Discussion How has your experience with mental health services been?

[The Disqualified]

Mine has been a mixed bag.
I am not that hostile to Psychiatry all things considered, but I tend to be critical of many things, like the idea of 'mental illness' in general.

I have been interested in anti-psychiatry and neurodivergence perspectives recently, though I admit I am not particularly knowledgeable about these subjects at the moment.

I have never been committed, neither involuntarily nor voluntarily, and I have no intention to. I am aware of others' experiences in these places, and I have the impression that they are largely harmful to many, and don't focus on the root issues people face. I think it would be a waste of time for me: I know they won't have anything to help me there that I can't get from a normal appointment with a doctor already.

Therapy has helped me a lot in changing my outlook on things, especially after I was able to meet a therapist I could connect better with.
Psychiatric meds have been a mixed bag as well. My earlier meds just made me feel horrible and foggy, but my new ones have given me more energy and made my mood more stable — this is what I could notice. My current psychiatrist is the better one of those I've gone to, and I am more confident in the meds now.

Overall, I have had bad experiences with mental health services, though nothing abusive or extreme happened.
I think it is something worth exploring. Overall, I think introspection and coming to know others' perspectives is the more valuable part of talk therapy.
Feel free to share your thoughts.

 

[LilGhost]

Mine has been a mixed bag.
I am not that hostile to Psychiatry all things considered, but I tend to be critical of many things, like the idea of 'mental illness' in general.

I have been interested in anti-psychiatry and neurodivergence perspectives recently, though I admit I am not particularly knowledgeable about these subjects at the moment.

I have never been committed, neither involuntarily nor voluntarily, and I have no intention to. I am aware of others' experiences in these places, and I have the impression that they are largely harmful to many, and don't focus on the root issues people face. I think it would be a waste of time for me: I know they won't have anything to help me there that I can't get from a normal appointment with a doctor already.

Therapy has helped me a lot in changing my outlook on things, especially after I was able to meet a therapist I could connect better with.
Psychiatric meds have been a mixed bag as well. My earlier meds just made me feel horrible and foggy, but my new ones have given me more energy and made my mood more stable — this is what I could notice. My current psychiatrist is the better one of those I've gone to, and I am more confident in the meds now.

Overall, I have had bad experiences with mental health services, though nothing abusive or extreme happened.
I think it is something worth exploring. Overall, I think introspection and coming to know others' perspectives is the more valuable part of talk therapy.
Feel free to share your thoughts.

Congrats on your meds working and I am sincerely glad therapy is working out for you!

For me its fucking annoying and useless. "You have depressed thoughts? Why? And how do you get rid of them? And oh you must feel sad." - some questions theyll ask Like, brother is just asking you questions. I can do it on my own, thank you very much, without a fear of being locked up. No meds worked for me, just drained my bank account.

Idk, mb i just wasnt lucky with that, but I give up. Mental health services mostly focuses on neurotypical people, which caused lots of misunderstandings between me and my therapist. Like "did you try not to be bothered by sounds", MAN I WISH I COULD.
The only positive encounter is with my family doctor who taught me how to safely sh, instead of just saying "just stop doin that".

Anyway..... Im curious what pills are you on if you dont mind sharing?

 

[whywere]

Well, let's see.

1) Kicked out, yes
2) Arrogant providers, yes
3) Nasty court systems, that providers sic onto me, yes
4) They know everything, and will NEVER EVER include me in the equation, yes

I have given up on finding ANY good providers where I live and I live in a 4 million population metro area.

I always hold out a glimmer of hope, but I and NOT counting on any miraculous outcome(S) of finding a new and/or good provider, that WILL INCLUDE me in the process.

Walter

 

[dandayooo]

Not a great experience. I am a very closed-off person and I don't have the courage to tell the full length of my thoughts. I have been going to psychiatrists and psychologists for 2 or 3 years at this point and they still don't know I'm depressed; I was just diagnosed with autism and OCD. Doesn't help that I'm using the public system and they are always replacing professionals.

 

[thelostautistic]

I'm glad therapy has been helpful for you!

