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Are The Majority Of Therapists Crazy?

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:roflmao::laugh::dead: Good comparison.



I have never met a therapist who meets this description, but I suspect they'r...
And if you leave them, they will say YOU are crazy.
 
I have a BA in psych. At one point, I was working toward a doctorate in clinical psychology. I dropped that because, frankly, most of the mental health professionals I know - and I know many - are psychologically unsound. Specifically, I know:

- a psychiatrist who is bipolar and on heavy meds,

- a psychiatrist who has serious sexuality issues (including having anonymous unprotected sex in public with both men and women,

- a psychiatrist who tried to commit suicide and was incarcerated against her will for four months on a locked county psych ward,

- a clinical psychologist who sells illegal narcotic pain killers to addicts without a prescription,

- a clinical psychologist who has rage issues that lead him to do extraordinarily dangerous things,

- a clinical psychologist who has a serious eating disorder,

- an MFT who is a 'dry drunk',

- an addiction counselor who is currently - while practicing - abusing hard-core drugs,

- my brother, a doctoral-level counselor, who is a registered sex offender.

Give me enough time, and I'm sure I'll think of others. These people were just on the tip of my tongue.

Now, I study math. Mathematicians, especially professors and teachers, are much more psychologically sound than mental health professionals!

Ben
 
The first time I started seeing a therapist someone warned me that they're all crazy, but I thought he was being flip. Y...
a therapist of mine, who was very sane, told me the majority of therapists want to control other people because they cant control themselves. He said, "The good ones know about it". I reckon a percentage of therapists are narcissists, they see other people as actors on their own stage. I can't give you any numbers, but just be aware of this, and steer clear of those who are too charming.
 
the majority of therapists want to control other people because they cant control themselves. He said, "The good ones know about it". I reckon a percentage of therapists are narcissists, they see other people as actors on their own stage.
But doesn't this apply, to a certain degree, to anyone who goes into an independent leadership field? Doctors could certainly be classified this way, as could teachers, entrepreneurs, investors, and even self-employed business owners.

I do understand that those are not the people you are looking to for help with your innermost self. But it continues to strike me as false reasoning to essentially judge an entire profession pretty much just because it deals with mental health.

I often wonder how much of the judgement is projection on the part of the client. (This doesn't refer to you specifically, @iwodi). Inner shame about having a mental illness manifested as judgement against those who have chosen to work with the mentally ill.

And then there's simply the fact that people who have negative experiences (with any service, including health) are nearly twice as likely to talk about that negative experience, compared to people who have a positive experience. There are many different detailed statistics for that, but the bottom line is that people talk about, write about, post about the negatives much more readily.

Mental health professionals are people, not saints.
a clinical psychologist who sells illegal narcotic pain killers to addicts without a prescription,
This is criminal behavior, and no, I'd not want to support that. But this could be an MD or an RN or a pharmacist too.
a psychiatrist who has serious sexuality issues (including having anonymous unprotected sex in public with both men and women,
I don't know that I'd judge that. If it was a topic in sessions, then yeah...no. But I feel the same about anything that's not to do with what I'm there to work on. I don't believe in god. My therapist believes in god. That doesn't mean I can't see my therapist because he's a jesus-freak.
a psychiatrist who is bipolar and on heavy meds,
I don't agree with the idea that health practitioners of any kind cannot have their own diagnoses that require medication. But, this is an opinion. if in your opinion a person with a mental illness should not be allowed to work with the mentally ill, even if it's managed, then...that's your opinion.

It doesn't automatically follow, though, that this person is unable to practice....does it? I worry about that kind of reasoning, because what's to stop prohibiting individuals with managed mental illnesses from pursuing any line of work where they interact with other people?

I guess I'd compare it to this: if my surgeon had a tremor that was 100% managed with medication, and they regularly had themselves checked to make sure they are still absolutely tremor-free, then I do not have a problem with that person being my surgeon. If, on the other hand, this surgeon is in denial about their tremor, and when I see it in a pre-op consult and ask and they say, 'oh, no, it just never happens when I'm in surgery'...I'd say I'd like a different surgeon and report him to his board.

But it doesn't mean that most surgeons are liars, or in denial, or ticking time bombs, or anything. It just means there was a bad surgeon right there.
 
