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I'm curious who here gets therapy. There are a few I have in mind that probably should but shan't specify. But seriously I'm really wondering after the chatgpt therapy thread, who does therapy, and does it help? I've been in therapy on and off since I was diagnosed with ADHD at age 23. I'm now 35, and overall, if I really am honest with myself, it doesn't seem like it's helped that much, definitely not as big a difference as medications. I also have bipolar when ch was diagnosed around 2020 and I feel like ADHD and bipolar are notorious for responding to meds. Therapy doesn't help as much but when it does help it can be really great. It's just most of the time it doesn't. I'm just wondering if that's normal. Some people say things like therapy saved their life and cured their depression and whatnot and they act like therapy is the best thing ever but for me, like, I could take it or leave it I guess? It doesn't seem like the time and money invested is worth the outcome but at the same time maybe you can't really put a price on a therapy breakthrough, maybe it really is that good for you that it makes the progressless times worth it.
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# ? Feb 7, 2025 21:16 |
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The most useful stuff, to me, was the little tools you were taught. Like when things are getting out of hand, you find something to ground yourself with; pressing yourself against the wall, focus on a phrase or musical pattern, stuff like that. Otherwise you're paying someone to sit and listen, really. I'm already prone to tears and weak to maudlin sentiments, so I haven't had any great, emotional breakthroughs like some might experience. I wish medications could help me, but that's not what my particular brain wonk requires. E: I suppose it's worth it, but I'm in the same boat as you. Feels like I've drained what I can out of it already.
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I think it helps you understand yourself. That may or may not be helpful.
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laserghost posted:
This rhymes with your username too and that makes me unreasonably happy
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I had to rely mostly on therapy as a teenager because my doctor didn’t want to put me on antidepressants (which is kinda understandable, but I also should have been referred to a psychiatrist because my condition was pretty severe). It helped, but my medication is a lot more important (my brain is just incapable of making certain chemicals correctly, so I’ll probably always need meds no matter how much I exercise, touch grass, etc.). I still talk to a therapist a couple times a year, and it’s helpful in that I can do anxiety dumps without feeling like I’m burdening friends/family, and I get a relatively neutral perspective in return. That being said, YMMV. If you want therapy to work, you also need to put in the work (including finding a therapist who’s a good fit for you and your needs/goals). The most common contemporary approach is that you and your therapist should be collaborating to set achievable goals, create plans on how to reach them, and then work on executing those plans. Citation: Years of therapy/meds, and I completed about 2/3 of a counseling degree before COVID made me too stressed to work full time and do grad school full time. Ars Arcanum fucked around with this message at 11:43 on Jan 20, 2025 |
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They never gelled for me, but CBT and DBT work miracles on some people. I know a few who did DBT 10+ years ago and are still using and espousing the benefits of those skills daily.
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Only if alternative rock is your thing OP.
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i get free therapy cuz im motherfucking penniless and gotta say, it's dece. ive had 3 diff therapists or whatever, the first pushed pills pretty fast so i got wigged out. the second was really good--college one--but my schedule went to 5 days a week with no availability so. this is my third and she kinda forgets stuff between sessions and sometimes i can tell she's just sort of half assing it but other times it feels like her head's in the game and she wants to help me. i feel she can only do so much though. she's great materially but i dont think she understands me even after a year which i guess makes sense, we're talking about me after all, but it could be better. overall therapy feels like finding a dating partner: not all are compatible
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It's paying someone to be your listening, wise friend who teaches you self-regulation techniques.
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Sshh brain itchy
X JAKK fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Jan 20, 2025 |
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You should see a better therapist.
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I've done a little bit of therapy in the past but it's never worked all that well for me. It turns out that I have OCD and that method of therapy can make it worse, which is great. I've started back up with someone who knows ERP stuff so I hope that actually does the job this time.
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Therapy is hiring a professional who might use one or more modalities to teach you how to navigate your own mental landscape. You only get out of therapy what you put into it, if the therapist and modalities are a good fit. If something in therapy isn't working for you, bring it up with the therapist and have an open dialogue. If that goes nowhere, interview other therapists until you find one who works well for you. But legit, 99% of therapy is you doing the work. Yes. It's worth it.
