Have you ever utilized mental health professionals?

[lawrocket 3]

Since there's been no post in over an hour in here, I thought I'd get a little poll going considering another thread.

Let's limit this to "as an adult." Plenty of people were sent to doctors as kids.

I know I'd never been to one until last year, and he helped.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[kelpdiver 2]

not sure I see a poll answer I'd want to use.

I can see their value, but feel that far too many of them are drug pushers. I'll yield to the notion that some people have bad brain chemistry that can be fixed, but my WAG pulled out of thin air is that they represent a tiny minority of those being proscribed these drugs.

[AggieDave 6]

I went to one to help with post tramatic depression and stress after a very tramatic event I ended up going through. It took me reaching the bottom before I went to one, but going to one helped greatly. This was a few years ago and I'll tell you it really helped me turn my anger around and actually get past the depression I was in.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Nightingale 0]

No, I haven't been to one myself as an adult, however, if I needed to, I wouldn't hesitate to go. I've had friends vent to me about serious personal or marital issues and I've tossed out the idea that they talk to a professional, because the issue may have gotten too big for them to fix, and, as a friend, I'll be there to offer a shoulder but I can't help them the way a mental health professional could. I've seen psychologists and counselors and psychaitrists work wonders for individuals and for marriages. Sometimes, it helps people fix things, and other times, it helps people accept that there are some things that can't be fixed, but either way it usually helps.

[Michele 1]

Jer, what sort of mental health professionals? There's a whole lot of different kinds, and most of them can't prescribe psychotropic medication.

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[lawrocket 3]

Any kind, Michele. I understand that for many mere counseling and therapy is enough. For others, psychotropic intervention may be more appropruate.

I myself went to a psychiatrist because I wanted all options available to me. While we decided that I did not need medicinal intervention for my depression, we did decide on medicinal treatment for ADHD. He offered to let me continue with follow-ups through my doctor, but I reckon I'd not go to him with my injuries so I won't go to my PMD to help with my mind.

The experience was great. I really understood a lot more about myself and others. I thin kthe meds helped with that,

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Michele 1]

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't sure what you were going for, and so didn't answer.

Some folks around here are familiar with my battle.

When I got diagnosed, I was with an MFCC. She referred me to a psychiatrist, and after much debate (three months of it, as a matter of fact), I started meds. I continued counseling with her for the next 18 months, learning new coping skills and handling some core issues.

Mary, my MFCC, was superb. The meds are superb. I would not be here today if the combination of both counseling and medication was not undertaken. I would've killed myself.

Edit: To those who think they're quacks, why do you hold that opinion?

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[rickjump1 0]

I think a lot people at one time thought about it, but would not seek help because of their job. I can just imagine the quick response a pilot would get from Oklahoma City after admitting he/she visited a psychiatrist or required professional counseling since their last FAA flight physical. You would be kissing your career goodbye in a lot of vocations to include the military.

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[jakee 1,609]

No I haven't.

You don't expect Tom Cruise to reply to this do you? I know he was supposed to skydive and all but he probably doesn't post to this site...

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[kallend 2,175]

No.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Thijs 0]

I've never used them as an adult an probably never will, simply because I don't see how they can help.
I went to a lot of mental health people when I was a kid. I suffered from depression, suicidal thaugths, adaptation problems at school and in society in general. When I was a 8 year old kid I was thinking more like an adult then a kid, and this caused more then one traumatic experience. I feeled that how many professioals I visited, none of them helped, if they did anything it was only making matters even worse.

Over time I learned to deal with my mental problems myself. I very, very rarely talk to someone about it, and if I do it are mostly my parents, simply because they more or less understand my background. Talking to a complete stranger about it would seem very stupid to me, but on numerous occassions people adviced me to go and so some pro's.

The scares of those experiences are pretty deep.
I live with up's and down's, but I can manage Thijs

[mailin 0]

I've only been in family counseling as my mother is bi-polar and schizophrenic and we dealt with it as a family when I was growing up.

I have seen more of these so called mental health professionals screw my mom up than ANY have helped. They go home to their white picket fenced homes at the end of the day and have almost no involvement in their 'patients' lives other than the 20 minutes they spend talking to them.

As a result of their 'guidance' my mom has been in half way houses, sober houses and battered woman shelters (the abuse is all in her head, trust me) when all that was needed was her to put forth some effort to make things better at home, she's a house wife, she should clean the house. More than once my dad has had to threaten them to stop giving such bad advice. But she is so tired of being 'mentally handicapped' that she'll listen to anyone who's a so-called mental health professional. Its wrong.

