Has anyone here been to counseling?

In some of my darkest days I found a counselor very helpful. Not for solutions, but for a unbiased ear where I could freely discuss my troubles. The weight of many problems can be reduced simply by talking about them. An objective ear with guaranteed privacy is the ideal place to air problems. A good councilor can also offer suggestions from his neutral position which may or may not be applicable to your life. What his suggestions should do is offer you topics for healthy introspection.

 

If you mean as in the term of 'Therapy'( ), that seems to be pretty much a Yank thing. You can hardly talk to one without him/her mentioning his/her therapist. If some little bastard is acting like a little bastard, he's sent to a therapist. A good whap upside the snout with a rolled-up newspaper would be quicker, cheaper, and a hell of a lot more effective. In most cases, the reliance upon a 'Therapist' is more of a disease than the initial symptoms. And a lot of those 'Therapists' are total parasitic crackpots who should be in some sort of institution themselves (reference Dr. Phil).
That having been said, I agree with Integral's evaluation of a true professional psychologist or psychiatrist. Any moron call call himself a psychotherapist, but at least the aforementioned require an education and licensing. Most bartenders are better than the crackpot types, because it is indeed the ability to listen and coax out the underlying problem that helps.

 

Never been, I don't need somene to tell me what I already know,...that I'm ku-ray-zay.

 

That's the worst Steve Martin impression that I've ever heard. :grumpy:

 

I did not realize I was impersonating him.

 

Pffff. Crap, cRap, crAp and again craP... You are NOT crrrrrraazzzzzy, you just would like to be...

marlon

 

The way that you spelled it just reminded me of the way that he pronounces it when he does his 'wild and crazy guy' routine.

He must be. Elsewise, why would he be talking to us?

 

I sometimes think that those people who seek out counselors and therapists really need psychiatrists, just not for the reasons they think they do.

 

How good is your monitor quality? There's a spell-check icon with ABC and a large check-mark under it. Can that be what you're seeing? No coloured boxes, though. Just a couple of up/down arrows for size change.

 

I've seen my share of psychiatrists, psychologists, and counselors because I've been diagnosed as having schizoaffective disorder. I have to go see the psychiatrist to prescribe my meds, and I'm not willing to pay for the other. I have no insurance, and most insurances don't cover mental health anyway. Psychologists and counselors just sit there listening and try to offer help, but they are just as human as you...they don't know what they're doing. None of us know what the heck we are doing. Ha! I'm not spending $110.00 an hour to see them!

 

Well said, Leah. Their expensive sessions probably only work as a placebo if you trust them, hehe. But as I say, they can ask good questions.