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Yes absolutely It helps
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One weird trick therapists don't want you to know is asking if they know a vet nearby cause you have a couple sick pythons
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By popular demand posted:Only if alternative rock is your thing OP. Screw that, forget about that
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If you find a therapist that jives with you, develop a relationship, a treatment plan, and put in the work, it's one of the best things you can do for yourself.
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Turdo posted:Yes absolutely* *as long as you don't let your therapist date/stalk you **to find a new therapist that does not do that This shouldn't be a common thing though and I still support myself and everyone going to therapy
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The only solution to your problems is grit, determination, and hard work
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Dry oats for every meal.
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goatface posted:They never gelled for me, but CBT and DBT work miracles on some people. I know a few who did DBT 10+ years ago and are still using and espousing the benefits of those skills daily. CBT really helped me out. I went through a period of suicidal ideation that lasted years, and had terrible experiences with all the psych medications that my providers were trying. (This is not an anti-psych medication post--they do wonders for many people, but I had difficulty finding one that worked for me.) I did therapy for a year, and my therapist taught me CBT techniques that helped me change how I process emotions and harmful thoughts. I am not actively in therapy anymore, because I reached a point of mental stability where I didn't really feel like I needed it anymore, and I am currently able to get myself out of those sorts of negative mental spirals when they do happen. Therapy also helped me get sober from alcohol.
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Very real talk, getting my mental health taken care of was in general the best and the worst decision I ever made. I got on really extremely good meds which has been a major blessing and I got an accurate diagnosis and have worked on my issues very well, but it also made me much more aware of all of my failings and sometimes I fall into depression spirals where I wish I never did therapy because before then I was delusional enough to be a lot more confident about my future. Eventually I found that therapy itself wasn't helping anymore so I stopped going but I have a very wonderful psychiatrist and get a lot of guidance out of her and in general am making the right choices and changes on my own now that I'm on the right meds. I did meet my absolute favorite person on this earth in a support group that I got into via therapy though and we have a connection that's unlike anything else I've ever experienced and are ride-or-die for each other 100% because we realized that we are essentially the same exact person and that's really cool and has majorly benefited my mental health and quality of life. And also it made dating really easy because everyone loves someone who understands all their own poo poo well enough to discuss it and work around it, and it has really helped me filter out people who wouldn't be good for me. deep dish peat moss fucked around with this message at 14:11 on Jan 20, 2025 |
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Yes. I was in a very bad spot over a decade ago. Terrible romantic relationship, unhappy at work, unfulfilled with things outside of work. My therapist helped me understand myself better and helped me effectively untangle the wires in my brain and understand why I did things I did, even if they left me unhappy or actively hurt me. Built up my confidence immensely without making me feel like I was changing who I was, I just became a better version of myself. Had I not sought out help my life would objectively be much worse than it is now, I would have continued chasing things that didn't make me happy just because I felt like I had an invisible checklist I had to mark off to be considered successful.
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absolutely. i went through a very bad time in my life, and my therapist helped immensely to pull me out of it. haven't had to go back in many years, and i'm thankful for it.
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Yes as long as you are willing to put in the effort
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emdr therapy was one of the best things i ever did
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I talk to my therapist every two weeks. It costs me 0$ because my benefits cover hella metal health expenses. I'd still go even if I wasn't hosed in the head.
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Having my father pass away in 2021 and losing a promotion the following year at a career I enjoyed caused me to fall into a deep crippling depression I never thought I’d crawl out of. Last year was the breakthrough year where I finally unpacked not just the past few bullshit years of my life, but almost 35 years of emotional baggage I’d withheld and/or blocked that prevented me from being my true self. Everyone’s mental health is always beneficial to their own positive being, so of course it’s worth it to talk to someone that can help.
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Maybe if you’re nuts
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never met a person whose problems were fixed by talk therapy just whole lot of still deeply neurotic people convinced that therapy was totally healing them i guess it's what you do if you're too scared of being cringe to find religion?
