New psychologist......

[PamelaR]

Hi all

Everyone welcome to have their input.

This week I'm off to see a new psychologist. My previous one retired and I've been trying to find a new one. The last two were pretty average and didn't help me at all in what I needed, i.e. to get through episodes of PTSD, anxiety and depression.

So, how am I feeling? While I've been waiting for my appointment, I've become very active in writing in BB. This has helped me to realise how - NOT ALONE I am. While it's not good for those of you who are experiencing these episodes, I do take comfort that help is at hand.

So, what am I afraid of? That I have to retell, relive, re-experience my trauma(s). Yuk, oh yuk. However!! When I started with my last (good) psychologist, she did not need me to retell, relive, re-experience my trauma. It was good enough for her that I had already opened up everything and explored all the hidden secrets with the previous psych! So it was easy for us to move on to 'identifying those things I was currently experience', 'what processes I needed to put in place to move on', 'get in touch with my inner child and give her the comfort she'd never had'.

So, what does this Thursday have install for me..... Hopefully, if he's worth his weight in gold, i'll not need to open up the scabs that have closed and healed. That we'll move on to how to proceed being retired, no longer working, suffering bouts of PTSD, anxiety and depression. So keep your fingers crossed for me.... Will let you know how I go (BTW, my GP says he's very good 🙂 ) Here's hoping!!

Kind regards

PR

[Guest_4987]

Morning Pamela and all

If ok with you I would like to share a part of my story with you all.

Looking at my history 20+ years ago i started involving myself with Psych's and after finding the one i could relate to we worked through my stuff from childhood..so that was good times.

I sustained huge injuries in a mining accident in 1988 which i did recovered from, in 2000 i started to suffer depression and with that what i had strange feelings in some parts of my body mainly legs. So after 15 years of being prescribed anti-depressants i decided to get a new GP, the difference here is she listened to what i had to say.

To cut a long story short the day after i say my new gp they thought i had a stroke after being hospitalised for a week the dgx was ms. i lost all use right side of my body. After 14 month of phsio i now walk ok but struggle a bit with my hand and relentless pain but hey it could be worse and thats why i try to smile and have a laugh daily.

With Psychs and GPs in my opion there for you and you only, your paying them to listen but unfortunately many don't so thats why its so important to connect with these professionals.

For me today is a good day so i keep on keeping on.

Cheers

Wayne

[PamelaR]

Hello Wayne and all

Thank you for sharing your story here. It must be difficult with limited use of your hand and having ongoing pain. I'm inspired though that you want to smile and laugh daily - good one Wayne.

To help me make sure I am understanding what you've been through, is it okay if i ask you some questions? For example,

• can you tell me what dgx and ms is? I'm unfamiliar with the acronym and tried googling it, but not sure about the search results. This will help me to understand the connection between changing your GP and having a stroke.
• are you able to work or do you have any hobbies? From what you've said though, you might find this very difficult

No pressure for you to answer these questions. Just wondering if there is anything Beyond Blue can help you with.

Cheers

PamelaR

[Guest_4987]

Hi Pamela

I am very fatigued today so with respect i will make this post short! first word should be diagnosis and the second is Multiple Sclerosis which hit me pretty hard. For many years my doctors kept handing me scripts for anti depressants without dealing with the extreame pain i was in (not listening to me) thinking i wanted some type of illicit drug. I had my major attack the night before seeing my new female gp!! I was in the stroke ward within hours

A week later 1 MRI and 1Spinal Tap the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

I hope that makes a little more sense.

Cheers

Wayne

[PamelaR]

Hello Wayne

Thank you for posting, even though you're feeling fatigued. Greatly appreciated. There is no criteria for length - just want you want to share. It can be a small amount or much more - depending on your own needs.

Being diagnosed with ms must have been somewhat of a jolt! Especially having been treated for depression for all those years. Is that negligence on the GPs part? Have you followed up on this or are you wanting to move on without taking any action?

I'm not really experienced in the legal aspects of incorrect diagnoses or have much knowledge about ms. We could work together to identify ways forward for you if this were how you wanted to proceed? Just putting it out there for you.

Your story I think will be useful for many others out there to not take everything on face value and to make sure you get the best out of your health professionals. Making sure you're confident in the abilities of your GP and any other health care professional is a lesson for everyone.

