No Longer Wanting to Die
opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com
No Longer Wanting to Die
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Re: No Longer Wanting to Die
#2Sorry but I am still not going to subscribe to NYT just to RTFA.
Re: No Longer Wanting to Die
#3As someone who has suffered from moderate but not debilitating depression for much of my adulthood, one thing that has always stood in the way of getting treatment has been finding a damn therapist. Back when I was a broke, insurance-less musician, I went to inexpensive sessions with a student therapist who listened to me talk for a semester but offered very little in the way of help.
Shortly after getting insurance I asked my doctor for a therapist recommendation. The therapist she sent me to was a very nice old man who started suggesting prayer as an answer to my problems in the second session. That was also our last session.
I wish there were a way to do this that eliminated some of the trial and error, because listings tend to be pretty neutral, and reviews are sparse and not particularly trustworthy. You end up picking someone who's close to you and hoping it works out. It's a great way to lose a lot of time, and you know one of the things about depression is failing to find a therapist after a few tries greatly decreases motivation to keep trying.
Re: No Longer Wanting to Die
#4In England DBT is patchily available. You'd usually have to be very ill, or persistant, to get it, and wait times can be too long.
There has been a focus on CBT. That's great because for most people CBT is effective and short, but as this article says it doesn't work for everyone.
Very recently there is a lot of work to improve access to other talking therapies. Patients now have more choice about where to get their treatment; maximum times for waiting are going to be introduced; "parity of esteem" with physical health is more important. (Although watch out: You may have to wait 18 weeks to have a hip replaced, so you may have to wait 18 weeks to start your psychological therapy.)
One of the problems is that DBT needs experienced (expensive) practitioners, and tends to be used for people who are iller and who need a bit more support. So it's harder for health trusts to implement DBT programmes. Not trying to make excuses for them - I campaign pretty hard to improve treatment for people with a diagnosis of personality disorder and access to therapy is one of the main things.
> And as imperfect as my D.B.T. practice was early on, I found that just taking anxiety down a degree or two gave me a measure of control over my decision making in the presence of intense emotion. The lesson was profound. I couldn’t eliminate anxiety from my life, but I could learn how to tolerate it, and cope without making the situation worse.
This is a really nice point. It's an iterative process. You work at it.
Re: No Longer Wanting to Die
#5[deleted]
Re: No Longer Wanting to Die
#6In England DBT is patchily available. You'd usually have to be very ill, or persistant, to get it, and wait times can be too long. There has been a focus on CBT. That's great because for most people CBT is effective and short, but as this article says it doesn't work for everyone. Very recently there is a lot of work to improve access to other talking therapies. Patients now have more choice about where to get their…
Having done CBT, I found the complaints in the article really puzzling. Glad the author found something that worked for him, though.
Re: No Longer Wanting to Die
#7I am not surprised that a treatment that is so effective to the author has remained unknown to him for so long. I have had feelings of suicide for the last 14 years. I personally hate meeting psychologists, because they can be so unpredictable. Some of the better ones prescribed me medicine, some of the worse ones, told me I had to stop crying and find solutions to my problems, that I was lazy. I was also told because I could do my job and earn a good living, I had nothing wrong. Few acknowledge that having no friends for 14 years can be disruptive. I am in a state where every moment is sad, but over the years at least I have learnt to keep a happy face on the outside and wait for something to happen. I just wished psychologists be more scientific and stop considering everything trial and error!
Re: No Longer Wanting to Die
#8As someone who has suffered from moderate but not debilitating depression for much of my adulthood, one thing that has always stood in the way of getting treatment has been finding a damn therapist. Back when I was a broke, insurance-less musician, I went to inexpensive sessions with a student therapist who listened to me talk for a semester but offered very little in the way of help. Shortly after getting insurance…
I've felt the same way. I randomly found a therapist who has been very helpful to me and who I think is quite talented, but I only found her long after I'd given up on searching (many years later). It was essentially random happenstance. Though it also required me to become more open minded about the value someone could provide despite what I consider a less than ideal scientific literacy (in this case Myers-Briggs).
Re: No Longer Wanting to Die
#9As someone who has suffered from moderate but not debilitating depression for much of my adulthood, one thing that has always stood in the way of getting treatment has been finding a damn therapist. Back when I was a broke, insurance-less musician, I went to inexpensive sessions with a student therapist who listened to me talk for a semester but offered very little in the way of help. Shortly after getting insurance…
Was your second session your last because the prayer suggestion made you not want to go again?
Re: No Longer Wanting to Die
#10As someone who has suffered from moderate but not debilitating depression for much of my adulthood, one thing that has always stood in the way of getting treatment has been finding a damn therapist. Back when I was a broke, insurance-less musician, I went to inexpensive sessions with a student therapist who listened to me talk for a semester but offered very little in the way of help. Shortly after getting insurance…
Was your second session your last because the prayer suggestion made you not want to go again?
It was a little more than that - he was talking about the HAARP conspiracy theory as well. It just became clear he didn't approach the world rationally. I'm sure for some people he would be a great therapist, but not a good match for me.