u/turn_circles

Let me preface by saying I have an extensive background in mental health, both academically and personally. I’ve found that the vast majority of therapists are totally unqualified to handle cases of severe mental illness. I believe this is due to multiple factors, but the biggest two IMO are a lack of knowledge/ education on severe mental illness, and a lack of interest (on the part of the therapist) in dealing with more challenging cases.

I know several people who currently work as therapists who do not hold, what I would consider to be, base knowledge of abnormal psychology. It seems that Masters programs in counseling psych are focused much more on tools and strategies to counsel those who may be struggling with situational issues, processing trauma, or comparatively mild cases of anxiety or depression, rather than a focus on strategies to treat clients who struggle with issues like schizophrenia, personality disorders, or long term major depression. Unless a therapist specializes in one of these particular disorders, I find that a base knowledge of how these severe mental illnesses are treated pharmacologically is almost never present. In addition, there is a lack of knowledge on pragmatic therapeutic practices to help these clients.

It seems that psychology, as a felid, has shifted toward an emphasis on validation, insight, and understanding, as opposed to techniques to “rewire” the brain and effectively stop harmful behaviors.

I understand why this is so from a capitalist viewpoint, as clients are much more likely to continue seeing a therapist who is validating than one who challenges the client in ways that may make them feel like their behaviors are what’s causing poor outcomes, rather than it being the result of being treated badly by others. It’s also easier to go with the flow than to put in the hard work, for both the client, and the therapist.

Now, it feels like we are at a point where a huge majority of therapists are only qualified and/or willing to work with clients who have some struggles in life than those who are severely and debilitatingly mentally ill. It’s a problem I feel like no one else is talking about.

I’ve always wondered.

Hello, I am located in Virginia in the USA. I’m wondering if I can get some advice. As stated in title, the house I’m renting got foreclosed. This issue is that I had paid my entire year of rent up front to the landlord who used to own the house and I have 2 more months on my lease and I’m unsure how to get my deposit back. The house went up for auction at the beginning of June, so it either sold, or went to the bank. I have heard nothing from the new owner, and as far as I know, there’s no way for me to find out who the new owner is. I’ve been abiding by the “no news is good news” philosophy for the last couple months, but as my lease comes to a close, I’m concerned about getting my deposit back, as I will need it to put down on a new apartment. I’m at a loss for who to contact or what to do. Any knowledgeable advice is appreciated!

Hello, I’m newish to Richmond. People I’m meeting keep telling me that Richmond is punk and I’m wondering if I’m missing something. My impression of Richmond is that it’s generally pretty upscale. I almost never see really alternatively dressed people around. People with tattoos and band tees, sure, but not battle jackets and diy clothing. Is there a secret punk scene I haven’t seen around here, or is Richmond just punk in comparison to NOVA?

I am genuinely curious why hospitals can get away with charging $300 for a pregnancy test that costs a dollar, or $50 for a vending machine sandwich and tiny juice?

One of my own experiences is going to the ER with kidney stones. All I did was check in and speak to a nurse for 5 minutes and then sit in the waiting room for 8 hours before deciding to leave. They charged me $8000 for that visit. How? And why?

I’m wondering if anyone here has paired their trintellix with an atypical antipsychotic. The combo of an SSRI and antipsychotic has been used commonly to treat MDD and severe anxiety, but, for many many reasons, I wanted to stop the SSRI and swap it for Trintellix. If anyone has experience to share, I’d love to hear it.

Alcohol consistently ranks as the most dangerous substance in regard to overall harm, above any of the illicit drugs, yet, it is widely accepted and minimized in comparison to recreational drug use and/ or addiction.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21665157/

I am willing to bet that nearly every person who reads this can think of someone in their lives who meets the criteria for alcoholism. It is extremely common and often normalized to the point that it’s used as a punch line in a lot of cases. It’s often not viewed as a problem if someone ends their day with 4 to 5 beers in the evening on most days, which is in stark contrast to the general reaction to using drugs in the same way. Most people would think of someone who uses cocaine or heroin or meth at the same frequency to have a serious problem. The difference in reaction is not backed by data, which consistently shows that frequent alcohol consumption is, not only more dangerous to someone’s health than illicit drugs, but also more detrimental to them socially, financially, and in terms of functioning.

It seems that the only reason why alcoholism doesn’t elicit the same reactions of shock and horror that drug use does is because it isn’t illegal. Change my view.

I know I'm not the only Millennial who has noticed that nearly all of my peers claim to have ADHD and/or Autism, especially in the last 10 years. It seems like everyone I know has a professional or self diagnosis of one or both. I cant even count how many times I've heard someone use the experience of being able to focus better while on a stimulant as evidence that they have ADHD, when the truth is that stimulants have that effect on nearly everyone. I have tens of friends who I've known for over a decade and have seen function extremely well socially claiming now to have an Autism diagnosis. This trend is backed by data, as the rate of ADHD diagnosis among 23-29 year olds has risen 550% since 2015 according to epicresearch.org, and the rate of Autism diagnosis has increased by 450% among 26-34 year olds between 2011 and 2022 according to Yale Research.

My claim is that this sharp increase in prevalence of, both ADHD and Autism, is a response to internalized shame that was triggered by the BLM movement and not a true reflection of the actual incidence of each illness.

The BLM movement impacted society immensely, especially those who were coming of age or young adults at the height of its popularity. BLM forced people, especially young Americans, to confront the idea of privilege and intersectionality and to reflect on where they might fall on that scale in comparison to others. For a large majority of people, confronting the reality that they may not have earned their place in society solely based on their skills or achievements, caused feelings of shame or discomfort. In an attempt to alleviate this discomfort, many people faced cognitive dissonance wherein they saw themselves as one of those lacking privilege by creating an identity including a trait which would allow them to align with less privileged populations. So began the rise of teenagers and young adults identifying as nonbinary, claiming to have a severe mental illness, and most commonly, gaining a diagnosis of ADHD or Autism. Because diagnosis of both ADHD and ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) are largely based on self report of symptoms, there has been a huge spike in cases. The symptoms of ADHD are extremely common to experience, as most people have had trouble focusing on tedious or uninteresting tasks, as well as hyperfixation on an area of interest, and, because the caveat of "causes a significant disruption across multiple areas of their life" is open to the individual's judgement, 95% of those tested for ADHD walk away with the diagnosis. The current views in the field of Counseling Psychology, which focus on hardship as a result of trauma or mental illness rather than hardship being part of the human experience, coupled with self reports as a means of diagnosis, has led to a societal phenomenon of victimhood being used to evade social accountability.

Change my view.