you if anyone else could see the workmen. :)

My brother was hospitalized in a psych ward for a month, then had 6 weeks of out-patient therapy. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, put on heavy duty meds that made him really sick (drug induced lupus), and, well, 15 years later is drug free. Moral of the story: He was never bipolar. Mood disorder? Probably! But...anyway....I'm stil mad at that psychiatrist because the treatment my brother had caused trauma for our family, and aside from one amazing social worker who was transferred to another city, no one recognized that the family needed help to get through this situation.

I've been lucky enough to find a fantastic therapist here in town. When I finally relaized I had to see someone I was really scared, worried I might find someone unhelpful, or even harmful.

Thank you for writing such an important, succinctpiece!