why are mental health professionals so fucking worthless

Maybe if you went into the sessions with a more open mind it might help. Mental health professionals aren't there to tell you how to solve all of your problems, but guide you towards reaching a more positive state of mind, and working out your problems from there.

People don't exist to wipe your ass for you.

>>17639735
positivity is great and all, but it can't change reality. in fact i think unfounded optimism has generally been detrimental for me.

i was hoping for a little insight. i'm only one person and my ability to analyze problems is limited by my own perspective. "eat right and exercise" such pablum is not useful. i already know that.

>>17639714
>>17639759

So what, exactly, do you want? Be specific.

>>17639763
i was. i need insight. i have a strong aversion to a lot of things which most adults view as meaningful (work, family, relationships) and i think this is something to do with getting sick during a critical period of my life. i need to unwrap that somehow but i can't seem to do it on my own; i get stuck in loops.

>>17639777

I wasn't asking what you wanted from us. I was asking you what you want to do in life. No one can help you until you answer that question.

>>17639759

>positivity is great and all, but it can't change reality.

You'd think people in the holocaust were depressed as fuck. Actually, a lot of them had the logic of "The nazis can take away everything, but they'll never take away my mind, and how I chose to look at things." That's right, people that endured the holocaust were happier than you. You fucking dick.

Yeah, your life has been shit, but many people have been through significantly worse and still are fine, or even happy. Fuck, you know how many people would kill for some therapy, but have no access to it? Have a look in the mirror and ask yourself why you think your life is so hard, and why you are so misunderstood that an entire medical profession that has been around for longer than your life HAS to be wrong.

I'm perfectly happy for people to be depressed, to feel like killing themselves, to be as negative as fuck, hell I've been there and done it myself, but to be so fucking arrogant as to think you've it all figured out, that nothing works for you, and to be so blatantly disrespectful not only to the living but to the dead.

You, are your biggest problem and your biggest enemy. You're like a camera, and how you chose you frame your life, or tell your story, is how you feel about yourself. Nothing will change for you until you let it, and that change begins inside you.

Sorry for being so aggressive.

>>17639800
>No one can help you until you answer that question.
i doubt it.

this thread is about trying to understand why most mental health professionals are so useless and an utter waste of money.

>>17639808
>That's right, people that endured the holocaust were happier than you. You fucking dick.
yeah here's the clincher, i'm not really unhappy. i've obviously learned to cope with unpleasantness or else i'd have offed myself long ago. i just need help unpacking the accumulated baggage so i can move on with things. even if holocaust survivors found a way to cope psychologically, that doesn't mean they never developed ptsd. i probably have something like that.

i'm literally not depressed; i do not experience depressive thoughts. this is at least half the reason i found the sessions so useless; she was treating for someone with a mood disorder. i'm pretty mentally healthy, considering.

>>17639811

No, it's about you taking refuge in casting blame far and wide, rather than actually addressing your problems and acting to fix them.

I'm going to condense every conversation you've ever had with a counselor or psychologist and then tell you what they're thinking but not allowed to say.

>>the way I live has lead to a life I don't like!

So don't live that way.

>> I already know that! What am I paying you for?

The hope of a magic bullet to fix all your problems. Trouble is, the only thing that will do that is hard work on your part plus maybe meds for your obvious fucking depression.

>>But that's too hard!

Then fucking kill yourself. Just gave you the answer and offered suggestions for how to get there. That's all the insight you need. The rest is just punk ass whiny excuses exacerbated by depression.

Either commit to getting better or hop off the planet. Resources are getting sparse down here.

>>17639824
how do i address my problems anon? i literally have no idea. she didn't either. clearly "working thru my depression" didn't help, because i wasn't depressed.

i could see someone else but i'm not convinced they'd be much better.

>>17639831
>your obvious fucking depression.
please explain how you came to this diagnosis

Actually relevant, though. Stopped bothering when my psychiatrist told me the brain shivers from my Lexapro were 'normal' and in no way detrimental to my health.

At the same time my therapist (yeah, I saw them both) decided at some point that I was 'beyond fixing' and that she couldn't do anything for me.

That being said, it really is all about forcing a mental change in yourself. Which, when you dont' have any motivation or real baseline of healthy thinking to start with, is a hella lot harder than it sounds. People who aren't in that ultra-depressed mindset just think it's bullshit and laziness. Take the time to find some little things that make you happy. Cooking, reading, playing a video game for a little bit. Then expand on that. Find more things that make you feel happy, or fulfilled, or some combination of the two. It's not impossible to escape that feeling, OP.

File: 1400080730291.jpg (69KB, 718x718px) Image search: [Google]

69KB, 718x718px

>>17639811
Mental health student here, there are three factors in there.

>if the client goes with the intent to cooperate and not just the mindset that the professional magically fixes his problems in one session, it should go smooth
>if the school of thought of the professional works well for the given problem of the client, it should go smooth
>if the professional actually gave a shit about his career during his study and didn't just do it to get a diploma, it should go smooth

Most of the time, one of these three is the fucked one, and in some extreme cases, all three; which is why they have such a bad rep, despite being one of the most needed.

That being said, I'd say you should give it a try with someone else, if that counselor was telling you to do shit instead of helping you find a way on your own, then he was already doing one of the things that he's NOT supposed to do.