This is criminal behavior, and no, I'd not want to support that. But this could be an MD or an RN or a pharmacis

Nope. This was a druggie clinical psychologist who was literally delivering handfuls of pills to his client at home.

I don't know that I'd judge that. If it was a topic in sessions, then yeah...no. But I feel the same about anything that's not to do with what I'm there to work on. I

The expectation is that a mental health professional has his 'stuff' together. If he doesn't, he shouldn't be practicing.
 
I don't agree with that at all - my expectation is that my therapist keeps her stuff out of my session, I don't know to know what her stuff is but I fully accept she has stuff.

I'm a qualified therapist working in an agency and in private practice. I also have PTSD, am in therapy and at times can be more symptomatic than I'd like. My training focussed a lot on me maintaining my fitness to practice and having systems and supports in place to ensure if I don't catch that I'm out of balance that people close to me will.

I generally do have my stuff together and know I'm good at what I do. By reasoning here, I'm crazy, shouldn't be working and may be either co-dependent or narcissistic. Actually I'm really good at what I do, I have empathy with my clients borne out of my own adversity and am highly ethical in my work. I know people have bad, in some cases very bad, experiences with their therapists - I'm usually one of the people saying they're experience isn't ok. But to condemn a whole profession - made up of people like me, who want to help people and are good at it - based on those bad experiences is pretty poor.
 
This could be comparable to "dirty cops". Why do some bad ones have to then spoil the bunch? It doesn't, at all. Cops, in general, are good and help people, save lives etc.

Sure, I could name some "crazy" therapists...and I could name some "wack job" doctors, laywers, cops, and many from pretty much any field. It does not mean all or even most are that way! Its a generalization thats wrong!
 
But to condemn a whole profession - made up of people like me, who want to help people and are good at it - based on those bad experiences is pretty poor.

I don't know about anyone else on this thread, but I'm not condemning an entire profession. I am stating, however, that given the number of mental health professionals I know, I'm hard pressed to think of a mentally healthy one.
 
I wonder how that compares to the population as a whole - I know there are relatively few people in my circle of family and friends who haven't at some point had a significant period of mental illness. So, if mental health issues are present and prevalent in the population as a whole, it stands to reason that people working in the field of mental illness in whatever capacity are likely to have experienced poor mental health.
 
Nope. This was a druggie clinical psychologist who was literally delivering handfuls of pills to his client at home.
Again - it could be anyone with access to such drugs (which means, the medical profession) delivering those drugs to a patient or any other random person. This is behavior non-specific to the therapy profession, is my point. And yes, it is criminal behavior, and would be for any medical professional to dispense in this manner.
The expectation is that a mental health professional has his 'stuff' together. If he doesn't, he shouldn't be practicing.
I don't agree with that at all - my expectation is that my therapist keeps her stuff out of my session, I don't know to know what her stuff is but I fully accept she has stuff.
Yeah, I also don't agree that there's an expectation that a MH worker has their 'stuff' together. I think there's an expectation that their stuff not impact me negatively, in my treatment plan - that's all.
I am stating, however, that given the number of mental health professionals I know, I'm hard pressed to think of a mentally healthy one.
I believe this reveals either your bias, or that you are unique, being one person with one sample set. i can't tell you that your experiences didn't happen, but I can tell you that I've interacted with a large number of MH professionals as well, and my numbers are not identical to yours. Your experience is colored by your expectations, same as mine. Perhaps you would look at my experiences and say I was wrong, they are all incompetent...but it's so far from being an objective measure, that it's rings of fear mongering, to me.

Just my opinion.
 
I've interacted with a large number of MH professionals as well, and my numbers are not identical to yours. Your experience is colored by your expectations, same as mine. Perhaps you would look at my experiences and say I was wrong, they are all incompetent...but it's so far from being an objective measure, that it's rings of fear mongering, to me.

Of course your experiences are different; we are two different people, what would you expect? I am saying that of the many many mental health professionals I know, I am hard-pressed to name a psychologically healthyhhealthy one. Please take my words at face-value; don't make the mistake of reading other meanings into it.

My experience is not necessarily colored by my expectations; please try to refrain from such generalizations.

"Rings of fear mongering": again, please don't overgeneralize.

="Hiveb, post: 1084621"]Just my opinion.[/QUOTE]

Exactly. Just your opinion.
 
Sorry for the typos in the last lost. I forgot that we can't come back and edit our posts while in anonymous mode.
 
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