I've met with a therapist for several stretches of time in my life, usually when I was very stressed with work and saw that the unhappiness was bleeding into other parts of my life and really bringing me down. The way I always looked at it was, "This person is a professional listener, and if I am talking to them about my unhappiness, I get it all out of my system without having to burden anyone I care about with it." It let the tension bleed out of me in a controlled way until I felt better.
I genuinely don't think anyone you would talk to would ever suggest that you need to be put somewhere nice and comfy. :)
(Ignore the pronouns, if you can. I've been chatting about this thought with several peeps, and it appears to be a fairly universal thing. Coping mechanisms do not happen in a vacuum, and what was life-saving yesterday can become maladaptive as circumstances change.)
...that said: the fact that you are aware that things are not currently optimal, and that changing something could provide a possible solution, are INCREDIBLY AWESOME AND POWERFUL THINGS.
There's a lot of stigma connected to therapy, especially psychiatry-- it's largely due to the erasure of mental health concerns in the US. (Which is totally fucked up, because the US is an awful and stressful place to live.) Many, many people use psychiatry and other forms of therapy to good effect-- I've seen different therapists at different points in my life, and it's all been really positive and motivating. (I'm actually looking up a local one right now, to help deal with some of the issues that have presented themselves more recently.) For me, it's been a daunting experience every time, because it resists stagnancy of my own actions. In general, I've found my engagement with therapy to motivate me out of this stagnancy, and it's given me new strategies to cope with the issues in my own brainspace
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Lots of other good stuff here, including that no way does anyone lock you up unless you are a danger to yourself and/or others OR you want to be locked up. And as far as being a danger to yourself....... as long as you're in therapy, unless your therapist is convinced your demise is eminent, they are not going to drop a dime on you. Believe me, I can tell you all about the ins and outs of the s-word. ;P
One of the answers may indeed be drugs, which yes, only a psychiatrist (or your primary care doctor, depending) can prescribe. A lot of psychiatrists don't really do talk therapy, tho, so much as tracking symptoms. I very much think you could HUGELY benefit from talk therapy; I'll get back to that.
Here's a simple one -- o wait really it's not, these things being hard to manage -- um, here's a STRAIGHTFORWARD one...? Sleep. Food. Exercise. You have to do your best to get decent amounts of those three, it's ridiculous how much difference it makes
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ah, quick clarification: no worries, any therapist you choose can work with a psychiatrist and/or your general doctor should drugs be a thing to try. I just feel, hey, have a relationship with someone that's about fixing shit, the underlying structure as it were, and not just about symptoms and drugs.
Fuck, am I just going to keep coming back here?! :)
I am working within the Riverside system, which I believe is an eastern MA thing. BUT, I would not be surprised if they had recommendations for something similar more convenient to you, if you wanted to scurry down that path. Big fan of the way the whole system works. Anyway, people with similar jobs tend to know each other and be able to recommend.
So, I don't have a ton of experience with therapists, one I saw as a child was fairly useless, one I saw during me and Doal's breakup was very helpful, even if her advice at the end was just in helping us through that process. But I really don't think that the response of any decent therapist to you would involve any sort of 'put you away'.
And I am a huge fan of changing something, if you are unhappy and general improvements in life aren't changing that. You're good people, and you deserve to have joy.
All of this. I am a huge fan of 'professional listeners', and they have gotten me through hard things, including breaking me out of patterns that were keeping me unhappy.
It's always worth a try, and sometimes it takes a person or two to find a good fit.
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I genuinely don't think anyone you would talk to would ever suggest that you need to be put somewhere nice and comfy. :)
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(Ignore the pronouns, if you can. I've been chatting about this thought with several peeps, and it appears to be a fairly universal thing. Coping mechanisms do not happen in a vacuum, and what was life-saving yesterday can become maladaptive as circumstances change.)
* Second, a weird biological fact, and accompanying advice: http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2015/09/make-you-happy-2/
...that said: the fact that you are aware that things are not currently optimal, and that changing something could provide a possible solution, are INCREDIBLY AWESOME AND POWERFUL THINGS.
( ... )
Reply
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One of the answers may indeed be drugs, which yes, only a psychiatrist (or your primary care doctor, depending) can prescribe. A lot of psychiatrists don't really do talk therapy, tho, so much as tracking symptoms. I very much think you could HUGELY benefit from talk therapy; I'll get back to that.
Here's a simple one -- o wait really it's not, these things being hard to manage -- um, here's a STRAIGHTFORWARD one...? Sleep. Food. Exercise. You have to do your best to get decent amounts of those three, it's ridiculous how much difference it makes ( ... )
Reply
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I am working within the Riverside system, which I believe is an eastern MA thing. BUT, I would not be surprised if they had recommendations for something similar more convenient to you, if you wanted to scurry down that path. Big fan of the way the whole system works. Anyway, people with similar jobs tend to know each other and be able to recommend.
Reply
And I am a huge fan of changing something, if you are unhappy and general improvements in life aren't changing that. You're good people, and you deserve to have joy.
Reply
It's always worth a try, and sometimes it takes a person or two to find a good fit.
<3 I am all about of you taking care of yourself
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