Do you tell your shrink about your drug usage?

[LadyLucid]

No No No No no. every psych I've been to was a complete waste of my time. I know i'm not the most out of control wrecked person out there but whatever substance problems i've had in the past I learned to sort them out in my own good time.

 

[Orlando_Doom]

Would never tell a doctor. Somehow 99% of them never make the mental connection that abusing a controlled drug could be a mask for the real problem here. They generally assume abusing is for fun only (which, at face value, it of course is) but that behind that face value there might be a reason some people need this kind of fun. I never knew a real drug user (not the guy who smokes MJ once a month and usually says no to drugs) that hadn't some problems he or she carried in their head.

 

[ColdNorth]

Before I wanted to get off drugs and start moving on in life, I lied as much as I could about it to get more meds I could sell. For the last couple of years I've been telling him everything. I have an exceptional psychiatrist who keeps his records private and who listens to reason. But in general it's a bad idea to admit drug abuse. If you do that and develop chronic pain like me, you are fucked. Having stopped drug abuse means NOTHING here. Once an addict, always an addict. I've been forced into shooting my Temgesics simply due to the increased BA, I get it for refractory depression and have no chance of getting real painkillers in this country ever again. Even injected it barely touches the pain. Now that my shrink is retiring the future looks grim. Makes me regret trying to quit and losing my connections in the first place. The national policy is to make it impossible by punishing early mistakes indefinitely.

Being honest to doctors is pointless and only leads to suffering. In hindsight, I would take what I can get and lie about everything. You can check for interactions and treatment options elsewhere anonymously. Don't get one of these labels that never go away. You'll be giving up your right to many kinds of medical help.

 

[Legerity]

I'm completely honest with my psychiatrist. I have not been fully honest with other doctors all the time though. I told my psychiatrist that I was using street speed/meth and that I thought it would be helpful for me to have a low dose of dexedrine daily (one day a week off to avoid tolerance) to use as a transition as long as it was helpful. After a couple of weeks a few built up stresses triggered me and I went through about a month's worth of medication in a few days. I told him about it and so I got off of them for a week or so, and I have since started using them again without any problems.

So I'm pretty damn grateful that he listens to me and gives me flexibility even after that incident. I pretty much just wrote a treatment plan for myself and brought it to him and asked him if it was okay and he approved. Great psychiatrist, I don't think I could ever lie to him.

 

[fridgebuzz]

If you actually want help then you should be completely honest. If you just see more durgz in your future why see a therapist at all?

 

[DaveTripper]

It all depends on if you truly want to get off drugs. I started seeing my therapist after I went through an outpatient rehab program, and I told her about my history of opiate abuse and even told her about my psychedelic use, which had a direct role in me turning to opiates. These are all things I need help getting over, and I am seeing her to treat these exact issues, so why wouldn't I tell her about all of it? Fortunately, my therapist has used psychedelics in the past (yes, I got lucky) so she understands when I tell her about my experiences with those substances. This makes it makes it easier for us to communicate about such topics, naturally. But regardless of my past opiate addiction, I think if I were in a situation where I was in extreme pain and actually NEEDED the relief that a strong pain-killer would provide, she wouldn't stop me from getting a prescription for said pain-killer.
In the end, if you truly want to get better and get past addiction and all of the other issues in your life, then you have to do two things: 1st. Find a therapist (and psychiatrist if need be) that you REALLY trust, and 2nd. Tell that therapist (and psychiatrist) EVERYTHING, even about that time you were sitting at your computer in your bedroom late at night, jerking it to cartoon porn, when all of a sudden your older sister walked in to uncover your deepest secret... (no, this did not happen to me, but you get the point! lol)

 

[Larson0]

i personally cant decide. i cant decide because im a junky at heart. i know what the right thing to do is. i would still be hesitant because they automatically will lable you a drug seeker / abuser and for good reason. you are. i know for myself im an abuser. i can take stuff as prescribed but as a drug user you will know when your tolerance goes up or you need more. thats what you will do too, take more. i personally feel one should explore other methods of managing the problem instead of addictive drugs. i cant speak for everyone though and i know there are responsible people.

im just sayin my point of view. i would probably lie to get some benzos. i would do it because i know i dont abuse them too badly, right now at least, and im very sensitive to them. i could do the prescribed thing for a bit but would i want to? i know what comes from that.

i've had my tooth rotting out and been in so much pain i was dizzy and seeing stars. it hurts SO FUCKING BAD! but i wouldn't go to urgent care for risk of getting percs or something. if its written out im not gonna be like "no". i've considered this when i go to see a dentist and get this tooth removed or whatever, my wisdom teeth etc. telling them i cant have painkillers knowing ill be in pain. theres always IBprofun and whisky to put on the tooth for now.

i dont fucking know to be honest. even now im going back and fourth in my brain about the ups and downs. if i was in chronic pain what would i do? panic attacks? maybe i can live life without pills?

after reading the above posts and the current state im in, i would tell them everything. it would crush me to be back on painkillers or have a new addiction to benzos. who am i kidding? im so fragile with that shit right now if they shoved 30 or 60 in my face i'd have a fun time.

 

[Weston]

I find this quite funny as i have only recently began counseling/"Sessions" and i always thought it was kinda fun to avoid talking about drugs use and when it was asked about i could just laugh(i hope i didnt laugh too much?).

 

[itsok]

Hell no! Done it and it worked against me everytime. If the dr. is really cool i may say i have had a craving...

 

[ErikTheRed]

For me it's not an absolute "yes" or "no." I see a GP and a psychologist fairly regularly. I only told my pysch about my drug use after I figured out what kind of guy he is. It's always a risk to admit drug use, especially heavy drug use. I told him in stages, first I told him I used various drugs, then eventually told him about my addiction.

To get help from a psych Dr. you really need to be completely honest. I never would have had a breakthrough if I wasn't open about drug use. Even though I have severe drug problems, my pysch seems to realize that drug use is just a symptom of other underlying problems. So drug use doesn't come up much during our talks, instead we focus on the problems which led to my drug use.

I never admit to drug use with my GP. It doesn't really affect me physically and from my experience many MD's err on the conservative side regarding drugs. But, under ideal experiences I would be completely honest with him. Physical and mental care require complete honesty IMO.

 

[hobhead]

i was being crushed by depression and saw three of them over the course of a year's time. the last one was fucking brilliant and had it figured out in ten minutes. it was being driven by a year's use of zolpidem (ambien) which was prescribed against all logic by a totally guack Pdoc at the Veterans administration. apparently, ones mind breaks because those and benzos absolutely deprive one of REM sleep. two weeks is the max normal time to roll these pills. but i was a trusting fool that hadn't been fucked about by an MD -thought them to be practically infallible. live and learn .

in just a few days w/o that shit in my system i went back to feeling that life was good and things were in order. i have since met people that he fucked about when he was working civilian side in private practice. so inept that his only chance of avoiding malpractice was to go federal and thus shielded. one Afghanistan vet let him know that his life was going to be taken if he fucked anymore men up. the asswipe left-good riddance !

 

[Ceramic_Cat]

I've had 4 different psychologists and 2 different psychiatrists since i was 12 and I've been afraid to tell any of them completely about anything regarding my drug problems. The one I'm currently seeing i asked a bunch of questions regarding the subject before mentioning some of my drug use besides pot.