What People Don't Realize
I was in the psychiatry system for twenty years. I saw some really awful people with degrees. They were total idiots. I had been sexually abused for five years and all they could see was their chance to label me MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder) and write a book.
I knew there was something else wrong with me. I was sure of it. Somehow I made it through college while enduring psychotic breaks, total confusion, etc. One guy would sit and stare at me and wait for me to say something. It's a specific form of psychotherapy. Eventually he told me I had five different personalities that he'd seen so far(after five sessions). I said ok and what are they. He said there's a little girl the cries all the time, a teen who is angry, a young personality that is scared to death, one who is happy, and one who can't help but giggle all the time. I laughed. I said, "That sounds like the different faccets to one personality. Part of a person is sad, happy, can be nervous and cover it with laughter etc. But you see, I had educated myself enough to pick this up. I went home and told my parent that I was never going back, and that guy was a quack. After that I took a break from therapy. then while in college I went to see one of the resident therapists. He tried to help me find MY SPIRIT ANIMAL. um......QUACK.
I didn't realize until I was 25 that I WAS IN CHARGE of therapy and who I chose as a therapist, and I still am. People get so ruffled by psychs because of their degrees and they think that person knows it all and is their only option/hope because half of them act that way.
Part of this feeling is personal, and the other part has to do with the healthcare system. I once spent two weeks calling over twenty area psychiatrists to try and get an appointment after firing my psychiatrist for mismanagement of medication (and by the way YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF WATCHING AND RESEARCHING YOUR MEDS). I had to lie and say I was suicidal to a hospital ER psych doc in order to get admitted...why you say? Because if you check in to a psych ward you cannot be released unless they have made an appointment with an available psychiatrist on the outside.
I was crafty.
I finally figured out that if I didn't jive with a therapist after three sessions they were fired. I was now in charge of who I saw and how the session went. I fired a lot of people before I finally found an amazing psychiatrist and a therapist that worked for him. This was a life changing experience. Finally, someone saw past the sexual abuse and diagnosed me as Bipolar. I was so happy to know what was wrong with me. Now we could start to gain some control through medications and knowledge. I read a million books and I own all the books the psychs have like the DSM IV which is the book that attempts to define every possible mental disorder in existence.
I spent seven years with these two people. Every week with the therapist and every month with the psych. It worked.
Another thing people do even with good therapists is stop before it's time. Quit before finishing. If you are in for the real deal you don't leave till the therapist says you're done. And I'm talking about a therapist you've grown to trust. Not some random quack. Why? So you don't end up right back in that chair six months later, two years later, etc.
I believe in the field of psychiatry. But I also believe with my twenty years experience that there are an awful lot of quacks out there. And as far as EST goes...or Electro Shock Therapy...it should only be used in the most extreme of cases and even then it's questionable to me.
However, there are idiots in every field of medicine and Scientology uses that fact to its advantage. I don't even think I need to go there.
I am sorry for your negative experiences with psychiatry. Once again...people don't realize they are in charge..and even worse there are people with mental conditions that prevent them from being able to make decisions on or judge their healthcare professionals correctly...so if someone isn't standing by them and taking part in some of the sessions...they are left to their psychistrists/therapists devices.
btw. no pity please about my own life. I wouldn't be the person I am today without everything I went through