The Forums › Forums › Most X-treme! › Other › Insensitive shrinks › Re: Insensitive shrinks
I’d say about 20% of the therapists I’ve seen over the years were somewhat competent and helpful, and the others completely clueless, useless, and at times actively harmful.
For one thing, it is important to work with someone who truly understands ADHD, and if that is not a big part of their professional focus, find someone else.
Even then, in my opinion, it’s an iffy proposition.
Just being able to communicate with other ADHDers is helpful for me, because I am better able to appreciate that the diagnosis is real, because we all have common behaviors and ways of functioning. It’s helpful to know I’m not alone, which by itself can take the pressure off.
The “experts” say it is important to find a therapist that makes you feel heard and understood.
Yeah…good luck with that. I’ve had glimmers. But I also want to feel that the person I work with likes me enough to wish me well, to want to see me become more successful. Maybe that’s the wrong way to think about a therapist – and often I can distance myself emotionally enough to just listen to their advice on an intellectual level – as professionals who are offering information and methodologies – no more cozy that talking to a lawyer. Ultimately, I am the one who has to do the work, because most of them are not that great at facilitating. I get more help often from self-help books that provide steps for dealing with specific problems.
Plus, therapy is so prohibitively expensive – I can’t afford $50 an hour let alone $150 or $300. Nice work if you can get it, I suppose. I’d probably be a better therapist than most of them, so maybe I should get a psychology degree and start charging other people up the ying-yang to talk to ME.
TImely topic because I have been struggling emotionally lately and WISH I could talk to someone, but I don’t have four million dollars and also, past experience indicates it will not help that much, if at all.
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