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Toxic Mental posted:Maybe if you’re nuts Every one of us paid ![]() We’re all nuts.
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It's tough. Because I think therapy can be extremely helpful, it's big Achilles heel is that it has to be self-led, by the patient. So if you're a person who is ruminative, introspective, and can take responsibility for wrongs you've done or problems that you have, it can be extremely helpful. If you are the type of person who has problems taking responsibility, is more of the Cluster B variety of person, it's probably going to do very little. Basically if you have a very ingrained external locus of control, the whole therapy process is completely masturbatory. I'm sorry if I piss a lot of people off with this, but this is my anecdotal experience.
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Nah, my therapist even told me that I should quit therapy because it wasn't doing anything for me. As others said, you gotta put in the work. I'm lazy!
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Not really. I started therapy because I was bringing work stress home, and my therapist was like, "Yeah, you have a tough lovely job, and your hobbies help, but it's really the job." Which I knew already. So I paid $400 a month to have someone to bitch to and in the process she helped me realize my wife is a lovely roommate and that's not going to change so dealing with that is part of loving her. Then I got laid off, which solved the major problem, so I stopped paying for a friend. If you're unable to admit your own faults and introspect on why you engage in certain patterns of behavior, then you need therapy. If you can do that, you just need someone who's also emotionally intelligent to bounce ideas off of and hold you accountable to progress.
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Drewsky posted:It's tough. Because I think therapy can be extremely helpful, it's big Achilles heel is that it has to be self-led, by the patient. So if you're a person who is ruminative, introspective, and can take responsibility for wrongs you've done or problems that you have, it can be extremely helpful. If you are the type of person who has problems taking responsibility, is more of the Cluster B variety of person, it's probably going to do very little. Basically if you have a very ingrained external locus of control, the whole therapy process is completely masturbatory. You have to actually want to improve yourself and work towards a kind of nebulous goal of being "better". This is hard for a lot of people but it will be impossible for some. You also need to recognize if your therapist is actually helping you and not just wasting your time. It took me multiple tries over many many years to finally find someone that I could work with. Once I did the progress was still slow. Ultimately, if you aren't happy with how you feel and can afford the time and money it's worth trying it. Especially if you're someone like me who has had negative outcomes on various different meds, the only way forward is putting the work in and talking through it. Just don't expect immediate results, depending on what you're dealing with it can take years.
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Oh, also, weed is not a therapist. It eroded the poo poo out of my natural coping abilities for dealing with stress. Using it as a bullshit inhaler is tempting because it works, but you stop flexing your 'I don't care' muscle because of it. At least, that's what it did to me.
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I've been to at least a dozen different ones and I never got anything from it. I tried support groups, same thing. When I was younger I got sent to a lot of Christian counselors and all they did was make me want to off myself. Another therapist was just collecting a paycheck for months kept saying I'd get referred to someone more specialized and it never happened so gently caress that. I don't think I've gotten anything positive from therapy and they're too loving expensive without insurance. Some people get something out of it so ymmv. I just assume my brain is broken. I feel a lot better now after years of moving away from a lot of the sources but there's a lot of trauma I just live with. But since it's better than it ever was prior I can't really complain.
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Therapy is good and almost everyone could use it. It’s no big deal, just a smart thing to do for yourself. Samuel L. Hacksaw posted:Oh, also, weed is not a therapist. I’ve known a lot of people who think weed/alcohol/psychedelics are like therapy for them. All of them could use really some actual therapy E- if you don’t want therapy the book Feeling Good was a great recommendation I got from a therapist. It isn’t exactly a page turner but there were some really good ideas in there. Also On Death and Dying and On Grief and Grieving.
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# ? Feb 7, 2025 21:16 |
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Wow, the general feeling on therapy on here has changed a lot. Maybe it's just this thread being in GBS but I feel like I remember in the era of my reg date it was almost a meme how often people would recommend therapy on here. edit: I am in therapy and couples therapy, enjoy it and think it's generally helpful outside of what I said above
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