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Re: No benefit to adding psychotherapy to medicati

Posted by bleauberry on November 23, 2009, at 18:51:23

In reply to Re: No benefit to adding psychotherapy to medicati » bleauberry, posted by floatingbridge on November 22, 2009, at 15:13:06

No prob. I had some rather startling powerful issues come up in psychotherapy. Things like losing a lover after spending 1/3rd of my life with that person, a childhood peppered with an alcoholic father, and a serious abandonment paranoia issue from the first 2 years of my life. None of these were the cause of my depression, but were nonetheless serious issues that needed to be brought out, disected, and strategies/tricks put into place to handle them.

That was 15 years ago. Unknown at the time, that first attack of depression was about 3 months after a tick bite and a strange flu that followed it. It took friggin 15 years for someone to put two and two together. I can't believe how doctors miss the obvious, but oh well, it happens thousands of times everyday. My guess is that better than 50% of the people here at pbabble are either misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed...all that is being seen is depressive symptoms.

So yes, I found psychotherapy very helpful, just not for the depression. In terms of depression, it was helpful to have a coach/cheerleader to keep my confidence up while waiting.

> > I did psychotherapy twice...weekly for 6 months each time.
> >
> > It was helpful but only for the half hour or so following the appointment. Ya know, a good counselor can lift your spirits, give confidence, get you relaxed and feeling better. The problem is, as soon as you leave, get in the car and start driving in the real world again, all of that evaporates real fast.
> >
> > I think the best uses of psychotherapy are:
> >
> > 1. When there is a definite life issue involved...divorce, death, loss of career, etc.
> >
> > 2. For pure biochemical depression without a life crisis component, I think psychotherapy serves a good purpose to help keep the patient on track while waiting for the medicine to hopefully kick in. It's almost kind of like having a cheerleading squad in your corner to send you back into the boxing ring each round with a renewed sense of confidence, hope, and patience. Without the counselor, we might abandon our meds too soon. They can help keep us on the path our doctor has chosen for us, or spot a situation where a doctor has made an obviously gross error.
>
> Bleauberry, I'm curious in the context of this discussion--I don't mean to pry--so take a pass on this if you want to. My understanding of your situation is that it derives from, primarily, lymes disease (I could very well be mistaken). Maybe you do not have very much trauma (or life/situational) distress to process? And therefore, maybe not too much maladaptive behavior/cognition?
>
> Best regards,
>
> fb
>
>


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Psycho-Babble Medication | Framed

poster:bleauberry thread:926342
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091117/msgs/926730.html