This is something I’ve been pondering and wouldn’t mind discussing with you guys. Ok so I’ve seen a few professionals for help with my issues (granted only one of them I was ever completely open about my psychosis with, but still I hinted at elements of it with the others) and spoken with quite a few individuals online with backgrounds in psychology that wanted to be helpful.
What I’ve found is that while therapy was very beneficial to me in the areas of my anxiety (honestly I would be so much worse off today if I hadn’t gotten help for that-they taught me some great skills in CBT) and even sort of helpful with coping methods for my dissociation/derealization and panic attacks.
However, I was never given adequate help for my psychosis, ever. And I believe that this is because it’s just such a complex thing that a truly beneficial and defined treatment plan has been set up for it. And what I hear of you guys and your visits with psychologists, it seems you kinda deal with the same thing I have with them, where they just want to talk about your day, ask how bad your symptoms have been, but really don’t have a lot of coping mechanisms to offer. It seems that psychology and therapy just doesn’t know how to work with the psychotic mind, and so ultimately the individual is referenced to a psychiatrist and urged to get on medication. While many do need to be on medication (not decrying it or anything) I believe there are also numerous non-medication related coping methods to psychosis and thought patterns that can be rerouted in relationship to it as well that just aren’t explored. Maybe when I become a scientist I’ll try to improve on therapy for psychotics/szs etc. so that not everyone has to be solely dependent on medication to deal with the emotional backlash and terror that can come with the illness.
Therapy is still a nice thing to have if you need someone to vent to though. Anyways I acknowledge that this is just an opinion I’ve formed through my own experiences and the experiences of a few others, so I’m very open to feedback from you guys on it.
To those of you who have seen or are seeing a therapist to help with treatment and management of your psychosis, did you/do you find it helpful? What have been your best experiences with it? Worst?
Right there with you. Therapy doesn’t even try to unravel real psychosis. It’s like they haven’t even tried. It took me 2 years of trial and error and time to get to the point I’m at now. Had to do this all on my own.
Each case is just so different, the docs are prepared to take the time first to get a real picture of what the persons going through, then even more time working with them to find an approach that unravels it.
Been thinking about becoming some kind of doctor psych something today. I think I could do it better with proper training. I don’t think I’d want to be a psychiatrist though. Therapist or psychologist who specializes in cases of sz. No one out there does that ■■■■. Might be a life calling, but I’ll give it a few months before I come to that conclusion.
Good post Anna your totally right. You’ve addressed an issue that could improve the world if people knew about it.
I’ve only had short bouts of full blown psychosis, but here’s my take on the subject. I don’t think therapy is that useful for forestalling or suppressing psychosis. My main psychotic break was after a year of therapy without drugs. But I do think therapy helps in making sense of the information you get after a psychotic episode and any trauma it causes you.
My main frustration with psychiatrists is that they don’t want to talk about what happens when you are psychotic. They just want you to take your drugs and shut up it seems. To me it was.a Mind blowing and amazing experience even though it was somewhat frightening, and I wanted to talk about it and process it. I’m glad I had a non drug therapist along with a psychiatrist to talk it through and integrate it into my psyche.
MY pdoc doesn’t talk about anything. 15mins max is all you get. You walk in, he shakes your hand. You sit then as he is doing something on his computer he asks never looking at you “how are you doing” I don’t think he listens to the response as he is typing on the computer not looking at you. Then he prints out your prescrips and tells you when he wants to see you again. That’s it.
As for pyschosis - the med define from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/psychoticdisorders.html states " People with psychoses lose touch with reality. Two of the main symptoms
are delusions and hallucinations. Delusions are false beliefs, such as
thinking that someone is plotting against you or that the TV is sending
you secret messages. Hallucinations are false perceptions, such as
hearing, seeing, or feeling something that is not there."
My argument has always been that if this has always been my reality I am not and have not lost touch with reality. Maybe I am still in denial, most likely by the ‘normal’ people standards. But I have come to terms with my reality and accept it. I know it differs from others but I think everyone’s reality is different based upon their life experiences and backgrounds so what makes mine so wrong. Okay so I hear things and see things that many do not. But coming on these forums also helps me realize there are plenty of people that differ from the ‘norm’ and many more that do but will not admit to it to others.
So from my experience talking about it does no good unless you are talking to someone that actually knows and doesn’t look at you like you are some strange being that’s well …crazy. I don’t trust anyone outside of my circle of trust and even them I have doubts about. So I limit what I say to everyone and just accept me as me. I honestly believe learning to accept ourselves as we are is the best place to start. And until the medical world catches up, we are left to figure this all out on our own. But then that’s just me. I don’t accept some doc telling me it’s all in my head and not real because it is real…for me. Or maybe I just live in a constant state of pyschosis and choose that over everyone’s else’s reality.
The doc should be summarizing what your saying when he’s typing. Taking notes for your file. But yeah they can be pretty inhuman about it.
I personally like doctors, they’re really ineffective. And therapy is really a personal battle. You always have to figure out how to apply it to yourself.
I try to imagine what other people in different situations mind are like and how they operate. Really I only create an ideal standard that no one really lives up to. But in this case it shoot for the moon and you land among the stars.
Should’ve been doing this my whole life, but before sz I didn’t really think it mattered what happened in the mind.
My mind was always pretty busy. Had a lot I was thinking about. Kind of miss it, but I’m kind of happy where I’m at.
Constantly striving for an internal ideal of control. No impulses all conscious control.
Don’t have as much to think about these days. Music, you people, friends, recovery.
Because psychology focuses on normal ppl.
Psychiatry focuses on ill ppl.
That’s why you feel psychology doesn’t help your psychosis.
Psychosis is what psychiatry deals with.
Not psychology.
Hmm…but why is it suggested by psychiatrist that people with MI take medication and also go for psychotherapy or support group for maximum benefit…without a doubt medication is very important though
The issue with psychiatry though is that they don’t take time to talk through the experiences of their patients and help them process and wrap their minds around them.
Understanding and figuring out why I experience some of the things I do has brought me tremendous relief, and helped me with my self-coping methods. The mind needs to be able to process what it’s been through and that can be very scary and difficult for a sz or psychotic person to do all by themselves. It has been a long and complicated journey for myself.
I kind of skipped that process, and just focus on progressing without questioning why I experienced what I experienced. No one explains it to me, and I figured no one knows. I don’t understand complicated expanations anyway. I’d rather answer that question myself, because how you interpret it is all that matters.