My experience with mental health services hasn't been brilliant. In fact it has added to my trauma and I have huge trust issues with professionals now. I feel I've been massively misunderstood by professionals due to my Autism that was undiagnosed at the time. I've dealt with a lot of invalidation and comparison from professionals which caused me to become more unwell. I got to a point where I felt like I needed to prove how much I was struggling because I wasn't being listened to or taken seriously which is so dangerous. Saying this I can't ignore the fact that there have been positive experiences over the last 8 years. There are good professionals out there but they aren't always easy to find. I don't have a lot of trust in the system anymore due to my bad experiences. But I'm facing my fear and recently started working with someone new from a different service. Walking in there felt very triggering and I did cry in the first 10 minutes lol. Hopefully it'll help and I won't be let down again.

 

[The Disqualified]

Congrats on your meds working and I am sincerely glad therapy is working out for you!

Appreciate it.
It hasn't fixed everything, but I think it is better than nothing for me.

For me its fucking annoying and useless. "You have depressed thoughts? Why? And how do you get rid of them? And oh you must feel sad." - some questions theyll ask Like, brother is just asking you questions. I can do it on my own, thank you very much, without a fear of being locked up. No meds worked for me, just drained my bank account.

Idk, mb i just wasnt lucky with that, but I give up. Mental health services mostly focuses on neurotypical people, which caused lots of misunderstandings between me and my therapist. Like "did you try not to be bothered by sounds", MAN I WISH I COULD.
The only positive encounter is with my family doctor who taught me how to safely sh, instead of just saying "just stop doin that".

It sucks you didn't have a good experience. I feel like therapy can be very dismissive, and Psychiatry can be extremely soulless and cold, eerily so.
And many meds don't work, or produce unexpected results. It's a bit of trial-and-error and hoping you will find something that works for you.

Yeah. I think CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy — the most mainstream form of therapy) has a lot of emphasis on negative thoughts on your mind, but often does not seem to really explore deeply what these negative thoughts mean in the first place. Though I think these thoughts can be problematic in excess, they can also carry personal meaning in my eyes.
I value introspection a lot, and reflecting on my depression and melancholy has made me realize things about me and others that I didn't notice as clearly before.

I think the true therapy boils down to introspection, conversation, and growth in wisdom and experience. I think this is what it really boils down to in its core form.
I think you need to have a therapist you feel like you can connect decently with, and be able to go from there.

In my case, I started to realize how I felt inferior to others solely because I was 'different' from them, which was a problematic and ultimately false belief.
Overall, I value my therapist a lot. They very much share the same political and ethical points of view of mine, and I think they influenced me significantly on those aspects, positively so.

Anyway..... Im curious what pills are you on if you dont mind sharing?

I think meds vary a lot from person to person, and the effects can be very unpredictable and may change as time passes.
I don't wish to share much specifics yet.

But I am currently taking a SNRI

Well, let's see.

1) Kicked out, yes
2) Arrogant providers, yes
3) Nasty court systems, that providers sic onto me, yes
4) They know everything, and will NEVER EVER include me in the equation, yes

I have given up on finding ANY good providers where I live and I live in a 4 million population metro area.

I always hold out a glimmer of hope, but I and NOT counting on any miraculous outcome(S) of finding a new and/or good provider, that WILL INCLUDE me in the process.

Walter

I am sorry your experience has been like this. It really is perplexing to me how bad these systems can be. I hope you can find something better that can help you.

Not a great experience. I am a very closed-off person and I don't have the courage to tell the full length of my thoughts. I have been going to psychiatrists and psychologists for 2 or 3 years at this point and they still don't know I'm depressed; I was just diagnosed with autism and OCD. Doesn't help that I'm using the public system and they are always replacing professionals.

I see. I empathize with you.
Why don't you feel comfortable opening up to them?
I don't feel much comfortable talking with my psychatrist, as these doctors tend to be more detached and non-chalant; they also tend to be much more willing to throw you into a ward, as they may be legally and ethically obliged to do so.
I am much more open with my therapist though. I don't think I have to hide much from them, and they understand me pretty well.

Sending virtual hugs.

 

[Sardenain]

My short experience, I was in outpatient care:
Services felt very depression focused. Everything get diagnosis of clinical depression and gets treated as such. Getting alternative diagnosis like personality disorders is somewhat hard and demands own initiative, which can be lacking.

Also services focused on medication. With the first meeting I was described drugs without any deeper look into my problems. After first medication didn't work, I was described two others, which did not work either. And Venlafaxine of course caused some zappiness when quitting it.

Finally it felt that services kept punting my treatment until the treatment period was over and they could ship me into new provider (from public medical health care to private therapist). And private therapist are somewhat expensive and possibly hard to find.

In overall, quite meh experience, could have been worse, could have been better.

 

[dandayooo]

I see. I empathize with you.
Why don't you feel comfortable opening up to them?
I don't feel much comfortable talking with my psychatrist, as these doctors tend to be more detached and non-chalant; they also tend to be much more willing to throw you into a ward, as they may be legally and ethically obliged to do so.
I am much more open with my therapist though. I don't think I have to hide much from them, and they understand me pretty well.

Sending virtual hugs.

I don't really know... I'm just shy in general and have trouble telling my feelings to people in real life. There's also a bit of shame in the mix, as if it would be humiliating to tell people that I'm suicidal.

 

[Fadenself00_]

Destroyed my life

 

[a-lien]

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[iguazo falls]

Mine has been a mixed bag.
I am not that hostile to Psychiatry all things considered, but I tend to be critical of many things, like the idea of 'mental illness' in general.

I have been interested in anti-psychiatry and neurodivergence perspectives recently, though I admit I am not particularly knowledgeable about these subjects at the moment.

I have never been committed, neither involuntarily nor voluntarily, and I have no intention to. I am aware of others' experiences in these places, and I have the impression that they are largely harmful to many, and don't focus on the root issues people face. I think it would be a waste of time for me: I know they won't have anything to help me there that I can't get from a normal appointment with a doctor already.

Therapy has helped me a lot in changing my outlook on things, especially after I was able to meet a therapist I could connect better with.
Psychiatric meds have been a mixed bag as well. My earlier meds just made me feel horrible and foggy, but my new ones have given me more energy and made my mood more stable — this is what I could notice. My current psychiatrist is the better one of those I've gone to, and I am more confident in the meds now.

Overall, I have had bad experiences with mental health services, though nothing abusive or extreme happened.
I think it is something worth exploring. Overall, I think introspection and coming to know others' perspectives is the more valuable part of talk therapy.
Feel free to share your thoughts.

it has ranged from mildly helpful to fucking me up for most my childhood/teen years until i could think for myself. the most helpful was when i was just doing most the work on shallow level workbooks and the therapist was just there to root for me (i would not say it was worth the money but it wasnt outright bad, since i was an adult is my point. and she didnt make me feel like shit either since i think you cant BS someone whos brain is grown as easily) but it wasnt as good as just a peer support worker who went through the same things i did.

as a kid though i genuinely resent the adults around me, they just were on my parents side, ignored the bigotry and abuse at home, pathologised me and gave me shit meds but always made it out that i was malingering/not bad enough, and were either gaslighting me or genuinely fucking brainwashed about what drugs do to you and what withdrawal is. i had to wait almost a year after my first CTB attempt at 12 just to talk to someone, got referred to CAMHS and this quackchiatrist who didnt know my name could judge in 5 minutes that i was apparently autistic and needed SSRIS. maybe i didn't look her in the eye because her profession is some bullshit and she has no business talking to suicidal kids if she was going to be rude. god forbid you actually suggest you are autistic on your terms, you must be a massive tiktok inspired asshole trying to be a NEET! they go to their subreddit and then bitch about whatever. they go on about genetics and brain chemistry, but perpetuate sexism and transphobia by dismissing people with comorbid conditons (ie POTS and EDS), while others contribute meaningfully by looking for genes and biomarkers to why certain things are comorbid more often in certain populations.

as apart of my work im overseen by some career advisor kind of role. the moment she started yapping about her side hustle psychology business it just all made sense. she half patronised me, and half tried to quiz/psychoanalyse me and basically test me. i could see the slots click in her head when i mentioned i volunteered; "you can be the XYZ of the year!!!" yeah i'm sure you want your name next to that while i get paid below minimum wage... wow! she doesnt answer anything and insists on having meetings even though people have warned her 3 times that everyone is busy days before. i just got flashbacks from school with all those fake smiles from all the executive teachers and psychologists and they smile but its really obvious you are the last thing they want to see and they really regret taking the payrise just to deal with stupid dramatic children just to come home and also deal with more of their own dramatic children.

i know another person whos parent is a psychologist. all of their psych friends look and sound exactly the same. when this person was going thru suicidal thoughts/moments, the psychologist parent did not understand at all. said it was attention seeking. that parent is nice and supportive otherwise but it kind of just shows u that school doesn't really change someone's emotions/beliefs or values.