Seeing a Therapist

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I didn't try counseling for long but the therapists I saw had the wrong opinion about my diagnoses & disorders & had the causes & effects mixed up. I've had much better luck with psychiatrist than therapist after I started taking a more proactive role. I posted about my various issues aLOT online & tried to analyze myself. I also did a bit of research on various psych meds & what meds might be more helpful for various issues. My current med combo are all meds that I wanted to be on before they were prescribed to me. I specially asked for a couple meds & a couple I kinda guided my doc & psych to prescribe by explaining my issues the right way; I didn't think they would take me seriously if I specially asked for those meds. I only started seeing my current psych cuz I didn't think my doc would be willing to prescribe my latest one. It's been about a couple years since I've added that med & my mental health has been doing pretty good lately(for me anyways). I think I said something somewhere on WP before that if I could prescribe my own psych meds, I'd have no reason to see a psychiatrist & I woulda put myself on these meds & dosages. I recently found out my psych is leaving the health center & during my last appointment he wanted to set me up with a new provider. I asked to have my doc/GP take over & he was OK with that. I have a routine appointment scheduled with my doc this coming week & I'm pretty sure she'll agree to take over my psych meds again, especially if my girlfriend goes with me cuz Cass commented recently how we're getting along a lot better than we used to & I'm handling things a lot better.

Cass has lots of various mental & physical issues, some are like mine & some are different & she's seen 4(I think) therapists at different times in her adult life so far. Some therapists were not very helpful but others were. She thinks her 2nd to last one was mostly helpful by singing off on me being classified as her caretaker/live-in-aid since Cass has more benefits than me & my income would screw some of her benefits up if I wasn't her caretaker & her mental health was a lot worse when she lived alone for a year. Cass has researched alot of psychology stuff & read various psychology related books. A lot were self-help type books but some were geared towards professionals or professionals in training.

Cass has been seeing a psychiatrist for years now & we both like him, feel comfortable with him, & feel he really listens & tries even if he doesn't really understand certain things about her too well(almost noone understands certain things about Cass). She talked about wanting to see a therapist again during her last appointment with him & he mentioned how one moved to the same office building he's in who he likes. He had kinda told Cass to call & set up an appointment & she has major problems making phone calls. Her last appointment with her psychiatrist was supposed to be in person but got changed to telehealth cuz he had caught Covid; he was mostly over it but didn't want to risk spreading it. Cass has an in person appointment with him this coming week so she plans to talk to him about counseling again & see about setting an appointment up while she's in the building since it'll be a lot easier than initiating a phone call to set up an appointment as a new patient. As a side-note, a couple of the psych meds she's on that help some are the two meds I've been on for the last 10 years & still on & I had suggested she'd try em. Some other meds me & her psych suggested have not been very helpful or had bad side-effects for her.

Psych meds can be very hit & miss as well as therapists. Some psychology things & therapy can be very helpful for some people but not others. It helps to be more assertive with therapists about what problems & issues your having & what you would like help with. You have to kinda guide them to help you. Also some therapists are not a good fit for some people & some people have to try a few out before finding a good one for them. As for as cost goes, they can be very expensive for some people but very cheap or free for others. Your cost partly depends on where you live & what health insurance you have. I had to pay out of pocket when I lived in Louisiana with my parents cuz my private health insurance would not cover mental & the psychiatrists & therapists in my area would not accept the state Medicaid cuz it didn't pay them enough. I've been living in Vermont for almost 10 years now & the health center accepts Medicare & Medicaid so me & Cass never had to pay a cent for a psych appointment. I have both Medicare & Medicaid & Cass just has Medicaid. Cass checked online for therapist before & a lot of the private 1s don't accept Medicaid or you have to have another health insurance in addition to it. The therapist her psycholgist suggested accepts Medicaid, she asked him.

I tried like 3 or 4 when I was 17. They sit there and write while you sit there not knowing what to say. Then they call time and you leave in distress of having gotten no help.

Sadly, it only makes sense to go if you know what you need. A therapist won't fix your interpersonal problems.

"17". That explains literally everything. You were a minor. Your therapists weren't there to help you! They were there to help your parents control you!

That's why they acted so clueless and unhelpful. The whole thing was an act, to trick you into shutting up and believing that misery is your life's destiny. If you were an adult, with access to their supervisor's contact info and legal resources that could destroy their career, I can swear on my life that they'd give you all the advice in the world on the spot!

I'd recommend that you also consider an Occupational Therapist.