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Should I see a different therapist?
guar
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
A pretty serious subject, I know, but I need some objective opinions.
To start, I am 90% confident what I have is AvPD. By that, I mean that I haven't been formerly tested because apparently that costs money, which I don't have. But I have gone to see a licensed psychologist and after a few sessions, she agreed that I do meet the criteria.
AvPD, or avoidant personality disorder, is similar to social phobia, except it's more prevalent in your day-to-day life. From what I understand, social phobia is triggered by particular phenomenon, such as eating in public or talking on the phone. My anxiety is triggered whenever there exists the possibility for social interaction, regardless of what that interaction is.
As you can imagine, this has effected my personal and professional life rather drastically. I have a college degree, yet I work at a manufacturing plant making just enough to cover my monthly bills. I have few friends, none of which I actively do anything with. When I'm not at work, I'm at home. I have trouble meeting people, I have trouble connecting with people, I, fundamentally, have trouble trusting people.
To get to the point, I have been seeing my current therapist for, off and on, approximately 2 years. She had been my parents' therapist prior to their separation, so my dad, I'm assuming, figured she would be a good candidate for me because she knew my background already. For the better part of the first year, I was being treated for depression, which I felt was a misdiagnoses (and still believe to be). After about 8 or 9 months, I became fed up with my lack in improvement and stopped going.
When I started seeing her again last August, I had already been to the psychologist to verify my assumption about having AvPD, so that was the approach we took towards my treatment. From then to now, I've had a few people tell me they've seen a noticeable improvement, but I don't feel it. I do tend to become more comfortable with people over time, but I think that's always been the case. At my father's 50th birthday back in December, my aunt put together a video that included pictures of myself when I was younger. I could see how I was back then and I kind of feel like I still am that way, except I don't ever really let that part of me out because I'm so apprehensive around people, even family and friends I've known a while. So there doesn't feel like there's been any improvement.
So.. if I feel like I'm not getting better, should I consider finding a different therapist?
To start, I am 90% confident what I have is AvPD. By that, I mean that I haven't been formerly tested because apparently that costs money, which I don't have. But I have gone to see a licensed psychologist and after a few sessions, she agreed that I do meet the criteria.
AvPD, or avoidant personality disorder, is similar to social phobia, except it's more prevalent in your day-to-day life. From what I understand, social phobia is triggered by particular phenomenon, such as eating in public or talking on the phone. My anxiety is triggered whenever there exists the possibility for social interaction, regardless of what that interaction is.
As you can imagine, this has effected my personal and professional life rather drastically. I have a college degree, yet I work at a manufacturing plant making just enough to cover my monthly bills. I have few friends, none of which I actively do anything with. When I'm not at work, I'm at home. I have trouble meeting people, I have trouble connecting with people, I, fundamentally, have trouble trusting people.
To get to the point, I have been seeing my current therapist for, off and on, approximately 2 years. She had been my parents' therapist prior to their separation, so my dad, I'm assuming, figured she would be a good candidate for me because she knew my background already. For the better part of the first year, I was being treated for depression, which I felt was a misdiagnoses (and still believe to be). After about 8 or 9 months, I became fed up with my lack in improvement and stopped going.
When I started seeing her again last August, I had already been to the psychologist to verify my assumption about having AvPD, so that was the approach we took towards my treatment. From then to now, I've had a few people tell me they've seen a noticeable improvement, but I don't feel it. I do tend to become more comfortable with people over time, but I think that's always been the case. At my father's 50th birthday back in December, my aunt put together a video that included pictures of myself when I was younger. I could see how I was back then and I kind of feel like I still am that way, except I don't ever really let that part of me out because I'm so apprehensive around people, even family and friends I've known a while. So there doesn't feel like there's been any improvement.
So.. if I feel like I'm not getting better, should I consider finding a different therapist?
guar on
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3clipse: The key to any successful marriage is a good mid-game transition.
Which might not be a bad idea. My understanding is that there are several different "approaches" in general therapy. It may be that the one your therapist is taking isn't the right one for your problem. It doesn't mean you have a bad therapist or that there's anything wrong with you, it's just that different people respond differently to any given style. You could always voice your opinion to your therapist, let him know that you don't think it's working.
I'm sure there is; I've heard antidepressants help, and drugs that help suppress anxiety have been successful in treating cases of social phobia, but cost is an issue. My current therapist has actually been pretty accommodating to match what I can afford, but medication would probably be too much. She isn't licensed to prescribe anything, so I would have to see someone who is, which would cost even more.
Contact your local health department or department of mental health (some places they're the same, other places they're separate entities), there may be programs available for you. In my area that includes reduced cost consultation and diagnosis, and at least some generic drugs available free or at reduced cost. They might want a recent pay stub or your last tax return to show income.
Might be worth looking into other options as well. The Catholic diocese in my area has an income based mental health clinic, but it doesn't provide any prescription assistance. When they opened it the news said they were the twentieth diocese to adopt the program, so there may be one in your area as well. Those programs generally aren't allowed to discriminate against non Catholics or evangelize to patients.
If neither is the case, and you like your therapist, it may be time to try looking into things like medication rather than finding another one, because especially with a disorder that means you have a hard time talking to or trusting someone, it can be hard to build a rapport. And then if it turns out the medication helps, you have someone you trust to help you get adjusted.
Not saying that some doctors don't do both, but a LOT of healthcare providers are going this way. Just Food for thought.
So I'd recommend that you do both - get a new therapist and a new psychiatrist.
That being said, if you no longer have any faith in your therapist there really is no point in continuing to see them. If you don't feel you're getting the results you should be or that they aren't really effective, it's time to shop around.
Seriously. You should be telling him everything you feel is wrong in your life anyway: that goes double for your therapy, if you're not happy with it.
I've frequently hung in there too long when things weren't working and just ended up suffering due to it.
The short version is that if you try a few other people and you don't find anyone better you can always go back to where you started.
Beyond that sometimes its better to go see someone who knows nothing about you as they tend to have a more fresh perspective since there are no preconceptions about you.
I gotta agree here. Communicating with your therapist is key. If you think it's not working the way you want it to, bring it up, and see what your therapist thinks and what you can do about it together. Maybe your therapist agrees that you need to find someone else.
I'll be seeing my therapist again later this week, I'll be sure to voice my concerns. Hopefully we can figure something out.
Something I failed to mention before: back when I was being treated for depression, I had gone to see a psychiatrist and was placed on a few different medications. My therapist informs me that what I was on treated both depression and anxiety; it might just have been that we just didn't find the right drug / dosage.
She also told me that the path we were on was a long one, and any success I had would come slowly. Which I guess I knew already, but it's still frustrating. I realize 25 is still pretty young, but 2 years with marginal improvement is not the trend I want to set.
Anyway, that's the status for now. Thanks again for all the help.