I don’t want to talk to my psychiatrist about some old delusions from 11 years ago that are still rattling around in my head. I’m concerned that the psychiatrist will just increase my meds instead of trying to reason with me. When you get used to using a hammer, things start looking like nails.
What is it like trying to get a therapist to talk through delusions and help you get over them, if anyone has experience with that? I have really good health insurance right now, so it may be cost effective for me.
I talked to a therapist about a delusion. She basically said I had insight so it was all good. It really didn’t help me to talk about it because I had already identified it as a delusion. What a therapist would be helpful for would be telling you your delusional when you didn’t already know. That would be great.
I talk to my therapist about my delusions all the time. She really helped it today. I told her about synchronicity in my life she said “what message is god trying to send u” and I said “that god is there” and she said “maybe that doesn’t mean you’re the chosen one but instead that god is present” I said that was reasonable.
I could never bring myself to talk in depth about my delusions but skimmed the surface… It helped doing just that cause she helped coping skills develop…
It’s sad but I can’t talk to my therapist about any of my positive symptoms.
She will dismiss it or downplay my psychotic symptoms.
I really feel that she feels uncomfortable discussing psychosis.
She mainly deals with neurotic clients.
She diagnosed me with bipolar disorder because it’s familiar territory for her.
My CBT therapist was amazing at refocusing my outlook and ability to sort through hallucinations and delusions…
I believe you’re right about someone who specializes in one thing, so find someone who specializes in working though delusions.
I’m curious about this as well. I don’t currently see a therapist, but I know that I need to. I often send messages to my pdoc that would better be sent to a therapist. The last time I saw someone kind of like a therapist was when I first had hallucinations, and he asked me to bring my husband in to discuss how my behavior affected my family.
Sometimes my mind makes me crazy. Talking to a therapist can help.
My friend said, “My daughter is so kind.” That made me crazy because I had just had the thought that her daughter was unkind. I thought my friend could read my mind.
The therapist advised me that the mother was probably well aware of her daughter’s character and just trying to compensate for her.
I felt relief in that exchange with the therapist.
That’s why you talk to a therapist about it and not a psychiatrist. A pdoc’s job is to manage medication. Thus their solution if they think your symptoms are acting up will be to give more meds.
A therapist doesn’t prescribe meds and it’s their job to help you sort through things verbally. Usually my experience w therapists have been that they try to keep me grounded. The delusion itself isn’t really discussed/analyzed.
I’ve shared delusions with a therapist. The only good part of it was that she still treated me like a human being, and saw the delusions as almost a normal part of the mind’s workings. But she didn’t over analyze. I think it can be comforting to voice them to someone. Makes delusions less scary and less real.
