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r/TimeToGo•
thrw_a_way1221221

Does Anyone Else feel like therapy sessions are similar to an interrogation?

NSFW

Healthcare professionals along with other mandated reporters (psychiatrists, therapists, counselors, social workers, doctors, nurses, etc.) are not your friend and they are just working for the system. They are paid to (pretend to) care about their client, and mostly out there doing it for the money and their job security. Since it is difficult to be honest without always running the risk of being institutionalized, committed, held, locked up against your will, I pretty much consider them like entering an interrogation or similar to someone being interrogated by the police. I treat each session as though if I am in an interrogation with law enforcement, with the cards stacked against me. Basically, any mandated reporter is a potential risk towards personal freedom, and any recourse (even if possible) is very expensive, difficult, if not, outright impossible in certain situations. They can also lie, deceive, manipulate, and do all sorts of shady things and it's basically your word vs. theirs and then of course the system believes them more than the patient (especially when the patient is automatically presumed to be not of sound mind.).

YMMV and I can't speak for everyone, but keep in mind there is always an air of apprehension and fear whenever I speak to a healthcare professional whether it is a social worker, therapist, counselor, because all it takes is saying the wrong thing or if the therapist/counselor doesn't like you or trust you, then boom, your freedom, your right to make decisions, and bodily autonomy are gone on a whim. I can never be too careful and I would rather be overly cautious than to slip up and give them the opening they need to exploit. Furthermore, the aftermath of being hospitalized against your will is even worse, especially in the US. Loss of certain rights, huge medical bills, permanent record of involuntary hospitalization, and other social consequences (people can and WILL find out).

Posted Mar 30, 2018, 2:24 AM UTC

21
Smillasensesnow•

If I could upvote your post 1000 Times whilst posting it to my forehead I would.

Well done.

If you are determined to seek out therapy, find a psychoanalytically oriented one (pref Jungian). They are much less judgemental, much more likely to not label you, and they typically dive deep.

18
megabrain•

Yea I always thought it was really awkward. Talking to a stranger about my problems. Not for me. I cant be helped anyway.

17
QuixoticInk•

I think that they're trained to give you a guided self-interrogation. There are things they have to report, but I found that if I steered clear of those things, they were removed enough from my situation to come up with questions I needed to ask myself that I couldn't see that I needed to ask.

But honestly, so far I've found that therapy doesn't help me. I need to do my own thing myself with workbooks and such. I can figure out the questions, there's a formula to come up with them.

Some therapists are shit but there are good people in the medical and medically related professions. I work closely in that field and I know. But they do have power over you. The two people in that room are you and the therapist, and they can honestly say you said anything they want to say you said.

11
not_your_avg_grinch90% pro-dignity : 100% pro-choice : 10% pro-life•

Your third paragraph ends with a warning that scares the fuck out of me.

8
QuixoticInk•

I aim to please.

3
MiserableBastard199522yo male with bonus Aspergers•

Then research the law in your state about recording conversations without other people's knowlege. In my state, I can legally record any conversation without other's consent.

I do this all the time when I'm speaking on the phone to govt. departments, because they've fucked me before by changing things after the fact. This is proof of what's really been said.

I also communicate in writing whenever possible, and keep it on file.

1
QuixoticInk•

This is an excellent idea for self protection.

1
not_your_avg_grinch90% pro-dignity : 100% pro-choice : 10% pro-life•

Your first paragraph is solid, and it shows you've met mature therapists.

4
QuixoticInk•

Thank you.

1
Smillasensesnow•

It’s specifically the power imbalance that bothers me and caused me irreparable harm in my first course of therapy.

Jeffrey Masson (author of “Against Therapy) said therapy is inherently unethical—and, in fact, a socially sanctioned form of abuse.

Not sure if I agree with him, he seems to throw the baby out with the bath water, but it’s a compelling argument nonetheless and deserves attention.

In this therapized society, though, a billion dollar industry, no one will pay attention—their livelihood depends on it.

2
LooneyBin17•

I want to tattoo this on my forehead

5
4169726f6e•

Yes, sometimes. You can't always say what you really feel because you'll get in trouble.

5
6138•

This is 100% true. I think, in many ways, it's actually worse than an interrogation. If you are interrogated by the police, you can refuse to speak, and you can request a lawyer. With mental health assessments, you generally don't have a lawyer present, and if you choose not to speak, that will count against you. They may refuse to let you leave until you answer their questions, etc.

