What is the worst thing a mental health worker can do?

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Far too many "helpers" are totally out of their depth if a case does not fit neatly into a single category currently listed in the DSM. If you have moderate cases of two or more disorders, you get ignored. My mother taught me to take advantage of that to avoid a mis-diagnosis before Autism was recognized. The dullards also expect everyone with the same diagnosis to respond the same to what helped one example. The single most helpful thing my good counsellor said was "I don't know," which the PhDs are apparently not allowed to say. There is trouble in both teaching and counselling where average minds simply can't comprehend the struggles of someone with high IQ and low EQ.


"19th century reasons for admission into insane asylums:
M F
Ill health of various kinds 22 24
Intemperance 29 0
Loss of property 17 0
Dread of Poverty 2 0
Disappointed affections 2 4
Intense Study 5 0
Domestic Difficulties 1 5
Fright at fires, etc. 2 3
Grief - loss of friends 4 16
Intense application to business 2 9
Religious excitement 8 7
Want of employment 9 0
Use of opium 0 2
Use of tobacco 2 0
Mental anxiety 4 1
Unascertained 0 0

I just spent five minutes replacing all the tabs with spaces, and this site still won't let that list format correctly.

The above post sounds very familiar to me . And infuriates me……

The above post by Hurtloam …..makes incredible sense to me ..!

24 Years ago, I had a worker who laughed at everything that I told her. I'd tell her about a problem that I was experiencing and she'd laugh at me. I'd tell her about a character that I liked and she'd laugh at me and try to introduce me to the latest girl band of that time. I'd tell her about some goals that I had and she told me to aim low instead of aiming high like everybody else. I'd tell her about my gender identity and she'd laugh in my face.

What is the worst thing a mental health worker can do?  Maybe this is not THE worst, but it seems like gaslighting at its worst when a mental health worker tries to convince clients that they are really gay or trans, when the clients are simply asking why society expects them to conform to traditional gender roles.

One of the worst is trying to rely on antidepressants. Drugs are tested by giving the new compound to a group of patients, and a placebo to a similar group, to see what changes for each group. If the control group is given the usual sugar pill, they can tell, and so they don't expect to change. If they are given any random drug that makes them feel strange, that will catalyze positive changes just as well. It is only the "bedside manner" that gives any potency to the antidepressants, but they are terribly addictive.

The worst thing a mental health worker can do is actually murder their client, I guess. They might think they can restrain someone having a meltdown by pinning them to the ground until they crush them to death, like it's already been done to so many autistic people. Or they might be generally physically abusive to their client, who may be unable to defend themselves or get help, and end up killing them. It's all too common for anyone with an occupation where they work with disabled people, children and seniors to be a vicious, abusive monster.

The title of this thread is just a figure of speech. The OP is asking for guidelines or advice on what a mental health worker should and shouldn't do, and if anyone's got any unpleasant experiences with mental health workers.

^^ Agreed - this is not a suggestion list, except for a horror novel. I'm sure that there are fates worse than death, and that mind monkeys can cause them, usually through ignorance, but sometimes by malice. Experiments go wrong. A diploma does not prevent the development of delusions. A patient's legal status can be destroyed. Their brains can be ruined by drugs and/or surgery or electroshock. We almost lost Robert Persig that way, and he felt quite damaged. Even bad information can overwhelm sanity. If the available theory does not fit the case, a bad therapist will keep pounding square pegs into round holes until they are shattered, not rounded.

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Autistics frequently tend to make literal misinterpretations

A good statement or action in one situation could be a bad statement or action in a different situation

Every situation different

Not all impacts are immediate obvious physical or visible

Some actions and statements appear good and end up bad. And vice versa

Things not always the way they appear

Just because an action or statement was "unpleasant" doesn't mean it is bad or wrong, per se.

^^^^^ Profound Words ^^^^^

I know, I'm just letting people know so they understand.

Giving up on a patient. I had this happen to me at one of my lowest, and the therapist said she couldn't help me anymore. That did not help at all.

Well, it is better than treating you badly. A professional should at least try to suggest a better source of help, though.

I beg to differ! I think it's far, far worse when a mental health abuser... sorry, I mean "worker"... withholds antidepressants from you, when they could mean a different between you becoming happy and you committing suicide.

My own therapist did exactly that. Whenever I asked her to get me "happiness pills" (my term for antidepressants, since I didn't know the real term), she pretended not to know what I'm talking about, fed me stupid platitudes about "finding happiness the natural way", or yelled at me for wanting a quick fix. Well, she turned out to be the stupid one. I found my own "happiness pills": by sneaking my parents' whiskey or by abusing cold medications.

Many times, I used to deliberately get myself sick, like by getting my hair wet and sticking my head out the window in winter, or by secretly taking cold baths in summer, so my parents would buy me NyQuil and Robitussin. My parents probably suspected things when they saw me get sick multiple times a year, but they never questioned me. And of course, I constantly snuck whiskey from their bottles and replaced it with water, or I poured myself glasses from their boxed wine when the box was too full to notice.

I'm sure the real "happiness pills" would have been better. But I was working with the only options I had available to me, and they were just good enough. After all, I was a minor and couldn't get a prescription without her referral, and I was too afraid to find a gangster to buy pills from on the streets.

Of course, today, I can buy a bottle of whiskey any time I want, and I can get an antidepressant prescription without much difficulty. But when you're 13, you DON'T HAVE those luxuries.

Last edited by Aspie1 on 14 Jun 2022, 9:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Dr Phil asks himself this very question on a regular basis.

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Lady strange

Sometimes it is a good thing that a counselor knows and admits that they don't have the skills to address your situation

Plenty of counselors just assume that they know a lot more than they know, and then put on (smoke and mirrors) and it's a waste of cash and energy at best; & inflicting unnecessary additional damage at worst