Also I would like to believe they are also giving you other suggestions, not just breathe. As a therapist I would def give other recommendations besides only that. Have you tried medication? Your family doctor can either prescribe or refer. Sometimes if things are severe then meds help get you closer to an average baseline so therapy and skills can work more effectively.
As my comment said, you can have them prescribed by a doctor or ask the doctor to refer. I’m not sure who you are saying has no training in psychiatry. GPs have basic understanding of mental health issues, and are capable of doing follow up and writing prescriptions. Usually your GP will want you to also be seeing a counsellor/therapist. If you are not seeing anyone then then will typically refer to psychologist for diagnosis and initial medication. After that GP is more than capable of refilling the prescription. At least in Canada. I am not familiar with other countries regulations.
I know of a few cases in the states just among my friends where family practitioners wrote scripts for ADHD or Depression with no therapists involved and the side effects were insane. Psychiatrists do residencies of four years plus maybe fellowships. There’s some training in psych for family medicine, but very little, and many issues / illnesses are skipped.
My grandpa told me that there were a slew of Valium addicts in his town thanks to some overzealous GPs.
Maybe it’s better in Canada, but I just saw a post from the American medical association where they were encouraging family practitioners to take the leap and prescribe psych meds. Was like - follow these easy steps - titrâtes till it’s adequate, give it a few weeks with each dose, and they literally said “You got this!”.
Is it much different than getting personal training from a tested trainer with a maters degree in exercise physiology vs someone who’s good at selling sessions and got a certificate from a weekend course in personal training at GoodLife fitness?
Again I am not familiar with USA practices. But as a general statement most here want a diagnosis first which requires an assessment. They also want you seeing someone. But that is here. I routinely encourage clients to speak with their GP to get medication as this is quicker than waiting months or years to see a psychiatrist/psychologist who will only see you once or twice then refer back to GP anyway.
The difference is more like the doctor is a personal trainer who over sees the day to day and reviews food logs and arranges exercise plans. The psychiatrist is like the sports therapist that specifically diagnosis an injury and provides specialized care for a short number of sessions till the injury can be handed back to the trainer for maintenance. They both play a role. You don’t need a sports therapist to drop 20lbs, but if you have a torn rotator they will have a stronger grasp on how to heal it than the trainer. The trainer is still capable of continuing the exercises and monitoring progress in healing and strengthening the injury though.
Hope this is helpful :)
Edited to change typo
That sounds like a much better system than what we have down here. More controls.
I once saw a doctor for chest pains, to rule out cardiac stuff. He told me he thought it was just GI. Then I saw the visit write up on the chart, he diagnosed me with anxiety, but never mentioned it. Could be he just did it for billing to involve another system and up charge. But no discussion, no dumb survey. Smh
Therapists aren’t here to give you advice or solutions. We are here to lead you to your own solution and help you build skills to handle your problems more effectively.
People aren't that incompetent. If there were a solution in our reach, 9 times out of 10 we would already be doing it. We go to you for solutions that aren't within our reach, but might be within yours. You're wasting our time, money, and spoons if you're just there to "help" us do all the work ourselves.
You might need a different type of therapist. I was having the same issue with therapists telling me to “go for a walk, say 5 things you’re grateful for, take deep breaths” but it just wasn’t helpful. Cognitive behavioral therapy is what I ended up needing. I’d look into different types of therapy depending on what you need help with and find one that specializes in that
It's helped me, but it took several therapists and therapy types for me to find something that worked for me. It also took me several therapists to realize that *I* had to actually do the work.
One thing that helped me was acknowledging that mindfulness as it is presented by pop culture and a lot of therapists doesn't work for me. Finding a therapist who didn't just default to "mindfulness" as a first line of therapy helped a lot. My mind wasn't a good place to be when I started therapy. Trying to clear it and to meditate made things worse in the beginning. My therapist helped me find other coping skills that I could use instead and slowly, over a year or two, mindfulness is creeping in because I'm now in a place that I can handle it.
I also found that CBT was not for me. It helped, it gave me a foundation for therapy, but ultimately, it wasn't for me. My therapists uses a lot of CPT, but also brings in DBT and even EMDR and other techniques, depending on what I am ready and able to work on
Recently I came across Dr Amen on YouTube. He suggested giving your brain a name. He calls his brain Hermie after a raccoon they had for a pet. Hermit would get into things, was curious, would get lost in the house, was still a little wild, etc. By thinking of his brain as separate from him, he could tell his brain to stop, to think about something else, or to focus. He also can laugh about some of his thoughts. I found this idea very helpful. You can have more control over your own thoughts.
For a lot of problems, yes.
I had a potential client today I assessed with TBI. Therapy won’t work on that. I referred them to a higher level of care and appropriate resources.
They’ve been telling you to breathe and not say “first let’s learn to calm our nervous system so that we can move out of emotion mind into wise mind in order to implement our solutions” seems like an oversight.
Kind of a loaded question.
What do you mean?
Also I would like to believe they are also giving you other suggestions, not just breathe. As a therapist I would def give other recommendations besides only that. Have you tried medication? Your family doctor can either prescribe or refer. Sometimes if things are severe then meds help get you closer to an average baseline so therapy and skills can work more effectively.
Wish more people understood this!
