Therapist

[Doctor Dysphoria]

Should a person who is acting as your therapist make you feel like you are a bad person.? I am seeing an OT who has been allocated to be my key worker/care coordinator and with whom i am supposed to be ale to discuss issues and work things through with.

The trouble is she is quite dismissive of my feelings resulting from 30 years of substandard treatment by the mental health services Lots of talk about 'dealing with your verbal aggression' 'you've misinterpreted' and little attempt to take on board the things i tell her and how those things have affected me and are still affected me..

I was disappointed by my last visit to the psychiatrist in which yet again no real help or support was offered .Instead of taking on board my points she was more interested in backing up the consultant (she was present when i saw the consultant) to the point it was if we were talking about two different people.

I feel badly let down and that i can not trust her -that she is more interested in defending the actions of her colleagues and previous mental health workers and their treatment of me than taking on board my very real feelings of hurt due to things that have happened .

What would you do in this situation? Persevere and hope that the feelings of mistrust and rejection you are getting as a reult of her response goes or pull the plug on it all

for fear of even more rejection and hurt in future sessions?

At the moment i am veering towards the latter.

The feelings of hurt and rejection stemming from having things that have happened and have badly affected me dismissed as 'misinterpretation on my part' are quite frankly making me feel like absolute sh*t- trapped/ every thing's hopeless and just wanting to curl up in a ball and hope the world disappears.

What i hoped would be a productive experience as has instead pushed me further into rejection/hurt and a feeling that everything is hopeless and that all i am seen as is a bad person who needs to be taught the error of his ways.

[lostsoul]

i think it depends whether you feel deep down that the hurt and rejection are justified or not, ie, are coming from a real lack of her ability to do her job properly, or a lot of truth being pushed at you that you dont want to take on board.

if that makes sense.

figure that one out if you can, and if it turns out it is the former, then leave, or if the latter, perservere.

hugs

lost

xx

[Doctor Dysphoria]

i think it depends whether you feel deep down that the hurt and rejection are justified or not, ie, are coming from a real lack of her ability to do her job properly, or a lot of truth being pushed at you that you dont want to take on board.

if that makes sense.

figure that one out if you can, and if it turns out it is the former, then leave, or if the latter, perservere.

hugs

lost

xx

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Areas were identified between us that i could see as areas that needed to be worked on ie areas that know i have difficulties with but need help to practically deal with and progress from. However there was also a strong sense that my experiences, things that have happened and how they have effected me were being dismissed out of hand as if i had somehow merely imagined them or were lying about them.

I accept i have problems and need help with those problems but also i know that there are things that have happened which have badly affected me which are not merely the products of an overactive imagination.

There is some fertile ground on which to work but the question i guess is whether the

weeds of 'dismissed experiences' end up choking that fertile ground or whether my

experiences and things that i know beyond a shadow of doubt happened and affected me are better accepted as having happened.

I can accept being a person who needs help to deal with certain issues. I can not so easily deal with the feeling that my experiences and the effects are being dismissed out of hand.

[LadyMacbeth]

Be honest with the therapist and ask why she is dismissing your problems. You have to talk to them about it because a relationship is built on trust. Sometimes my therapists have done that because they see a bigger issues at hand and need to tackle that. It anoyed me at first but I then realized they were trying to help me. Also some therapists are trying to help you cope with the present without focusing on the past. Just advice from my own experiences.

LM

[Doctor Dysphoria]

Be honest with the therapist and ask why she is dismissing your problems. You have to talk to them about it because a relationship is built on trust. Sometimes my therapists have done that because they see a  bigger issues at hand and need to tackle that. It anoyed me at first but I then realized they were trying to help me. Also some therapists are trying to help you cope with the present without focusing on the past. Just advice from my own experiences.

LM

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Re your last point? What if the events of the past and failure to receive adequate help and support for them are linked to your problems in the present and (in part) your inability to cope with the present? What if the non acceptance to take on board that those failures happened is resulting in a similar, less than adequate response, to present day problems ?

[LadyMacbeth]

[what?

Re your last point? W

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Doctor Dysphoria]

[what?

Re your last point? W

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[LadyMacbeth]

What I mean is that they help us cope with the present. We can't change what happened to us but we have to learn how to cope with the past. Thats what I meant. No one can take the pain of the past away all they can do it help us learn how to deal with it.

[Ginny]

DD.....sounds to me like you've got the wrong therapist (just my view) I dont think an Occupational Therapist is someone who could deal with the problems you have...

If it were me, I would be seeking someone much more qualified..........

Good Luck

Ginny

PS. I fail to understand how someone can tell you that you are 'misinterpreting your own feelings'. Arent they YOUR feelings ???? And if you are misinterpreting them - you need CBT or DBT to be able to make progress.... just a thought. :blink: