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Do You Tell Your Shrink EVERYTHING?

roxi - theyre probly best not to give u something for anxiety
i take it ur referring to benzos
these meds destroy ppls lives (including mine)

ur better to seek help from a therapist and do CBT - or like JF referred to, EMDR
both r just examples of the types of therapy out there
benzos last 8hrs at the longest
therapy is for life
 
I don't get how your GP visits are so expensive (for those in Auckland). I'm in Christchurch and I've been to several medical centres and never paid more than $40, and at uni it was totally free. There's a place offering free CBT just down the road. My psych is $275/hr yet my ex got into the public system for free within a week (for ADHD!). Look around more perhaps? Can't see why Auckland should be more expensive.
 
I withhold some information from my psychiatrist, but he just prescribes medication so I don't feel like he needs to know that much.

When I was doing CBT I also withheld information, I had to lie and say that I wasn't doing drugs, because they wouldn't have let me do the CBT program otherwise. CBT ended up not helping me that much because I already knew most of the techniques, I still got something out of it but I think I need more long-term counseling (too expensive unfortunately).
 
absent_minded, how do you still have insurance? still living w/ folks? Where do you work now, still the restaurant?

Washington State is pretty liberal with their social systems (gotta love those needle exchanges ;)), but I still remember paying $1300 when I had to go to Harborview cuz my girlfriend's dumb-ass cat bit me on the hand. :(

I'm gonna PM u soon..... I wanna know how that legal situation at the Safeway panned out. 8(

Stay warm!
 
Ugh, I lied to my shrink more than I lied to my family.
Obviously defeating the purpose which is why I no longer see one.
 
I tell my shrinker everything. She's cool. She's not an enabler either, which is cool. As of now however...I actually will be with-holding one tiny detail....Bluelight. This most informative of sites is just to....awesome to share with anybody that lives in my area=D Besides, there's one thing I do love about seeing her weekly, a little thing called, patient-doctor privilege.
 
I don't disclose any past drug use cuz once that's on your record, is a red flag label. I've been able to control & prevent myself from falling too deep down the rabbit hole with any drugs I used, always pulled myself out of any slight addiction I may have developed. I don't need help w that & its not a problem, so I don't disclose it.
 
junctionalfunkie said:
Just to keep this going, I wanted to emphasize that I did not start this thread for advice on my particular situation (though it's much appreciated).

Do YOU tell your therapist everything? What do you edit? Sex? Drugs? Rock 'n' Roll? General deviance? Criminal acts? Dishonesty?

What, exactly, and why?
Click to expand...

I was honest with mine today (MD psychiatrist) about everything legal. I don't really do illegal things and if I did, I'd talk to my lawyer (who has the uncensored version and is also my ex-boyfriend - we're just friends now) instead.

I am on long-term benzodiazepine maintenance for panic disorder primarily. Those, I can honestly say I do not abuse.

I walked out with the same script I always do despite admitting I am addicted to alcohol. My script would leave me catatonic if I took it as directed (30 mg Valium per day; 1 mg Xanax for acute panic reactions). I left that part out because I would like to be off benzos - just not right away.

I have even told my shrink about BL. :D He is not computer-savvy and would not be able to find me. We have had an excellent therapeutic relationship throughout my struggles.

We have never needed to talk about my sex life. I am not the type of person who is inclined to act out sexually. It's not relevant to me getting better. I do know that he is a gay man because I asked him what his life was about a long time ago. I felt better after that as my NLP coach is more than a bit of a creeper. :( I have 2 more sessions with him and then I am going to take the NLP techniques I have learned to tell him to **** off.

I trust very few people with my life. I trust my psychiatrist completely. He respects me as a human being and I respect him for it. He says it is always a pleasure to see me, because most of his patients have more complicated things happening in their lives. He sees mostly low-income and elderly people and his office is over a methadone clinic in a really bad part of town.
 
I've seen shrinks in the past, and almost all of them have been arrogant uncompassionate assholes. So instead of seeing a shrink, I now see a drug counsellor (who's also a psychologist) to discuss my issues, and I go to my GP for medication prescriptions. They are both friendly and down-to-earth, so I'm comfortable talking to them. They know everything about my drug use and my mental health issues.
 
I think it depends upon the therapeutic approach used by whichever therapist you are seeing.

I told the first psychotherapist I saw about my drug use and how I was obtaining them from my workplace. From then on literally every session seemed to be focused upon what and how much I had used that week, with the primary goal being absolute abstinence. I ended up having to stop seeing him because I felt he was not allowing me to tackle the reasons for the anxiety and depression that I had gone to see him for in the first place. The anxiety and depression were there for many years before the drug use started and I felt that I would only be able to stop using drugs once these underlying issues had been addressed. He also kept making implied threats to inform my professional body about my drug use and towards the end I became almost terrified of losing my very hard earned registration. I'll let you guess my profession.

The second therapist I saw I didn't tell about any of my past or current drug use, however eventually I ended up stopping seeing her for other reasons.

My third and current psychotherapist is a completely different story, he uses an approach called Schema Therapy which means that he sees my drug use as a result of my problems rather than the cause. This allows me to be honest about my usage without it becoming the sole focus of each session and means we can tackle my other problems.

In terms of things other than drug use, there have been times when I have outright lied to him because I have not wanted him to think negatively of me. However, after a year of seeing him, I am now completely honest with him because I feel I can trust him to have what therapists call 'unconditional positive regard' for me, which basically means he won't judge me whatever I tell him. I feel I am making real progress now, which I think is due to the fact I hit third time lucky and found a decent therapist.

On related note, in the UK open-ended psychotherapy is free to anybody who needs it which I think can sometimes mean that you are more likely to not be completely honest and save issues 'for later on', whereas if it was costing you £50 a session you may be more inclined to be honest in order not to feel as though you were wasting your money.
 
I disclose anything and everything aside from anything legal wise. I can't disclose some of my past even though it is just that PAST. But it is not the stuff that hinders my recovery I believe. And progress with therapy has been wonderful. :)
 
I pay to see my psychiatrist once a month, that's $100 out of my own pocket plust the cost of whatever scripts she writes.

I don't have insurance and my financial life is very up and down, however I realized that I needed help and my family wasn't going to help me out with this one so I make it a priority to have this money every month along with my rent and other basic essentials. My theory is if it's important enough, you'll find a way, you'll make it a priority.

I tell her almost everything, I've left out a couple of the more extremely illegal things from my past just because I wasn't confident in telling her certain drug related things from my past that I no longer participate in. However I've told her that I've relied on drugs for most of my life and that I've tried most of them.

I feel I tell her the important things and progress has been made, I'm also more comfortable each visit so more comes out each time, I'm pretty damn honest basically because it is my money and I'm doing this to improve my life.

Ultimately I'm going to end up seeing a CBT specialist who she has recommended to me, this will cost me even more money but I'll figure out a way to pay for it and keep paying for it if it turns out to be helpful.

Overall I'm very happy so far with the progress, I've learned a ton about myself, it's also given me ALOT to think about and digest which is why I'll be seeing a CBT Therapist, as a way of digesting and working through all the discoveries we've made so far. I also think this will help me get off benzos. I need to relearn some coping skills so I can deal with stress better.
 
i no longer see any psych docs and won't ever again.
when i did open up a little bit, my words were completely misinterpreted and from that point on i felt extremely manipulated. i felt i had no choice but to do what was basically forced on me. details don't really matter but my experience w/ psychologists and psychiatrists was extremely negative and caused me way more harm than good. there is no way i could/would ever trust any psych doc again.
i know many ppl say they owe their lives to psych docs but i just had a totally opposite experience.
just my two cents...
-izzy
 
Libby said:
Doesn't it cost like $100 an hour to see a shrink? How come drug addicts can afford to see shrinks?
Seriously... explain.
Click to expand...

Here in New Zealand (I noticed you live here too) mental health services are part of public health care. If you're mentally unwell, you can see a shrink for free, for as long as required. It's only private psychiatrists that you have to pay big bucks to see.
 
i don't have a therapist yet.

but my suboxone doctor is the one i talk to the most. well, the nurse there, jean, is pretty much my shrink. i tell her everything, i talk to her about everything. she's really been a friend to me. and she's always on my side. when i see her, she doesn't just ask me doctor stuff, but she really wants to know what's going on with me and my life.
 
Man this thread really makes me miss junctionalfunkie. He was really a smart/good guy. Hope hes watching over us from up there making sure everythings alright.

As far as telling a therapist everything I saw a really great therapist for 6 years of my life and use to tell him everything untill I started using again and then the last 2 years were mainly lies about how good I was doing.

Therapy really is useless imo if you can't be honesty with your dr. The real issue is though when you see a certain therapist for years and years, you want to impress them, they become like an intimate family member, you look up to them and want to do good by their name, so you lie to them when you're doing things that you know you shouldnt.

There was no way I could have told my therapist I relapsed and was using again, although I do definitely regret it quite a bit these days. I still don't think it would have made a difference if I told him, I mean I'd still be using, but it still helps nonetheless to have someone to vent to.
 
Shake off that shame! I've worked with inmates and parolees (who have done some really bad stuff compared to just having an addiction at some point) and find that they are almost always good people at heart who made mistakes, which is, in fact, the human condition. Everyone makes mistakes.
 
Eh, I kinda keep relapses mostly to myself unless they're really major relapses. The only problem with the kind of relationship you sometimes develop with your therapist is that it starts to make you feel like you're letting them down if you screw up and it becomes tough to admit it sometimes.

My therapist considers me to be a good friend of his, he often spends up to 2x the time that he's supposed to normally with me and doesn't charge extra, he talked me through my suicide attempt, he invites me to his house for sessions which he does for none of his other patients, he's confided in me about his own past addictions and his son's suicide (I get to play shrink when he talks about that kind of stuff...kinda sweet) and he's pretty much insinuated that if I was ever to not have a home and was clean that he would allow me to stay at his place. Shit, he gives me food while we're having sessions in his house. The man is a whole lot more than just a therapist to me, which is why I say it's so hard to admit that I've fucked up sometimes. Especially in my case I feel sometimes like since my shrink's son committed suicide due to addiction that he feels like he has a second chance in me, and I can see that it affects him when I screw up even if it shouldn't.

It's always a double edged sword developing a relationship with a shrink, cause you may be able to trust them and work with them more efficiently, but you also feel a need to live up to their hopes/expectations for you. No great answer to solve that.
 
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