Hi Chell, I'm not use to this thread popping up to often. lol
I think a lot of Psychiatrists try to avoid telling their patients that they have a personality disorder and if they do they don't seem to be to forthcoming about it. I'm not saying all Psychiatrists obviously. A lot of patients take offense just to the name and I think with computers now and people being able to go home and search out that diagnosis, then they become the diagnosis,or pick it apart and dispute it etc. From what I gather (this is all my personal opinion and observation btw, not fact lol) they would rather keep the problem at the intensity it is at and treat it from there where as if say I went home and looked up AvPD I may subconsciously start to fall into that mold even more-become one with my AvPD. lol Anyway, I think they would rather just focus on the treatment but that's easy for them to do when you want to know what's wrong with yourself and want to know exactly what it is called. I asked my Psychiatrist once if he would want to know if he had cancer. He said of course. So I said "You mean you wouldn't be happy if I said you just have some bump thingy now lets discuss treatment? Don't mental health professionals always say that mental illness is an illness just like cancer?" Point taken. lol
I think your Pychiatrist saying PD's were harder to treat than Bipolar is a very generalized. lol Yes, I'm saying your Psychiatrist is wrong. lol Ya know, me and my psych degree. It depends on the person and the intensity of their illness. I am still trying to "treat" my bipolar over 15 years later, but I do have AvPD too so that doesn't help much. You could have PD traits. Not enough to diagnose. I also have Schizotypal and Paranoid traits but not the full disorders. Or you could meet the diagnostic criteria and have mild-severe problems with it. It all depends. So did you get an answer about your PD?
As far as medication. lol I have to disagree about that as well. Unless you have tried every single medication with every single type of combination. That can't be true. Like I said 15 years and I think I have done the same cocktail maybe 10 times in those years, if that. If this medication doesn't work and your still interested I really urge you to ask her to keep trying. Is she a MD? Or is this the same Psychiatrist?
As far as your therapist goes, I don't blame you. lol Personally, I find having someone younger than me as a therapist feels condesending (excuse my sp) and they are just discovering their own style for being a therapist as well. I know they need to learn somewhere, just not my preference as I relate to older people better and they have gone that extra mile further than I have already lol.
You can always look for a new therapist and make a preference for the type of therapist you would like. Tonnes of people do that. There is no sense sitting and getting nothing out of it. If your going to be speaking to someone about your personal stuff then it's totally understandable that you would want to have someone who you like and trust. It may take seeing a couple more people or maybe the next person will be the right one. It will be worth it once you find someone. Are you able to look for a new Therapist? I would really encourage you to stick with therapy. Once you can find someone you like then I am sure you will get more out of it if you really want the therapy. Plus, getting out and around people even if it's just one will help you so much more than sitting at home. I can tell you that. Sitting at home has made my "challenges" ten times worse. I am not happy at all. When I was in therapy, I had a person to talk to once a week, we may have spent a whole appointment just talking about the weather but to have communication with an actual human lol helped so , so much.
Is your mom capable of a lot still or is she just difficult in personality? Sorry, I'm not sure whether you meant you take care of her because she is less able or if you mean you make sure she is ok daily and help out with shopping etc.? If she isn't very capable anymore is there a way that you can get someone to come in and help with your mom once or twice a week?
Sorry for the babble. I really hope you can find a new therapist and get your medication sorted. In my opinion both will make a world of difference and it's always good to get at things before they get worse off.
I think a lot of Psychiatrists try to avoid telling their patients that they have a personality disorder and if they do they don't seem to be to forthcoming about it. I'm not saying all Psychiatrists obviously. A lot of patients take offense just to the name and I think with computers now and people being able to go home and search out that diagnosis, then they become the diagnosis,or pick it apart and dispute it etc. From what I gather (this is all my personal opinion and observation btw, not fact lol) they would rather keep the problem at the intensity it is at and treat it from there where as if say I went home and looked up AvPD I may subconsciously start to fall into that mold even more-become one with my AvPD. lol Anyway, I think they would rather just focus on the treatment but that's easy for them to do when you want to know what's wrong with yourself and want to know exactly what it is called. I asked my Psychiatrist once if he would want to know if he had cancer. He said of course. So I said "You mean you wouldn't be happy if I said you just have some bump thingy now lets discuss treatment? Don't mental health professionals always say that mental illness is an illness just like cancer?" Point taken. lol
I think your Pychiatrist saying PD's were harder to treat than Bipolar is a very generalized. lol Yes, I'm saying your Psychiatrist is wrong. lol Ya know, me and my psych degree. It depends on the person and the intensity of their illness. I am still trying to "treat" my bipolar over 15 years later, but I do have AvPD too so that doesn't help much. You could have PD traits. Not enough to diagnose. I also have Schizotypal and Paranoid traits but not the full disorders. Or you could meet the diagnostic criteria and have mild-severe problems with it. It all depends. So did you get an answer about your PD?
As far as medication. lol I have to disagree about that as well. Unless you have tried every single medication with every single type of combination. That can't be true. Like I said 15 years and I think I have done the same cocktail maybe 10 times in those years, if that. If this medication doesn't work and your still interested I really urge you to ask her to keep trying. Is she a MD? Or is this the same Psychiatrist?
As far as your therapist goes, I don't blame you. lol Personally, I find having someone younger than me as a therapist feels condesending (excuse my sp) and they are just discovering their own style for being a therapist as well. I know they need to learn somewhere, just not my preference as I relate to older people better and they have gone that extra mile further than I have already lol.
You can always look for a new therapist and make a preference for the type of therapist you would like. Tonnes of people do that. There is no sense sitting and getting nothing out of it. If your going to be speaking to someone about your personal stuff then it's totally understandable that you would want to have someone who you like and trust. It may take seeing a couple more people or maybe the next person will be the right one. It will be worth it once you find someone. Are you able to look for a new Therapist? I would really encourage you to stick with therapy. Once you can find someone you like then I am sure you will get more out of it if you really want the therapy. Plus, getting out and around people even if it's just one will help you so much more than sitting at home. I can tell you that. Sitting at home has made my "challenges" ten times worse. I am not happy at all. When I was in therapy, I had a person to talk to once a week, we may have spent a whole appointment just talking about the weather but to have communication with an actual human lol helped so , so much.
Is your mom capable of a lot still or is she just difficult in personality? Sorry, I'm not sure whether you meant you take care of her because she is less able or if you mean you make sure she is ok daily and help out with shopping etc.? If she isn't very capable anymore is there a way that you can get someone to come in and help with your mom once or twice a week?
Sorry for the babble. I really hope you can find a new therapist and get your medication sorted. In my opinion both will make a world of difference and it's always good to get at things before they get worse off.
