Blog > Thoughts > Other's Thoughts > Claire's Thoughts > Visit to the shrink
Visit to the shrink
Written by Claire on Friday, December 1, 2006
Yesterday I had an appointment with a psychologist, not really because I had any great hope that it would help (no transabled person I’ve talked to has ever had much luck with therapy), but more so that it could be seen and said that I was trying to do something about my BIID. But open-minded in case the shrink should turn out to be something special and have something helpful to offer. No such luck.
I didn’t click with her like I did with the psychotherapist that I talked to a few weeks ago. The psychotherapist was a great lady, asked great questions, and was apparently fascinated by my story, but in the end said that it was a matter for the psychiatry department, and referred me to them.
Talking to a shrink
So the psychiatry department decided it was the psychologist who needed to see me. Almost right off the bat she informed me that I was "marginal", and that there weren’t enough of us to interest anyone in studying us, so there was no research, and no treatment. I was dumbfounded at this bleak outlook from this person who is supposed to be there to help.
All she could think of to do was to try some antidepressants that are known to help with obsessive/compulsive disorders, and that she could recommend I get a prescription from the psychiatrist. I told her that from what I knew, efforts to treat it that way had failed, and she seemed to accept that, but she wants to send me a list of possible medications and have me do my own research on it, asking people if they’ve taken them and what happened, and let her know. So I will probably be doing that in the near future.
She also wants me to participate in an anxiety workshop that is starting in January (I said that was fine). Besides that, all she had to offer for treatment was "the wheelchair scenario" meaning "going full time."
She also wondered if I hadn’t done better to just repress all these feelings because evidently it got worse when I stopped trying to repress it. And she thought it looked like the more I used the chair, the more I wanted the chair, and it’ll keep growing and growing, so perhaps I was better off without the chair. But, she offered going "full time" as a possible solution, too, which seems contradictory to that idea. So she doesn’t know, and apparently doesn’t give a flying f—…
At the last she asked if there was any point to me seeing her again, and I can’t say that I thought there was. She told me I was better off talking to you guys, which I heartily agreed with.
So it was pretty pointless overall. But at least I can tell people (like my DH) that I tried. *shrug*
So there we go, one more story about the uselessness of therapy for BIID to add to the growing archive.
PS. Day II is coming soon…
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4 Comments
I always hope that I’ll hear about someone finding a shrink who gets it. I have heard of some who were not just tolerant but interested in BIID and dev-ism.
But must admit that I’ve seen a shrink for nine years and it was only in my last session that I told him about being a devotee.
This makes me wish I had stuck with psychology in undergrad. Then, I could make it my life’s work to study/help people with BIID. Alas, I chose Occupational Therapy instead. :)
It is fascinating for me to dip back into the archives and find this from exactly four years ago. I didn’t know that any of you existed. I thought I was alone. BIID was not on my mind. I didn’t know how much I would be helped by psychotherapy to come to complete self acceptance of a part of me that I had never disclosed to anyone. I didn’t know that in a couple of weeks a slight miscalculation of a turn on a ski slope would be the fuse to ignite an explosion of psychological changes in the next four years.
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1 On 1 December, 2006, Sean said:
I think we really shouldn’t underestimate the power of showing that we are willing to be doing “work” with a professional. We may think it will do nothing to assist our BIID, and in general it doesn’t. But it works wonders to get our families and friends off our backs :)
I’m just sorry that you had to come and be assigned another nitwit that doesn’t get it, nor wants to get it. Particularly after such an initial encounter with that therapist.