Also gonna point out that not totally sure what advice you're looking for if you insist you're not depressed but find yourself so extremely unhappy. Depression isn't just "oh I'm so sad". It has multiple manifestations. Suck it up, consider the fact that there's nothing wrong with it, and try and help yourself from that point if no one else is able to help you/you won't LET them help you.

You actually need to be willing to move forward instead of being stuck and complaining about circumstances. Life is kinda shitty, and that's just sort of the raw deal of it. There's not very many people that can say they're more than content with their life, and if they can than they are far more optimistic than average and I want to know their secret.

>>17639836
not to be a dick because i appreciate the advice, but i do already enjoy stuff like cooking and vidya, it's when i leave my house that i get into trouble. unfortunately many institutions are not kind to someone with an undiagnosed serious illness so i've had many very bad experiences and it's not clear that fewer symptoms will make a significant difference. how much more "well" do i need to be? not sure how, "i'm eager not to waste my time or bite off more than i can chew" translates into depression, but i think it's just easier for some people to slap a label on things.

i'm also a little bit traumatized from just how shitty it all was but it's hard to communicate exactly what i went thru and it seems that no one's really open to listening.

>>17639849
do you think a psychologist would be better? what should i look for for my next try?

>>17639854
sorry i just don't believe that; i used to have psychiatrists telling me that my 10/10 migraines were the result of some somatization illness lol. prozac never helped but propanolol did. it's too broad a label and the conventional treatment is for people who are fundamentally irrational about their life situation. believe me i have already gone the drug route and it is just not useful for me; i am already capable of taking apporpriate action in my life; rather now i feel trapped by circumstances outside of my control.

if you'd ever had chronic illness you'd know how powerful acceptance can be.

>>17639869
If you actually have deppression, then yes, a psychologist would be better(from what i read, Cognitive-Behavior Therapy works best in that case, but I'm not sure how easy is to find a psych with that therapy), since it's not something that can be easily treated in a couple of sessions.

>>17639885
yes i went thru cbt when i first got sick, it was kind of funny they'd tell me not to react emotionally to my problems and i was like, "well my mom is trying to kill me how is not being emotional going to help me and don't you think being somewhere safe is the first priority".

it's like they want to erase reality by telling me to ignore it, or blithely ignoring it themselves.

i think it's a useful modality for some people but again i'm p level-headed and take things in stride.

>>17639714
These guys are like family doctors. 99% of the time they get people who have stubbed their toe, or got a cold, and think it's cancer. So they do the same shit for all of them until the problem resolves itself.

I know what you're talking about. A bunch of these cunts actually started accusing me of being "difficult" while they were throwing their Freudian housewife bullshit at me. But I used to study psychology, and I KNOW what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to diagnose someone with a robust diagnostic tool -often more than one- and then you're supposed to take a proven method and treat them with it. Whenever it's just talking or giving superficial advice THEY'RE NOT DOING THEIR GODDAMN JOBS.

Non-specialized mental healthcare professionals are shit. What you need to do is get a diagnosis, and then move on to someone who specializes in that diagnosis.

>>17639897
>THEY'RE NOT DOING THEIR GODDAMN JOBS
yeah exactly this
so do you think i should hunt down a trauma therapist? not sure i can afford it desu

Maybe a psychologist that is based in cognitive behavioral therapy will do good for you, specially with what you're asking for.
That kind of therapy works with irrational thinking, eliminates behaviors that you're not comfortable with and enhances the behavior that leads to positive change.
I treated my anxiety with that kind of therapy, and it worked wonders.

>>17639856
I am willing to listen.
Write it all out right here.
Typing will help you better formulate your thoughts

>>17639902
So your interest goes towards systematic desensitization?

>>17639902
I don't know. It differs per country. I simply went to the government-run mental health organization, after years of trying private organizations. You'll generally want to pick someplace that doesn't deal with the "housewives", as I call them. To illustrate: I was talking with a friend about the psychologists employed by the university we went to, and she mentioned one. She mentioned it was a nice, motherly person, and after their one hour talk, she felt reinvigorated and all her worries were gone.

And those are the people we both spent a lot of time going to, but with legit problems. And then they think we're being difficult because we don't say "thanks doc" after the simplest, most base suggestions of self-treatment. I mean, yeah, exercise, it's good, I know. But you might as well tell me to smoke some fucking weed, and we both know that's not a legit treatment.

But I don't know where to find people with more experience with treating legit issues where you're from. Maybe look at treatment centres, or call some information centres? Barring that, just ask about what kind of treatment they give right at the start. Be clear about what you want, because you're still the goddamn customer.

Basically, if they can't give a solid answer about diagnosis and treatment, they're waffling. And what I learned is that those two come with the employment of tools and homework. Questionnaires and stuff like that. You can't make a diagnosis without data. The era of "verstehen" is long gone. And you can't plan a treatment without diagnosis.

It's not called clinical psychology for nothing. So yes, don't be afraid to be critical. I lost years of my life to being "nice" and having trust in these incompetents.

>>17639714
>>oh anon you're just depressed that's why you don't want to do anything!
>>what if the reason i don't want to do anything is because i'm sick of failing because my health is poor
That sounds like depression to me. The cause is perhaps more discrete and definite than many cases, but it's no less depression for that.