[blondguy]

Hi Pamela

This is a great post as mentioned above by other members

You mentioned a great point about the relationship between us and our therapist being equal. As you said its up to us to provide the input so they can help us start the recovery process.

Just my opinion some people criticize their therapist as not being 'understanding'. Most of the time its because the patient wants a 'fix all' and doesn't provide the therapist with all the information they need to help us help ourselves start the healing process

It takes determination, patience and sometimes a long time frame to let a therapist to do their work. Whether or not we are comfortable with our psychologist is not indicative of the quality of therapy we are receiving

Thankyou Pamela!

My Kindest

Paul

[Guest_4987]

Hi

In my humble opion i see health professionals in this way, they are under the pump everyminute of everyday by there national or multinational employers, in my case my neurological disorder is one that is very hard to diagnose to the point even with an MRI alone they won't diagnose.

I hold no malice to any of my previous health care professions I'm sure they were doing what was in THERE eyes the way forward for me..i do think if any of them get a lead from an another professional they seem to go with that as they don't have time to investigate themselves. Seeing there is no cure for MS I'm sure in my case the out come wouldn't be much different so i decded to accept things for what they are and move forward best i can.

I have been involved with BB since late 2015 and have made some great friends and had many laughs and many crys but hey thats life.

Off to lay down again girls and boys so you all have a good evening.

Regards to all

Wayne,

[blondguy]

Hi Wayne

My bad on only including people that have a depressive/anxiety condition

I didnt know about the MS

Im sorry Wayne

Paul

[PamelaR]

Paul - Couple of really good points you've made - thanks heaps. Keep them coming. Truly appreciate your input.

Wayne - Pleased you have no malice towards your therapist and have moved on. It does help in recovery. Do you get out much?

What are others experiences with their health professionals? Happy to hear from anyone who wants to share their story.

[bindi-QLD]

Hiya Pam, Paul, Karen 🙂 And I see some newcomers too like Wayne and Shaun. Hello and a Big wave to you all,

Thanks for sharing your experiences, I got a lot out of catching up with this thread this morning.Thank you X

Pam, it sounds like your hopes to avoid poking at old wounds didn't go quite to plan, I'm sorry to hear that. It can feel so frightening doing that all over again, risking being vulnerable, and hoping for validation. Perhaps just think of it as a healthy `emptying the bucket', I really hope it will ultimately feel good, even if painful going through it. I look forward to hearing how things progress for you, you are very brave. Hugs to you. X

Just to share some of my experiences, the areas where I felt psychologists really worked for me:

-Great for `emptying the bucket.' I don't do that enough.

-Fantastic for helping to set boundaries in complicated situations eg. Workplace, family, loved ones.

-Great for helping me identify feelings that I have buried.

-Really great for inner child , meta thinking, witnessing type work. ie `Thinking about your thinking'.

-Some are very insightful, and I found those insights empowering.

What works best for me usually is supplementing Psychological Support with participation in active peer support groups, where members have shared experiences. The support groups provide so much understanding and validation, especially if your experiences are unusual.

The not so great experiences:

-Invalidation due to lack of understanding or clash of personal values. I do agree with Paul, that given enough time, that understanding would probably occur. But I just felt uncomfortable paying someone $130 to help them `get it' over multiple sessions, when someone with shared experiences would get it right away and help me move to the next steps.

-Wasting money trying to find `the right fit'. The psychologists I appreciate most write articles online, so you can get a good sense of them being a match for your value system and life experience. I wish more Australian psychologists would do more of this, it really, really helps build confidence that you money is worth spending.

PS. I was reading about that `newaccess' trial put on by Beyond Blue for a couple of years, that combined peer support and professional help together, and few other things like helping people find work, housing, social outlets. That was very successful, I hope we will see more of that in future.

[PamelaR]

Hi all

Bindi, yes i've been a little quite on this thread at the moment. Last week was very busy organising some voluntary work, spring cleaning the house, doing some experimental meals. I got to print out my homework for the psychologist. My next appointment is this Thursday so I'll have to complete some of it before I see him next.

About picking old wounds to make them bleed to let the muck escape again, I like your idea about thinking it of it as 'emptying a bucket' - a little nicer approach.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with psychologists. All very useful information to help empower ourselves.

Also like the 'newaccess' trial BB is doing. I'll have to read more about it.

Have a good week.