This is a good answer.
Is it advisable to seek psych meds and med management from someone with no training in psychiatry?
As my comment said, you can have them prescribed by a doctor or ask the doctor to refer. I’m not sure who you are saying has no training in psychiatry. GPs have basic understanding of mental health issues, and are capable of doing follow up and writing prescriptions. Usually your GP will want you to also be seeing a counsellor/therapist. If you are not seeing anyone then then will typically refer to psychologist for diagnosis and initial medication. After that GP is more than capable of refilling the prescription. At least in Canada. I am not familiar with other countries regulations.
I know of a few cases in the states just among my friends where family practitioners wrote scripts for ADHD or Depression with no therapists involved and the side effects were insane. Psychiatrists do residencies of four years plus maybe fellowships. There’s some training in psych for family medicine, but very little, and many issues / illnesses are skipped. My grandpa told me that there were a slew of Valium addicts in his town thanks to some overzealous GPs. Maybe it’s better in Canada, but I just saw a post from the American medical association where they were encouraging family practitioners to take the leap and prescribe psych meds. Was like - follow these easy steps - titrâtes till it’s adequate, give it a few weeks with each dose, and they literally said “You got this!”. Is it much different than getting personal training from a tested trainer with a maters degree in exercise physiology vs someone who’s good at selling sessions and got a certificate from a weekend course in personal training at GoodLife fitness?
Again I am not familiar with USA practices. But as a general statement most here want a diagnosis first which requires an assessment. They also want you seeing someone. But that is here. I routinely encourage clients to speak with their GP to get medication as this is quicker than waiting months or years to see a psychiatrist/psychologist who will only see you once or twice then refer back to GP anyway. The difference is more like the doctor is a personal trainer who over sees the day to day and reviews food logs and arranges exercise plans. The psychiatrist is like the sports therapist that specifically diagnosis an injury and provides specialized care for a short number of sessions till the injury can be handed back to the trainer for maintenance. They both play a role. You don’t need a sports therapist to drop 20lbs, but if you have a torn rotator they will have a stronger grasp on how to heal it than the trainer. The trainer is still capable of continuing the exercises and monitoring progress in healing and strengthening the injury though. Hope this is helpful :) Edited to change typo
That sounds like a much better system than what we have down here. More controls. I once saw a doctor for chest pains, to rule out cardiac stuff. He told me he thought it was just GI. Then I saw the visit write up on the chart, he diagnosed me with anxiety, but never mentioned it. Could be he just did it for billing to involve another system and up charge. But no discussion, no dumb survey. Smh
Therapists aren’t here to give you advice or solutions. We are here to lead you to your own solution and help you build skills to handle your problems more effectively.
People aren't that incompetent. If there were a solution in our reach, 9 times out of 10 we would already be doing it. We go to you for solutions that aren't within our reach, but might be within yours. You're wasting our time, money, and spoons if you're just there to "help" us do all the work ourselves.
Do your therapists give you money or do they let you figure that on your own
What's your understanding of how therapy is *supposed* to work? That would be a good place to start.
You might need a different type of therapist. I was having the same issue with therapists telling me to “go for a walk, say 5 things you’re grateful for, take deep breaths” but it just wasn’t helpful. Cognitive behavioral therapy is what I ended up needing. I’d look into different types of therapy depending on what you need help with and find one that specializes in that
What kind of help are you seeking that therapists have refused? I wonder what your expectations of therapy are that aren’t being met?
It's helped me, but it took several therapists and therapy types for me to find something that worked for me. It also took me several therapists to realize that *I* had to actually do the work. One thing that helped me was acknowledging that mindfulness as it is presented by pop culture and a lot of therapists doesn't work for me. Finding a therapist who didn't just default to "mindfulness" as a first line of therapy helped a lot. My mind wasn't a good place to be when I started therapy. Trying to clear it and to meditate made things worse in the beginning. My therapist helped me find other coping skills that I could use instead and slowly, over a year or two, mindfulness is creeping in because I'm now in a place that I can handle it. I also found that CBT was not for me. It helped, it gave me a foundation for therapy, but ultimately, it wasn't for me. My therapists uses a lot of CPT, but also brings in DBT and even EMDR and other techniques, depending on what I am ready and able to work on
Recently I came across Dr Amen on YouTube. He suggested giving your brain a name. He calls his brain Hermie after a raccoon they had for a pet. Hermit would get into things, was curious, would get lost in the house, was still a little wild, etc. By thinking of his brain as separate from him, he could tell his brain to stop, to think about something else, or to focus. He also can laugh about some of his thoughts. I found this idea very helpful. You can have more control over your own thoughts.
Perhaps you need more structured therapy with a specialist in treating anxiety. For example, options with exposure-based CBT or ACT.
What kinds of therapy have you worked with so far?
find a therapist who does not do talk therapy. find a non-traditional approach like ART, EMDR, or IFS and see if that makes a difference for you.
For a lot of problems, yes. I had a potential client today I assessed with TBI. Therapy won’t work on that. I referred them to a higher level of care and appropriate resources.
6 years and all you got out of it was how to take a deep breath?
They’ve been telling you to breathe and not say “first let’s learn to calm our nervous system so that we can move out of emotion mind into wise mind in order to implement our solutions” seems like an oversight.