i dislike most mental health professionals- should i fight ?

from my experience, most of them, if not all, make major assumptions, judge harshly and say awful things that put you down.

in the beginning i would correct their biases but after it happened time and time again, i've started wondering why the hell am i wasting all my energy getting upset, in order to correct their erroneous assumptions about me as a person. it's a lot of work and not worth it.

my mom on the other hands thinks i should fight back hard and get mad when they treat me like a criminal- i literally go uuuuh no i've never been arrested or hospitalized, ha and smile, why would you ask that? hint on the nooo never been arrested.

it's such an awful stigma, the public health system. i'm going to assume private practice is a lot better because you're paying for it. keep in mind, i do realise how lucky and privileged we are to have free ( mostly) health care.

obviously, this might speak to my inability to be assertive in person. it's just that MOST people have erroneous ideas about you, based on dumb cr#ap that i can't alter. i can't fight every person and change the world.

instead i thank them for their time, acknowledge the failure of the system and the frailness of human ego and their assumptions/categorization//arrogance and stereotyping. it's what we do right?

what do you guys think? tell the mother$$$$ that they're being super condescending and question why they're asking me ridiculous manner and putting down who i am as a person ( i've worked in the creative arts and the woman compared my work ( which takes talent) to that of background extra work for movies--- where it's connected to "big names" but it's just extra work.

to note, extra work literally means you stand there, it doesnt matter who you are, you're literally filler. what i did took training, social saavy and organization and creativity.

b%%Tch

Hi Bianca

I am going to move this topic to the Anti Psych forum which I think is a better fit for it but leave a shadow so ppl from BP can also reply if they have something to add

In terms of what to do one thing that strikes me is have you ever asked them why they think that about you? It might be worth it and might stop them or at least get them to think twice about what they say and whether it is true or not.

Cracked

Hi! And welcome to the forum!

from my experience, most of them, if not all, make major assumptions, judge harshly and say awful things that put you down.

You are spot on correct. I feel strongly about this issue considering I have lived through it. In my experience most of them tend to be arrogant and judge harshly. Once they reach an opinion (right or not) of you it seems impossible to get yourself to change it. I have received far more negative praise and much more judgment on my mistakes than commenting on good qualities or things I have done right.

in the beginning i would correct their biases but after it happened time and time again, i've started wondering why the hell am i wasting all my energy getting upset, in order to correct their erroneous assumptions about me as a person. it's a lot of work and not worth it.

Standing up yourself is the right and normal thing to do. This is a completely normal reaction.

To be honest I find it not being worth the effort. They tend to eventually see you upset and try to calm you down but I find that there original opinion just doesn't change. Once I see that it doesn't work, I just felt more withdrawn, depressed empty. Why did I try? I felt like my effort accomplished nothing. It just made me look worse

my mom on the other hands thinks i should fight back hard and get mad when they treat me like a criminal- i literally go uuuuh no i've never been arrested or hospitalized, ha and smile, why would you ask that? hint on the nooo never been arrested.

Getting mad will do no good. I have confronted psychiatrists and shown a lot of anger when I lost my nerve... more than once for what was basically mental rape. It never made me look any better. It just gave them more to say. That I was angry, easily agitated, emotionally, unstable... yada yada. They would just see the reaction of anger or frustration rather than what I was trying to convey or at least tell them. The core of my message just wasn't taken seriously or understood. Painfully frustrating.

On one occasion I spent an hour telling one of my ex psychiatrists why his diagnosis was incorrect after he kept insisting that my other doctor's diagnosis was wrong while his was correct. After vigorously trying to defend his diagnosis all he had to say was "that I am a master manipulator" For what ever reason I think he became angered and tried to turn around my defense as a character flaw. Of course it triggered me in that I know I am not a manipulator, if anything I have been manipulated. Its funny though, because it seems to be in their bag of dialogue. A lot of people that I know get called that same term along with a few others I hear over and over anytime they become defensive. So its nothing new or holding weight.

Other times Its just added more to my diagnosis or met with personal attacks.

it's such an awful stigma, the public health system. i'm going to assume private practice is a lot better because you're paying for it. keep in mind, i do realise how lucky and privileged we are to have free ( mostly) health care.

Private practice does tend to be better. My current T is private practice as well as most of them that I have had luck with. The public health system needs an overhaul. Nothing but a farce... its always been that way.

obviously, this might speak to my inability to be assertive in person. it's just that MOST people have erroneous ideas about you, based on dumb cr#ap that i can't alter. i can't fight every person and change the world.

In my experience you can take the most assertive person in the world, a psychiatrist holding on to his ideas will never change his own mind. The down fall comes IMO from the fact that many psychiatrists reason that if the person is in there office they are there because there mentally ill. Because said person is mentally ill thoughts are just a manifestation of illness and need to be calmed/policed/medicated ect ect. In a nut shell this is the mentality I have encountered.

instead i thank them for their time, acknowledge the failure of the system and the frailness of human ego and their assumptions/categorization//arrogance and stereotyping. it's what we do right?

Its the best way to make peace with an ugly truth. I find worrying about why I couldn't change a psych for the better is just waist of health.

what do you guys think? tell the mother$$$$ that they're being super condescending and question why they're asking me ridiculous manner and putting down who i am as a person ( i've worked in the creative arts and the woman compared my work ( which takes talent) to that of background extra work for movies--- where it's connected to "big names" but it's just extra work.

In my honest opinion avoid any doctor or therapist who treats you less than a human being. You have talent, you have emotions, its best that doesn't get picked on.

to note, extra work literally means you stand there, it doesnt matter who you are, you're literally filler. what i did took training, social saavy and organization and creativity.

b%%Tch

I agree. How are you know, have you found a T you can trust?

no not really, i have a few weeks of this and then, i'm off on my own. if i can "fix myself" in the interim, i'll find a private practice therapist, not funded by the state. i think this might be the best way to go.

biancayagger wrote:no not really, i have a few weeks of this and then, i'm off on my own. if i can "fix myself" in the interim, i'll find a private practice therapist, not funded by the state. i think this might be the best way to go.

As long as you find a T that works for you, you have won I hope you do!

I know how you feel.
I was on the phone with a social worker who contacted me about some records I requested.She starts out coming up with stuff that was incorrect about me and my past but pretended she read or remembered it.All it did was confuse me since I couldn't really tell what she was talking about.
Then she inquires for my reasoning for wanting the records.I tell her in the most broadest way I could without details.(why tell her if I already stated it once on paper)Then she tries to act like she could guide me to meet my goals.I am thinking you don't even know me or my goals.So I just told her no I don't need your help with that.And tried to continue the conversation towards the records.

They can be very manipulative and even hurtful.
If you can find a good one go for it.