Mom got out of detox last week and has decided that she needs to live on her own (so she can drink and eat and no one will complain about it) because some fresh-out-of-college social workers and therapists at the detox center said she should. After all - my mom was complaining that my dad was always on her case to get off her duff and clean the house and stop drinking - so of course moving out when you can't support yourself is the best answer

They've managed to screw up what took my family 10 years to fix - my opinion of them is in the gutter right now.

Jen

Arianna Frances

[Darius11 12]

I think they are a good idea for people who need it.


However I feel they are over used by many that just need attention or people who just need to suck it up.
IMHO

I also think there is way too many people on drugs now days. I don’t remember this many kids with ADD when I was a kid, and we were still a functional society, and a lot nicer.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[waltappel 1]

From what I can tell, there is good reason not to go to a shrink. It's the way they interact with insurance companies. For the shrink to get paid, they must submit paperwork that includes a diagnostic code from the DSM 4 manual--the standard used for mental-health-related diagnoses. I don't believe the DSM 4 has a code for perfectly normal, so I'm thinking that even if you don't have a problem, you are likely to be diagnosed with one.

If there is a record that you have been diagnosed with a mental illness, it can be used against you in divorce cases, custody cases, etc. Not a pretty picture.

Having said that, I think shrinks can make huge impacts on peoples lives (good and bad) but over-used.

FWIW, I think Tom Cruise is entitled to his opinions, but feel that his sweeping statements about psychiatry are way off base. I am a former psychiatric nurse and understand what he is saying about the history of psychiatry, but think his conclusions are based on a very weak understanding of the topic. My guess is that he is simply repeating what someone else told him.

Walt

[Alias 0]

Does ...court appointed count?

Carpe Diem

[Andrewwhyte 1]

Do prostitutes count?

[Zenister 0]

Quote

a diagnostic code from the DSM 4 manual--the standard used for mental-health-related diagnoses. I don't believe the DSM 4 has a code for perfectly normal

that is because if you read the DSM correctly, you'll realize that EVERYONE has mental health related symptoms... those who are not obvious about it are the ones you should REALLY worry about....

as an adult, no not professionally, but i have enough friends with the lambskins hidden away that i can and do talk to if i wish.... the strange thing is i get the same kind of help from those without all the paperwork.....sometimes its simply more about a persons perception and life experience instead of what they've formally studied...

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[fallingchip 0]

I wish it was a multiple answer poll.

Only one of my personalities have, but the other two haven't even though I think they're lying.........no we aren't.........yes you are........no we aren't..........

______________________________________________
"A radical man is a man with both feet firmly planted in the air."
-Franklin Delano Roosevelt

[StreetScooby 5]

You got a free education along the line?

We are all engines of karma

[bodypilot90 0]

Have you ever met the people going in to the field? They are more screw up than M. jackson..........

[rickjump1 0]

Quote

I've never used them as an adult an probably never will, simply because I don't see how they can help.
I went to a lot of mental health people when I was a kid. I suffered from depression, suicidal thaugths, adaptation problems at school and in society in general. When I was a 8 year old kid I was thinking more like an adult then a kid, and this caused more then one traumatic experience. I feeled that how many professioals I visited, none of them helped, if they did anything it was only making matters even worse.

Over time I learned to deal with my mental problems myself. I very, very rarely talk to someone about it, and if I do it are mostly my parents, simply because they more or less understand my background. Talking to a complete stranger about it would seem very stupid to me, but on numerous occassions people adviced me to go and so some pro's.

The scares of those experiences are pretty deep.
I live with up's and down's, but I can manage Thijs

At least you do have somebody you can talk to. With me, it has been all kept inside over the years. I get a few demons every 3 or 4 months. Having my 2 year old granddaughter around and watching exciting shows with her like 64 Zoo Lane or the Koala Brothers has been mildly therapeutic (had to look that one up). No kidding.

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[SpeedRacer 1]

Quote

Having my 2 year old granddaughter around and watching exciting shows with her like 64 Zoo Lane or the Koala Brothers has been mildly therapeutic (had to look that one up). No kidding.

years ago I went to see Mojo Nixon. In between songs he started going on about those "Goth" teenager, who stand around moping, all dressed in black with safety pins thru their noses, smoking clove cigaretes, etc.

He said, "Now, there's nothing wrong with these kids that one Foghorn Leghorn cartoon couldn't cure!"

Speed Racer
--------------------------------------------------

[rickjump1 0]

. years ago I went to see Mojo Nixon. In between songs he started going on about those "Goth" teenager, who stand around moping, all dressed in black with safety pins thru their noses, smoking clove cigaretes, etc.

He said, "Now, there's nothing wrong with these kids that one Foghorn Leghorn cartoon couldn't cure!"