autisticeducator:

nonbinarypastels:

what if i told y’all there was plenty of middleground between “therapists are pure evil who only exist to torture the mentally ill” and “therapists are soft pure cinnamon rolls who can never do anything wrong”

what if i told y’all that you could acknowledge how life-saving mental healthcare can be and how positive your own experiences with therapy are without denying the existence of psychiatric abuse and trying to silence its victims

what if i told y’all that millions of mentally ill people cannot afford or otherwise access mental health care and that survivors of psychiatric abuse are uncomfortable getting help because of their experiences and that your “shut up and go to therapy, there’s no reason not to” attitude is literally doing nothing at all to address these issues or help the people affected by them

what if i told y’all it would be more beneficial to post about how to properly choose a therapist, how to know that a therapist is right for you and when they’re not, and how to tell the difference between simply needing to give therapy (and your therapist) more time to start working and when something is seriously wrong with their treatment than it is to make posts shutting down any possibility that therapy and therapists can ever possibly go bad for someone

w h a t 

i f

I’ve had both abusive experiences with mental health professionals and positive ones (and some in between).

It can be really hard to know if a relationship with a therapist is working out when you’ve never had a positive relationship before.

Heck, I didn’t start to have a positive relationship with any doctors until I was almost 23. Didn’t have a positive relationship with any mental health professional until I was 25. It has been taking a long time to heal from the trauma that mental health professionals did to me as a child and necessity for a diagnosis brought my first psychiatrist and I together at 25.

Personally, I’ve had so many issues with therapists/doctors in their offices that I see my psychologist and my psychiatrist online. They’re in their homes, I’m in mine. I have my whole range of comfort items at my disposal. If they had issues with my stimming, telehealth has many other options. Luckily they have both been great.

I now have a running checklist in my head:

•What do they know about _________? (In my case autism, anxiety, and depression. I throw chiari malformation and other major chronic illnesses/physical disabilities in there as well because autism plays on them to where I either feel them less intensely or more intensely).

•What buzz words about ________ are they using? (Are they referring to me as “high functioning autistic” often rather than just in formal paperwork for insurance/disability accommodations? That could be a problem as an autistic advocate. Are they using people first language exclusively despite the fact that I only refer to myself with identity first language? That could also be a problem.)

•(Psychiatry) What is their medication prescribing like? (Do they suggest medication before you even ask about it or even wanting any particular help for that condition? Do they taper up medication, starting at the lowest dose and staying at the lowest dose you need? If they’re doing/suggesting anything else, run).

•Are they willing to learn about your needs/your experiences/your communities? (This is a big one. If they aren’t listening and aren’t willing to learn, they aren’t worth your time and you should find one who will. Intersection of identities is a major player in our lives and it should be considered in therapy.

We have a saying in education: “If you think you have arrived, it’s time to leave”- meaning if you think you know everything there is to know and you can’t be taught anymore, it’s time to leave the profession. I certainly think that also applies to mental health and medicine.