3
Smillasensesnow•

Their judgement is often cast before you answer, this was very much true with my first shrink—before I could even answer a question (often inane and inappropriate), he had all the (often Wrong) answers, made radically off the wall assumptions. Then he sucked me into his warped view of the world/of me, then proceeded to drop me like a hot potato on fire when shit hit the fan, leaving me 1000 more damaged than I was before. Fuck these people.

There are therapists out there who are capable of listening, and not obsessed with becoming rich/being right/using patients for their own emotional needs. I met one but it was too late, and I was jaded. Tread carefully, do not assume anything, do not trust. Therapists should have to earn your trust over time...

Their degrees mean nothing, nada. There is no school for human experience except what we each have been through.

End rant.

3
6138•

Again, true. I think therapists and psychiatrists often make assumptions, and just wait for you to confirm them. They don't listen, they just look for keywords or phrases to confirm what they already believe, then they "treat" you based on that.

A shrink I was once sent to assumed I was having panic attacks based on something my mother told him (I was under 18 at the time) and she assumed I was having panic attacks because of something I told her. I have never, ever suffered a panic attack, so obviously my mother made an incorrect assumption, then passed that on to him. If either of them had actually, you know, ASKED me, I could have cleared that right up, but why would they ask me? I'm just the patient, I have no voice.

There was even a case in Ireland, where I'm living, where a man was essentially diagnosed and involuntarily treated for bipolar disorder because of a LETTER his parents sent to his GP.

He had gotten a divorce, and was feeling depressed, he had then met someone online (From the US), and they had started an online romance, which led to him feeling happier again, but he didn't want to tell his parents that he had met someone on the internet from another country, I suppose because of the negative stigma. So his parents noticed him going from depressed to happy, assumed he was bipolar, sent a letter to the GP, the gp said "yeah, that sounds like bipolar disorder", the police and mental health people come to his door, he gets locked up and involuntarily medicated. Long story short, he leaves the country, goes to the US to meet his new partner, never takes his bipolar meds again, and he's perfectly fine and happy, because he never had bipolar disorder to begin with.

These people are nowhere near as intelligent as they think they are, and you do need to be very, very careful.

I think their degrees do mean something, I mean they are experts in their field, but they are service providers, they should be used as advisors, they shouldn't be in charge of your treatment. I don't know anything about plumbing, so if I have a problem with a pipe breaking, I'll ask an expert for his opinion. But if I disagree with it, I have no obligation to follow it, it's my house, I'm in charge.

2
Smillasensesnow•

You can’t equate plumbing with the treatment of psychological suffering, which is artists work and best left to deeply spiritual and empathetic humans, not so called “experts”

3
6138•

I agree, I just think that using their skills as advice, is appropriate.

1
Smillasensesnow•

No one is an expert in the human psyche, and you can’t teach empathy (one of the critical ingredients for shrinks) in grad school.

1
6138•

They deliberately try to avoid showing empathy in the mental health field. They try to be as detached as possible.

1
not_your_avg_grinch90% pro-dignity : 100% pro-choice : 10% pro-life•

[rant heard]

1
Smillasensesnow•

Thanks, Grinch.

2
not_your_avg_grinch90% pro-dignity : 100% pro-choice : 10% pro-life•

I always have ears for my friends :-)

1
ThatInsomniacDudeEMT who can't help himself•

I'm sorry you feel that way about us. being an EMT I had to involuntary commit people but I try really hard trying to convince everyone to go voluntary, turns that 72 hour hold to at least a couple hours.

I've been delaying my own counseling because I'm a bit worried if I will say the wrong thing and screw my self up even worse. I've been that guy that no body liked for so long and now I'll be in the hot seat, so that's karma for me I guess.

3
not_your_avg_grinch90% pro-dignity : 100% pro-choice : 10% pro-life•

I've been that guy that no body liked for so long

Are you me?, Insom

in the hot seat

Yeah... you're me!

2
greenmonstere•

I wish, mine are just chit chat while I'm trying to communicate what's hurting me and my wish to end it all.

2
Seriously93•

Sounds like you've seen some pretty shitty therapists !

1
Smillasensesnow•

Shitty shrinks are an epidemic. Not the OPs fault.

2
not_your_avg_grinch90% pro-dignity : 100% pro-choice : 10% pro-life•

Healthcare professionals along with other mandated reporters (psychiatrists, therapists, counselors, social workers, doctors, nurses, etc.) are not your friend and they are just working for the system.

You just turned the lights on for me!, 21

🔦🌄💥💡

1
zolotuchien•

I have a different experience. I'm currently in therapy with psychiatrist/psychotherapist for 5 month, and I never felt like I'm interrogated. He actually even agree with me that I have a right to kill myself.

1